Monday, September 16,1 QSS/The Battalion/Page 13
A&M's Murray finds Alabama
difficult place to make return
Photo by JOHN MAKELY
Texas A&M quarterback Kevin Murray made his return to the play
ing field Saturday against Alabama. The sophomore hadn’t played
since Sept. 29, 1984 when he broke his ankle against Arkansas State.
Murray showed no signs of his injury as he passed for 158 yards.
CHAREAN WILLIAMS
Asst. Sports Editor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Wel
come back. Kevin!
Texas A&M quarterback Kevin
Murray has always been competitive.
At North Dallas High School, with
a Milwaukee Brewers’ farm club and
with A&M, winning has always been
upmost on Murray’s mind.
So, it wasn’t surprising that Mur
ray sacrificed his body for the Aggies
onSept.29, 1984.
He was within one yard of the
oal line when he saw an Arkansas
tate defender in his way. Instead of
going out of bounds or using the
baseball slide he had learned, Mur
ray tried to go over the top.
He broke his ankle on the way
down.
Therefore 1984 was worse for
Murray than anything George Or
well could have predicted.
The Aggies had been 7-2-1 in
games Murray had started. He was
the Southwest Conference’s total of
fense leader as a freshman in 1983.
He was also the SWC Newcomer of
the Year. He had a career passing
percentage of 53.7.
Murray was the Aggies’ leader.
A&M was expected to stumble,
fall and die without him — and at
first it did.
But soon Murray’s replacement,
Craig Stump, was guiding the Ag
gies up and down the fielcf. And be
fore anyone knew it. Stump had di
rected A&M to season-ending upsets
ofTop 20 teams, TCU and Texas.
However, like all fairy tales, Aggie
fans were rooting for Murray to re
turn to his vintage form and lead
them to something they haven’t
tasted since 1968 — a Cotton Bowl
berth.
With Murray’s return came cries
of “quarterback controversy at
A&M.” The fans, the press, the
alumni, the students — everyone
.wanted to know who the starting
quarterback would be against Ala
bama.
Around the campus, biology,
physics and english weren’t the most
discussed subjects — Murray and
Stump were.
In the minds of most, the job be
longed to Murray. So, when Jackie
Sherrill announced that he wouldn’t
name a starter until the first snap
against ’Bama, everyone knew it
would be Murray.
But, the Aggie who got under
neath center Matt Wilson for the
first offensive possession wasn’t
Murray, it was Stump.
And rightfully so.
Stump finished the season on a
winning note. He had led the Ag
gies. He had.earned the position.
But, at the same time, Murray had
only lost the position by forfeit. He
haa done the Aggies no wrong.
So, it was only right that both get a
chance to play against the Tide.
Stump went five-for-five passing
in the first quarter and part of the
second. He led the Aggies to within
field goal range.
With 11:15 left in the half, Mur
ray got his chance. While he didn’t
get a standing ovation from the par
tisan ’Bama crowd, he certainly won
the hearts of the Aggie fans.
His first pass was a 7-yard comple
tion to flanxer Jeff Nelson.
A good start.
Murray’s third pass, a 17-yarder
to Shea Walker, gave him 178 com-
f iletions for his career, placing him
ourth on the all-time A&M comple
tion list.
With just under four minutes left
in the half, Murray ran out in the
open field for the first time since his
injury. He took a dive after an 8-
yard gain.
He led the Ags to their first points
of the night, a 20-yard field goal by
kicker Eric Franklin.
Stump opened the second half
and finished the game six-of-seven
for 51 yards.
Not a bad night.
But, on this night he was over
shadowed by Murray’s return. It was
great to see No. 14 back in the
E ocket looking, throwing and scram-
ling.
With ’Bama leading 16-10 and the
clock showing 1:48 left in the game,
there was Murray pacing the sideline
giving his team encouragement.
“Come on defense,” he yelled.
He walked to each offensive
player, shook their hand and said,
“The rope’s getting tight. We’ve got
to pull together. Don’t give up.”
A true fairy tale would have Mur
ray leading the Aggies down the
field for the winning touchdown
with no time left on the clock.
A true comeback.
But, on Sept. 14 it was not to be.
Alabama running back Craig
Turner bolted 32 yards for a touch
down with 1:07 left, giving the Tide
a 23-10 win.
Despite a 13-of-20 passing night
for 158 yards, despite guiding the
Aggies to 10 points and a near upset,
despite leaving the field knowing he
was truly back, Kevin Murray
walked toward the A&M locker
room shaking his head.
“It felt good to be back out there
before the game,” Murray said af
terward. “But, now I’m not so sure. I
hate losing. I feel awful bad. My per
sonal performance doesn’t really
matter. What counts is that we lost.
“This whole deal is sickening now.
We shouldn’t have lost. I feel worse
now than when I got hurt last year.”
For Murray, the game was a little
pleasing, but a lot disappointing.
“I think we moved the ball awfully
well,” Murray said, “except inside
the 25-yard line and that was the dif
ference in the game. You lose the
momentum when you have it down
there and don’t punch it across the
goal line.
“It’s just so disappointing. I’m not
taking anything away from Ala
bama, but we gave this game away. I
flunk we outplayed them.'The mis
takes just killed us.”
“We have to get back on the right
track,” the sophomore said. “We let
this one slip out of our hands. We
walked into the dressing room very
disappointed. Now we know what
that feels like and we don’t ever want
to feel that way again.”
Now that Kevin’s back, maybe
they won’t.
Lions stalk, shock Pokes, 26-21
Associated Press
PONTIAC, Mich. — Darryl Rog
ers, fresh out of the collegiate coach
ing ranks, has instilled a new spirit in
the Detroit Lions that has carried
them to victories in his first two Na
tional Football League games.
“There’s a tremendous positive at
titude on the team right now,” said
Detroit quarterback Eric Hippie,
who accounted for two touchdowns
in the Lions 26-21 victory Sunday
over the Dallas Cowboys. “Coach ex
pects a lot out of us. He tries to un
derstand us and we try to under
stand him.
“He doesn’t throw fits. He’s al
ways in control,” Hippie added.
Hippie passed for one touchdown
and ran for another and a fired-up
Detroit defense did the rest, forcing
five Dallas turnovers and pulling off
agoal line stand.
The Lions needed the turnovers
because the Cowboys rolled up 554
yards in total offense to just just 200
for Detroit.
“It’s a tremendous thing for us to
have this much success at this point,”
said Rogers, who came to the Lions
from Arizona State last winter after
Detroit fired Monte Clark following
a 4-11-1 season in 1984. “Dallas
came off a big Monday night, so we
got them at the right time.
“Our defense played extremely
well,” Rogers said. “We had inter
ceptions every way possible. The de
fense made the offense look good
because they got them such good
field position.”
Hippie, who completed 10 of 23
for 141 yards, flipped a 21-yard
scoring strike to Jeff Chadwick at
4:24 of the first quarter and ran 1
yard for a TD at 2:33 of the third
quarter.
James Jones scored the Lions’
other touchdown at 2:59 of the third
quarter. Eddie Murray kicked field
goals of 34 and 46 yards to round
out the Lions scoring.
The Cowboys, who appeared flat
after their emotional Monday night
victory over Washington, didn’t
score until the fourth quarter when
Gary Hogeboom came on for in
jured Danny White.
Dallas Coach Tom Landry made it
clear, however, that he had not
soured on White.
“I don’t think I’ll have to make a
lot of changes, unless I really don’t
know this football team,” Landry
said. “That was one of the worst
third quarters I’ve ever seen in my
life.”
Hogeboom, who starred at Cen
tral Michigan, fired TD passes of 11
and 44 yards to Tony Hill ran 1 yard
for the Cowboys final TD with 20
seconds remaining.
. Hogeboom completed 17 of 24
for 255 yards. White, who suffered a,
sprained thumb, finished with 23 of
38 for 226 yards and three intercep
tions.
“There were some fluky things
happened that just went against us,”
White said. “We got behind early.
There’s no excuse for it. We* just
didn’t react very well to what they
were doing.”
Hill, one of the few bright spots
for the Cowboys, finished with a per
sonal best 11 catches for 181 yards.
His previous best was nine catches
Oct. 14, 1984, against the Redskins.
Doug Cosbie caught 11 passes for
161 yards for Dallas.
Cowboys placekicker Rafael Sep^
tien missed field goal attempts of 42
and 44 yards.
A crowd of 72,985, including NFL
Commissioner Pete Rozelle, watched
the game in the Silverdome. There
were 2,478 no-shows.
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Sunday’s NFL scores:
(Home team in capitals)
N.Y.JETS 42, Buffalo 3
^ m,
ST. LOUIS 41, Cincinnati 27
(fl rk
MIAMI 30, Indian a pons 13
L.AJRams 17, PHILADELPHIA 6
CHICAGO 20, New England 7
Minnesota 31, TAMPA BAY 16
DENVER 34, New Orleans 23
GREEN BAY 23, N.Y. Giants 20
'SCO
SAN FRANCISCO 35, Atlanta 16
Seattle 49, SAN DIEGO 35
Monday Night Game:
^ Q,
Pittsburgh at CLEVELAND
Redskins use Oiler penalties
to get back on track, 16-13
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The same
penalty flags that allowed the Hous
ton Oilers to soar last week were
their undoing Sunday as they fell to
the Washington Redskins 16-13 un
der a sea of yellow flags.
Last week, the Oilers were aided
by a pass interference call in the end
zone to come from behind in the
fourth quarter to beat Miami.
The Oilers were penalized a
dozen times for 111 yards, including
two touchdowns that were called
back and a 51-yard pass play that
would have given them a first down
at the Washington 9-yard line.
“We had five big plays called back.
That always hurt’s you, especially on
the road,” said Houston quarterback
Warren Moon, who completed 12 of
28 passes for 137 yards and one
touchdown.
“You can’t give away that many
big plays and expect to win,” said
Oiler wide receiver Drew Hill. “We
beat them, we just didn’t beat them
on the score.”
Following the callback of their sec
ond touchdown, the Oilers still had a
chance to tie, but Tony Zendejas’ 33-
yard field goal attempt with 4:23 to
play hit the right upright and
bounced wide.
“I hit it straight it just didn’t break
in,” said Zendejas, who was traded
by the Redskins to Houston this
summer.
The Redskins, thrashed Monday
night in Dallas, 44-14, used the
power running of George Rogers
and John Riggins early against the
Oilers, scoring on their first three
possessions. The team bogged down
after the quick start but still held on
for the team’s first victory of the sea
son.
‘It was just a guts job, especially af
ter after a short work week where
there were bad thoughts, feelings
and depression,” said Redskin
Coach Joe Gibbs.
Gibbs admitted to some early sea
son scoreboard watching and was
genuinely pleased as the results of
the Dallas loss to Detroit was posted.
“We were struggling in their for
awhile,” Gibbs said. “I think all of
our players got a little excited by that
(the Dallas score). I think that gave
us a little lift.”
Rogers, playing his first regular
season game in Washington since be
ing obtained in a trade with New Or
leans this spring, rushed 15 times for
78 yards including a 31-yard touch
down.
Riggins, who became only the
third player in NFL history to carry
the ball 3,000 times (rush and recep
tion) in a career, carried 16 times for
84 yards.
Beaten by 30 points just six days
ago in the season opener in Dallas,
the Redskins broke on top quickly,
scoring on their first three posses
sions.
Quarterback Joe Theismann,
coming off the worst outing of his
career, was good on all three passing
attempts in the opening drive, the
last a 17-yarder to Calvin Muham
mad for the touchdown, as Washing
ton led 7-0 five minutes into the
game.
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