Monday, November 4, 1985/The Battalion/Page 9
Sports
u
Ags break hex, upset Ponies
Rv RR ANnON RFRRV Four P la y s later the A gS ies were
By B KAN DON BLKRY int() the end zone and in p OSSe ssion
Sports Writer of a precarious 10-7 lead. Three of.
According to an old Scottish pro- the four plays were runs by A&M se-
verb: fool me once, shame on you; nior running back Anthony Toney,
fool me twice, shame on me. But fool the game’s leading rusher with 117
me thrice? yards on 21 carries.
In Texas A&M’s 19-17 victory
over SMU, the third lime proved to
be the charm as the Aggies broke a
two-year-old “tradition’ of letting
the Mustangs come from behind to
steal narrow wins.
“It’s the greatest win of the season
for us so far,” said A&M Coach
Jackie Sherrill.
With the victory, A&M moved
into a second place tie with Arkansas
in the Southwest Conference
championship race at 4-1, only one
eame behind the league-leading
Baylor Bears.
The NCAA probation-stricken
Mustangs, who were a preseason No.
1 team in many national polls, fell to
3-2 within the conf erence.
The only people who seemed to
be working strenuously in the first
half were tlie of ficials.
A&M seemed well on its way to
breaking the record for total num
ber of penalty yards in one game. In
the first half alone, the Aggies were
penalized 11 times for 105 yards.
The Mustangs, meanwhile, were
whistled five times for 40 yards.
And when A&M wasn’t being pe- _
nalized, they were fumbling the ball
— three times, losing one, in the first
half.
At the halftime break, the only
scoring on the Aggies’ side of the
ledger resulted from Eric Franklin’s
38-yard field goal.
In the second half, the Aggies
eliminated the penalties, the fum
bles, the Mustangs’ outside run de
fense and SMU’s four-point lead.
And they started returning punts
and kickoffs for long, long distances.
Freshman speedster Rod Harris
got the ball rolling for the Aggies in
die second half by returning the
opening kickoff 71 yards to the SMU
24-yard line.
But the Ponies came back with a
33-yard Branch Brownlee field goal,
after driving 5d yards in 11 plays.
One problem for the Mustangs,
however: They had to kickoff to the
Aggies and Harris again.
After a 31-yard Harris return, the
Aggies drove 58 yards in 10 plays to
take the lead again, this time lb-10.
Toney and Keith Woodside, who
had the best game of his career with
104 yards on 12 carries, provided
the meat-and-potatoes ground
game, but the dessert came on a six-
vard scoring pass from quarterback
Revin Murray to wide receiver Shea
Walker.
Franklin’s extra point attempt
sailed wide after a five-yard penalty
backed up the Aggies to their eight
yard line.
And that momentary show of
weakness was all the Mustangs
needed to breathe life back into a
tired old horse.
The Ponies illustrated the explo
siveness that made them the early-
season conference favorites by driv
ing 91 yards in no time flat for the
go-ahead score. And it looked like
the Mustangs would come from be
hind against the Aggies like they had
for the last two years.
But this year’s scenario had a dif
ferent ending.
"I was confident the whole game
that we were going to win, until they
kicked the field goal,” SMU running
back Reggie Dupard said of a 48-
yard Franklin field goal in the last
two minutes that proved to be the
deciding points in tne contest.
A&M safety Kip Corrington
sealed the victory by intercepting an
overthrown pass from Mustang
quarterback Don King in the closing
moments.
Murray took to a knee, Franklin
jumped ecstatically and the Aggies
Ag Juggernaut
A&M runningback Anthony Toney rolls up yard
age en route to a game-leading 117 yards on 21
carries as SMU’s Kit Case tries to bring Toney
Photo by JOHN MAKELY
down to the Astroturf. Toney shared ball carry
ing chores with Keith Woodside, who carried 12
times for 104 yards.
were the team still punching in this
year’s SWC knock-down, drag-out.
“1 would say that for me person
ally, it’s the biggest win we’ve had
since I’ve been nefe,” Toney said,
“because we won and we still have a
chance For the championship.”
And, for the first time in a long
time, that ain't no f ooling.
No. 11owa
tumbles to
Ohio State
Associated Press
With Election Day just around
the corner, the Iowa Hawkeyes
blew a landslide victory.
They were beaten 22-13 by
eighth-ranked Ohio State and
when the next AP poll is released
on Tuesdav, the college football
world will have its fourth No. 1
team of the season.
I he only question seems to be
whether it will be second-ranked
7-0-1 Florida, a 14-10 winner
over No. b Auburn, or third-
ranked 8-0 Penn State, which re
mained one of die nation’s three
unbeaten and untied teams bv
rallying liom a 12-3 defic it to de
feat Boston College lb-12.
“Usually when No. I loses and
you're No. 2, you move up,” Flor
ida (loach Galen Hall said aftei
the Gators turned back Auburn
and stretch the nation’s longest
unbeaten streak to 18 games (lb-
0-2).
Ironically, Penn State is Hall’s
alma mater. The Nittany Lions
also happen to own a 17-10 vic
tory over Rutgers, which tied
Florida 28-28.
Elsewhere in the Top Ten,
fourth-ranked Michigan was tied
by Illinois 3-3, No. 5 Nebraska
whipped Kansas State 41-3,.
n i n t n - r a n k e d O k I a h o m a
pounded Kansas 48-b and No. 11
Miami, Fla., downed No. 10 Flor
ida State 35-27.
The only other Top Twenty
loser was No. 20 Southern Meth
odist, which bowed to Texas
A&M 19-17. Rounding out the
Second Fen, No. 12 Oklahoma
State edged Colorado. 14-11, No.
14 Arkansas trimmed Rice 30-15,
No. lb LSU blanked Mississippi
14-0. No. 17 Brigham Young
crushed Wyoming 59-0, No. 18
Georgia swamped winless Tulane
58-3 and No. 19 Tennessee bat
tered Rutgers 40-0. Baylor and
UCLA, ranked 13th and 15th, re
spectively, were not scheduled.
Ohio State, which leads the na
tion in turnover margin, inter
cepted Iowa’s Chuck Long four
times and retorted a fumble in
knocking off the previously un
beaten Havvkeves.
YEARBOOK PHOTOS
Freshmen and
Sophomores
thru Nov. 11
All photos will be taken at
Yearbook Associate’s Studio
above Campus Photo Center
at Northgate. No photos will
be taken at the Pavilion.
Office hours are 8:30-12:00 ,
and 1:00-4:30.
Juniors, Seniors
Vets, Meds and
Grads
thru Nov. 15