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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1983)
The Battalion Sports Monday, September 19, 1983/The Battalion/Page 11 ies follow Smith’s toe to 38-0 victory Lacewell: Smith should hank ASU for record 1 photo bv Doim Friediiiil is a political Little is an The proceeds to the cadets [nc ling Cents.* *! by Joe Tindel Jr. Bttalion Staff Arkansas State coach Larry Lacewell, looking tired and ready to go home, analyzed the Aggies- Indians game as if it were a match up between two teams of equal caliber, He refused to give all the credit to Texas A&M for the Aggies’ 38-0 yictory. After all, his team did fumble the ball away four times, •and they did manage to do some thing illegal on many of the good 'plays they made. What did the Indians do well? “Made ’em kick a lot of field goals,’’ Lacewell said. "That’s the only thing I can think of that we did well. They could have been touchdowns. • “I don’t know if it was that we {slayed bad or that Texas A&M S laved awfully well. I know we ad a lot of penalties and turnov ers. We probably should have teen beaten a lot worse than we Were.’’ Arkansas State s wishbone proved to be a little slippery at times, but the all but outmoded offense always sputtered. And it used up a lot of the clock, as the Indians edged the Aggies in time ^possession, 30:12 to 29:48. But that’s no good when you’re oehind. Yet a coach always thinks his Jffense can work, and Lacewell said the execution of his offense was one of the main contributors lo the loss. “When you’re down, the way we were executing, I don’t care if we’d been in the Green Bay Pack er sweep,” Lacewell said. “We Wouldn’t have made anything. Ev ery time we completed a pass, we lad a holding penalty. Every time we did anything good, we’d turn right around and fumble. “I honestly don’t think we play ed very well. Our quarterback (Tim Langford), I don’t think, has played this badly all season. And I’d like to think them having two weeks to prepare for us was an advantage for Texas A&M.” Things didn’t go well from the beginning for the Indians, as they fumbled the ball away to the Aggies with only 56 seconds elapsed in the game. Langford hobbled the snap from center and Aggie linebacker Jerry Bullitt pounced on the loose ball. It took the Aggies only one play to take the lead. Quarterback John Mazur found Jimmie Williams in the endzone by air, 32 yards away. Things slowed down a bit for the Aggie offense during the rest of the evening, but play became even slower for the Indians’ offense. Of course, when a team from a less gifted conference like Arkan sas State, meets a team from a na tionally respected conference, the issue of intimidation often arises. Lacewell immediately dismis sed the idea of intimidation. “I don’t think we were intimi dated,” he said. “You’re down 13- 0 at the end of the half, you still think you’re in the ballgame. Are all 11 guys intimidated when you fumble the ball or when you jump off-side or when you get a clip?” The Tribe coach said he felt his team was still in the game as late as when the Aggies had a 16-0 lead midway through the third quar ter. But the point of no return came when Texas A&M’s Billy Cannon returned a Stacy Gore punt 60 yards for the touchdown that lifted the Aggies to a 22-0 lead with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter. “I think it (punt return) did, because we’d battled so hard de fensively trying to just get a little bit of field position,” Lacewell said. “The game was over, for all practical purposes.” The Indians’ offense kept on sputtering until 16 Aggie points and a little more than a quarter later — the end of the game. Arkansas State managed 182 yards total offense, compared to Texas A&M’s 396. Only 35 of the Tribe’s total yardage came through the air. Indian back Duane Pittman led all rushers with 97 yards on 20 carries, and was the most productive player on the Arkansas State offense. Youthful defense, backs gain confidence in win staff photo by Dc* Aggie holder Kyle Stuard celebrates Alan Smith’s 5th of 6 field goals. by John P. Lopez Bttalion Staff The Texas A&M football team was full of surprises Saturday in its 38-0 win over Arkansas State. No, the score didn’t raise many eyebrows at Kyle Field — the Aggies were heavily favored over the Division II Indians. But what did turn out to be a pleasant surprise for Texas A&M was impressive play by newcom ers in the Aggie backfield, defen sive secondary and linebacking positions. Freshman running back Rod Bemstine, of Bryan, led the way on offense as he slashed his way for 76 yards on 12 carries. But Jimmie Hawkins, George Smith and freshman Roger Vick also contri buted to Texas A&M’s 227 yards on the ground. Texas A&M coach Jackie Sher rill said the solid performance by the Aggie backs should prove to be a confidence builder for his team. “I wasn’t happy with the overall performance of the offense, ” Sher rill said, ‘‘but I thought our backs and offensive line gained some confidence tonight. “George Smith played well — he had a 30-yard run called back — Roger Vick played well and Bernstine had a good game. He’s a good football player. ” Bemstine said he has confi dence in Texas A&M’s running attack and expects the balanced offense to continue throughout the season. “I think we all are more confi dent in ourselves,” he said. “I feel pretty good about my perform ance. When I got the start, every body helped me out and tried to give me confidence. And if next week another back gets the start, then I’ll be there trying to help him out. I think our backfield is good and will get better.” Defensively, Sherrill said that signs of improvement over last season’s team are already starting to surface. “I felt like our 3-4 (new Aggie defensive alignment) handled Arkansas State’s wishbone very well,” Sherrill said. “Our outside people — the linebackers and secondary people — are fast and were getting to the ball well tonight.” Aggie linebacker Mike Ashley, who had seven tackles and reco vered a fumble, agreed with Sher rill. “The name of the game is execu tion and speed,” he said. “And I think we have a lot of speed at linebacker and in the secondary. This game was definitely a charac ter builder for the whole team.” True. The Texas A&M defensive team looked good in spots, but broke down several times two weeks ago in its 19-17 loss to California. Saturday, however, the Aggies re corded their first shutout since 1975 and seemed to surprise themselves with the way they easily handled Arkansas State’s wishbone. The Indians only cros sed the 50-yard-line once Saturday. But the biggest surprise for the Aggies was the extroardinary per- forpiance by kicker Alan Smith. Smith hit six of seven field goals to tie the NCAA record and set a new Southwest Conference record for number of field goals in a single game. Ironically, the old record of five 3-pointers in a game was held by former Texas A&M kicker Tony Franklin. Smith also said his per formance boosted his confidence. “It really feels good (to have the record),” Smith said. “I had a down week against California and I’m glad to bounce back the way I did tonight with a good game. “I’m just glad coach Sherrill gave me the chance to kick it (sixth field goal). We’ve got a great tradi tion of kickers here and I just hope I can keep it up.” Texas A&M evened its season record to 1-1 with the victory over the Indians. The Aggies will host a consider ably tougher opponent next week in Oklahoma State. The Cowboys boast a possible Heisman trophy candidate in running back Ernest Anderson. Kickoff time has been changed to 2:30 p.m. CBS-TV will region ally televise the contest. Saints slip by Bears; Cowboys muscle past NY United Press International A couple of potential Hall of Famers squared off in New Orleans Sunday to stage a private Mardi Gras. The left arm of Saints’ quarter back Ken Stabler finally prevailed over the legs — and right arm — of Chicago halfback Walter Payton as Morten Andersen kicked a 41- yard field goal with 4:03 left in overtime to lift New Orleans to a 34-31 victory. Payton threw two option touch down passes to rookie Willie Gault and rushed for 161 yards on 28 carries, including a 49-yard TD run, Gault also caught an 8-yard scoring pass from Jim McMahon to go with his receptions of 56 and 21 yards from Payton. Stabler completed 25-of-39 passes for 271 yards and en gineered the drive that led to Andersen’s game-winner. The Bears sent the game into overtime on a 21-yard pass from Payton to Gault with 1:40 left in regulation. Comerback Johnnie Poe had given the Saints a lead with a 31-yard interception re turn. Stabler forged a 14-point lead with two third-period TD tosses, but the Bears tied the score 24-24 on a 49-yard Payton run and one of Payton’s option passes to Gault. Elsewhere Sunday, Washing ton beat Kansas City 27-12, Green Bay edged the Los Angeles Rams 27- 24, San Francisco downed St. Louis 42-27, Atlanta topped De troit 30-14, Buffalo defeated Balti more 28-23, New England upset the New York Jets 23-13, Pitt sburgh whipped Houston 40-28, Dallas beat the New York Giants 28- 13, Seattle outlasted San Diego 34-31, Philadelphia nipped De nver 10-7 and Minnesota topped Tampa Bay 19-16 in overtime. COWBOYS 28, GIANTS 13 — At Irving, a 68-yard interception return by Dextor Clinkscale and a 10-yard fumble return by Michael Downs, both going for touch downs in a fourth-quarter span of 12 seconds, sealed the Cowboys’ triumph as Dallas emerged the only undefeated club in the NFC. REDSKINS 27, CHIEFS 12 — At Washington, Joe Theismann passed for two second-half TDs and the Redskins’ defense limited Kansas City to just 34 total yards over the final two quarters. The Redskins, 2-1, trailed 12-0 at half time as the Chiefs, 1-2, got four Nick Lowery field goals, including a 58-yarder. PACKERS 27, RAMS 24 — At Milwaukee, the Packers capital ized on a fumble by Los Angeles rookie back Eric Dickerson to set up Jan Stenerud’s 36-yard field goal with one second left. Stener ud’s winning kick came after Dick erson — the second player selected in the draft — fumbled with 29 seconds remaining as the Rams were attempting to run out the regulation clock. 49’ERS 42, CARDINALS 27 — At St. Louis, Joe Montana passed for three TDs and Dwight Hicks and Tim Collier returned inter ceptions for scores to power the resurgent 49ers over the winless Cardinals. The victory was the 49ers’ fifth in a row on the road over two seasons and gave San Francisco 90 points in its last two games. FALCONS 30, LIONS 14 —At Pontiac, Mich., Steve Bartkowski threw three TD passes, two to Alfred Jackson, and WillSm Andrews set a club record with 32 rushing attempts to lead Atlanta. BILLS 28, COLTS 23 — At Orchard Park, N.Y., Joe Ferguson threw three scoring passes, two to running back Joe Cribbs, and Cribbs also scored on a 1-yard run to power Buffalo over the penalty- plagued Colts. PATRIOTS 28, JETS 13 — At Foxboro, Mass., Tony Collins set one club record and tied another, scoring on runs of 39, 7 and 23 yards to trigger New England’s upset. Collins rushed for 212 yards on 23 carries, breaking the Patriots’ record of 208 yards set in 1966 by Jim Nance. SEAHAWKS 34, CHARGERS 31 — At Seattle, Steve Largent caught touchdown passes of 41 and 5 yards from Jim Zorn and rookie Curt Warner rushed for 109 yards to pace Seattle’s ball- control offense. The Seahawks withstood a late Chargers’ rally, behind three fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Dan Fouts, including a 27-yard strike to tight end Eric Sievers to make it 34-31 with 4:16 left. EAGLES 10, BRONCOS 7 — At Denver, Tony Franklin kicked a 43-yard field goal with 56 seconds remaining to lift the Eagles. The Broncos tied the game with 1:54 left when rookie [ohn Elway threw a 33-yard touchdown pass up the middle to running back Rick Parros, but Phi ladelphia responded by driving 55 yards to set up Franklin’s game winning kick. VIKINGS 19, BUCCANEERS 16 — At Tampa, Fla., Benny Ricardo kicked four field goals, including a game-saving 38-yarder and a game-winning 42-yarder 9:27 into overtime, to lift the Vikings. • OILERS LOSE/pagel2 On day of upsets, the Horns have what it takes The Texas Longhorns had two things going for them in their 20-7 victory over Auburn Saturday, • SWC ROUNDUP/page 12 • HIGH SCHOOLS/page 12 Learn it, and you will win. And best of all, there are only two parts. 1) Depth wins. 2) Defense wins. _ Zip. oe Committee jlish Dept. 3 ! On a day when preseason No. I I s fell like crystal balls dropped from the Sears Tower, the Lon- I ghoms looked extremely capable of taking over the top spot. In ; addition to Auburn, picked by Playboy to win the mythical na tional championship, two other No. Ts bit the Astroturf. Michigan (Sports Illustrated) lost to Washington, 25-24, and Notre Dame (The Sporting News) fell to Michigan State, 28-23. But the Horns had no such problems Saturday. They jumped on the Tigers from the start, led 20-0 at the half, and completely dominated the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. “We may have shocked them a little,” Texas coach Fred Akers said. “They weren’t able to recov er until the fourth quarter.” If anyone should be shocked, it’s the people back in Austin. Putting it bluntly, there’s no way the Longhorns should be win ning football games. At least not now. Check the injury report. It reads like a preseason all- South west Conference team. Quarterback Todd Dodge — injured. Flanker Ronnie Mullins — injured. Tight end Bobby Micho — injured. Linebacker Jeff Leiding — injured. It’s a wonder UT coach Fred Akers could find22 players to send out against the fourth-ranked Tigers, let alone 22 that could dominate. But that’s Point No. 1. Depth — the Longhorns have it in abundance. Before the season started, a popular joke among sports writers was to say the second best team in the confer ence would be sitting on the Lon ghorn bench. So far, nobody — not SMU, not Arkansas, not Texas A&M — has proven that assumption wrong. Still, those injuries helped change folks’minds a little. Maybe the Longhorns wouldn’t be that good. After all, even Texas would have trouble replacing that many key players. Oddsmakers made the Tigers 2V2-point favorites. In The Battalion’s Friday football forecast, four of the six “pickers” chose Auburn. Even the sports editor of the Daily Texan, UTs student newspaper, picked Au burn in that paper’s forecast. But that’s all theory. The truth is Texas is knee-pad deep in ta lent. Injuries won’t hurt, because the second-teamers are just as good as the first. Take quarter back, for example. The Great UT Quarterback Scramble was decided, or not de cided, in typical Longhorn fashion. Got three quarterbacks who can play? Can’t decide on any one? No problem. Use ’em all! That’s just what Akers did. Although junior Rob Moerschell started the game, both Rick Mcl- vor and Danny Akers played. In fact, Moerschell and Mclvor took turns leading the Horns to scores on four of UTs first six posessions. It was easy after that. The only thing Dodge’s injury did was keep one less QB out of the rotation. It could get awfully confusing with four quarterbacks running the show. Then again, maybe not. The Horns used 10 different running backs against the Tigers. Talk ab out depth. That brings us to Point No. 2, defense. No surprise here. Eight returning starters and mega-talent stopped the Tigers’ vaunted wish bone attack from going anywhere. Auburn’s bone picked up only 130 yards, prompting Tiger run ning back Bo Jackson to say he felt like he had “been stampeded by a herd of cows. ” Close enough. TTie Homs held the Tigers to 51 yards of total offense and two first downs in the first half. Auburn didn't cross its own 46-yard line until the third period, and didn’t score until 1 minute, 33 seconds before the end of the game. “I don’t know if we were scared or what,” said Auburn coach Pat Dye. “If we could have sustained the ball any at all in the first half we could have moved the football on Texas. But the offense wasn’t out there long enough to break a sweat.” Dye called the first half an “embarrassment.” But it was Ak ers who said it best. “It was our day, folks. It was our day,” he said. Not only that, it could the Lon ghorns’ year, if they canjremem- ber those two points. Depth and defense. They work every time.