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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1984)
) m s not prt. KpS " W1 With) e 'equirei s a dcptt Sports Monday, October 8, 1984/The Battalion/Page 9 'ytheEnJ ''hematics Ag question marks multiply with Tech loss iday isivedrif. ^Ramada percent alofatn. ■nn.Tfe ered 'aiiercoti. ns on tit !rs, cattle. $125 ami iquebond KH excted name, ad- he papet, e given on il2tol3j ics iponunit the Inst tt. 15 im > Math for i$135()« ire enroll- xas Alii 1, west of :rossd)uiB iVindsor. Id rally agn e prop, leaders at 'shake has ist cotiM lice andsk aid he leas ;o field toi a six-yeaii over a dan Of By TRAVIS TINGLE Assistant Sports Editor As the last few minutes of the I Texas Tech game dwindled away, I Texas A&M heard the cries of “Poor I Aggies” from an opposing team’s I fans for the first time this season. I The way A&M is playing right now, I it probably won’t be the last time ei- I ther. The chant, which doesn’t usually I mean much of anything, was more I than a fair evaluation of Jackie Sher- j rill’s third career loss to the rebuild- I ing Red Raiders. Tech expected a closer game. The | media expected a closer game. Ev- 1 eryone expected a closer game. So I what went wrong? “The big plays were the difference I in the ball game,” Sherrill said. I “They (Texas Tech) made the big I plays. We did not.” Twenty unanswered points by I Tech in the fourth quarter proves I Sherrill’s point, but there’s more to I the Ags’ 30-12 loss than just a blem- I ishon the record. In all of A&M’s previous three vic- I tories, Sherrill blamed A&M’s incon- I sistency on the three stooges of foot- Iball — miscues, penalties and I turnovers. With only one fumble and an in- | terception against Tech, it’s evident I that the Ags’ problems lie elsewhere. Perhaps poor tackling is to blame. | A&M linebacker Johhny Holland I thinks so. “It was just a case of a lot of missed I tackles,” Holland said. “We (inside : linebackers) were blitzing and I (Texas Tech’s) Timmy Smith would I bounce to the outside. We needed to I wrap him up instead of shooting I right at him.” Smith ripped the Aggie defense I for 139 yards rushing, with most of it I coming on just runs of 52 and 43 1 yards. Behind Smith’s rushing, Tech I bled the Ags’ defense for 203 yards ; on the ground. Considering Tech mustered a I mere -13 yards in a 18-9 loss to Bay- | lor last week, the Aggie defense re mains an unsolved mystery. ffUfli sfcMSC GREAT ISSUES During the rain-drenched third quarter, the Ags needed to make tneir move — they didn’t. Everyone who left their umbrella in the car re members well those agonizing 15 minutes of football. The Ags found themselves down 10-6, but passed the ball only once during the enitre third quarter. Nei ther team was willing to give up field position and wanted to avoid a mo mentum-shifting turnover at all cost. Tech could afford to keep its of fense into limbo for the third quarter — A&M could not. To T ech, the rain showers worked just as effectively as hiding the foot ball under their jerseys for 15 min utes. The Ags could not afford to concede the third quarter, yet they helped Tech drain time off the clock by not passing. A&M quarterback Craig Stump explained the Ags’ strategy. “At that point, we needed to take care of the ball,” Stump said. “A turnover there would have given them a big advantage. It (the rain) was coming down so hard. It would have been hard to throw.” A&M’s lack of third quarter offen sive diversity hurt them in the fourth quarter when the game escaped the Ags’ for good. Trailing 17-9, the Aggies settled for a 35 yard Alan Smith field goal after failing on third and 12 situa tion from the Tech 18 yard line. That was the big play that killed the Aggies. From that point on, Tech pro ceeded to paint the town, or in this case Kyle Field red — the Ags pro vided the Wagner Power Painters. “We felt at the time that we had a chance to win the game,” Sherrill said. “After we kicked the field goal (making the score 17-12), we were in the right position. We were just never in a position to make a big play” The Ags were in scoring position inside the 20 yard line several times during the course of the game. Each time, the Aggies bogged down and played dead. Stump gave no excuses for the of fenses’ lacklustre exihibition. Texas A&M quarterback Craig Stump (9) is sandwiched between Texas Tech defenders Brad Hastings (44) and Merv Scurlark (5) Photo by FRANK IRWIN during the Aggies 30-12 loss to the Red Raiders on a wet Kyle Field Saturday afternoon. “They (Texas Tech) played the defense we had practiced on all week,” Stump said. “We knew they had a good defense coming into the game. They have the No. 1 defense in the conference. A lot of times, we had things going and we just hurt ourselves. I can’t think of any one play in particular that hurt us though. “I now we’re going to bounce back from this. We’re going to win some more games. We just need to cut out the mistakes. Individually, it doesn’t matter how I played. If we lose, we lose.” The Ags’ luck finally ran out against Tech. But with Houston, Baylor, Rice, SMU, Arkansas, TCU and Texas remaining on the sched ule, the prospects of a Cotton Bowl season may have been literally washed away with the rains that pounded College Station Saturday. i. Allappl* cubicle b :reenings> and Suitf held on Si : foil! V W WW V MSC GREAT ISSUES PRESENTS: WILLIAM F BUCKLEY JR. & JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH IN A DEBATE ENTITLED "IS BIG GOVERNMENT SOCIALLY DESIRABLE? 5 ” A&M’s hopes of a starting off the SWC race on a winning note were dashed once again in front of 51,365 fans at Kyle Field. Most of them asking that seem ingly never-ending question: “What’s wrong with the Aggies?” WV1 ° CT - 30 RUDDer All TIC* AUD|t °RIUm TIC KETS: STUDENT Ss ™ NONSTUDfnt f 5,00 HCKFtc ^ DENT $7.00 AT thp SorP N s ale oct r Ml THE MSC BOX OFFICE 8 ri, k copft