>T
Tuesday, October 7, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 7
Sports
Success could spoil Aggie fans
Photo by John Makely
Six Aggies swarm over a Texas Tech player dur- Saturday’s game. A&M remained in the No. 14
ing Texas A&M’s 45-8 rout of the Red Raiders in spot in Monday’s Associated Press football poll.
A&M faithful
only happy
with Cotton
By Homer Jacobs
Assistant Sports Editor
Grunts and groans. Whines and
moans.
No, it’s not the dialogue of a por
nographic movie.
It’s the sounds of dissatisfaction
and greed on the part of Aggie foot
ball fans. '■
The sounds Viewpoint
can be heard
from the Dixie Chicken to “bull” ses
sions in dormitory rooms.
The conversations usually center
around the fact that Texas A&M is
on/y ranked No. 14; or that the of
fense isn’t playing like last year; or
that anything short of a Cotton Bowl
appearance for A&M is an awful
thought.
Let’s face it, students and former
students are getting greedy and
spoiled, after just one year of Aggie
gridiron success.
What’s wrong with being the No.
14 team in the nation?
What’s wrong with a 9-3 record?
Granted, everyone wants to be a
winner, but let’s not take winning for
granted.
For all the juniors and seniors out
there, remember those games when
the Aggies were the butt of jokes
around the nation when it came to
football?
As bowl bids rolled around late in
1984, and the Aggies were strug
gling to reach the .500 mark, the In
dependence Bowl would have been
incredible.
Now, it’s Cotton or nothing.
I can only feel sorry for Texas,
Oklahoma and Nebraska fans. If
these teams don’t reach their major
bowls, the year is far from being a
successful one.
A&M Head Coach Jackie Sherrill
hit the nail on the head earlier this
year when he said that a Southwest
Conference football team is mea
sured by its success rate in the Cot
ton Bowl, not the Sun or Bluebonnet
bowls.
If it’s any consolation, the Aggies
are way ahead this season in terms of
national rankings.
It wasn’t until A&M beat South
ern Methodist in early November of
1985 that the Aggies even moved
into The Associated Press Top
Twenty; and A&M still ended up the
No. 6 team on January 2.
Dreams of a national
championship may have been
dashed with the Aggies’ opening loss
to Louisiana State University, but
A&M still has a good football team,
sometimes a great one.
So the Aggies didn’t get the 45-0
shutout against Texas Tech; so the
Aggies didn’t run up the score on
North Texas State.
As Sherrill and A&M players have
reiterated, polls and rankings will
take care of themselves.
Let’s enjoy what the Aggies are
doing right now on the football field,
because success can be short-lived —
just ask UT Coach Fred Akers.
To think that the Longhorns were
a fumbled punt away from a na
tional title in the 1984 Cotton Bowl,
a second half away from another
Cotton Bowl appearance in 1986,
and now T-shirts in Austin are bear
ing the words “We’re Akers and Ak
ers away from Cotton . . . Fire Fred!”
Hopefully, Aggie fans won’t reach
this point.
Greed can be the root of all evil.
I guess it all started when your
dad used to bring back McDonald’s
for lunch for the whole family, and
undoubtedly, your hand reached for
the fullest bag of fries.
Maybe this season and in the fu
ture, Aggie fans won’t need to have
their fries and eat them, too.
Akers hopeful despite dire forecast
AUSTIN (AP) — Texas football
I coach Fred Akers learned Monday
[ that his Longhorn squad is a 24-
point underdog to Oklahoma and
drew laughter by responding, “I
| hope they’re wrong.”
Akers was asked if he could recall
I a Texas team being such a big un
derdog to the Sooners, and he said,
I “No, I don’t remember, not in this
game.”
Any game?
“No, never,” the 10-year Texas
I coach told a news conference.
Akers was asked what he thought
[ of his team’s chances, and he said,
I “I know they’re heavily favored. I
I can see that physically and experi-
[ ence-wise and everything else but
j it’s been that way before.”
Oklahoma was ranked No. 1 be-
| fore falling to Miami 28-16 and is
I now 3-1, averaging over 43 points a
l game. Unranked Texas dropped its
j opener to Stanford at home and
I has eked out road victories over
' Missouri, 27-25, and Rice, 17-14.
The Texas-Oklahoma kickoff in
I the 81st meeting between the two
j teams is at 2:35 p.m. at the Cotton
Bowl in Dallas.
A sellout crowd of 75,587 is as-
; sured, and the game is being re-
“We’re going to have to go
out there and really play a
heck of a ball game to stay
on the field with them —
that’s all we want our play
ers to understand, and
they won’t have any prob
lem understanding that. I
hope they all intend to go
up there and win the ball
game. ”
— UT Coach Fred Akers
on the OU-Texas game.
gionally televised by ABC-TV.
“They’re a good football team,
we know that, and we expect it to be
a heck of a ball game,” Akers said.
“We’re going to have to go out
there and really play a heck of a ball
game to stay on the field with them
— that’s all we want our players to
understand, and they won’t have
any problem understanding that.
“I hope they all intend to go up
there and win the ball game.”
A reporter said he had heard
that TV news had reported Akers
was considering resigning, but Ak
ers said, “Oh, no.”
Asked if he felt an “extra urge”
to win because of various news re
ports that Akers’ job might be
shaky, Akers said, “I don’t need any
extra urge.”
“I don’t know how anybody
could help me want to win any
more than I do,” he said.
Akers disclosed that freshman
bluechip recruit Duane Duncum
might start his first game at middle
linebacker, and said freshman Alex
Waits is now Texas’ No. 1 punter.
Duncum would be the first true
freshman to start at linebacker for
Texas since Doug Shankle in 1978.
Akers also said a bruise on tackle
Rick Houston’s lower leg might re
sult in more practice work for
freshmen linemen Stan Thomas, 6-
foot-6 and 270 pounds, and
Charles Seafous, 6-6 and. 308.
Asked if running back Edwin
Simmons, who was suspended for
disciplinary reasons, would play
against Oklahoma, Akers said,
“There’s no change on Edwin Sim
mons as yet.”
By The Associated Press
The Top Twenty teams in the Associated
Press college football poll, with first-place
votes in parentheses, 1986 record, total
points based on 20-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-
11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and ranking in last
week's poll:
Record
Pts
Pvs
1. Miami, Fla. (55)
5-0-0
1,155
1
2. Alabama (2)
5-0-0
1,084
2
3. Nebraska
4-0-0
988
3
4. Michigan
4-0-0
959
4
5. Penn State (1)
4-0-0
937
5
6. Oklahoma
3-1-0
867
6
7, Auburn
4-0-0
828
7
8. Arkansas
4-0-0
726
6
9. S. California
4-0-0
709
9
10. Iowa
4-0-0
614
11
11. Arizona
4-0-0
605
10
12. Washington
3-1-0
504
12
13. Baylor
4-1-0
430
13
14. Texas A&M
3-1-0
393
14
15. Arizona St.
3-0-1
392
16
16. LSD
2-1-0
268
18
17. N. Carolina St.
3-0-1
133
20
18. Stanford
4-0-0
111
-
19. Mississippi St.
4-1-0
86
-
20. Clemson
3-1-0
77
-
?er a
Auto Service
“Auto Repair At Its Best”
General Repairs
on Most Cars & Light Trucks
Domestic & Foreign
OPEN MON-FRI 7:30-5:30
ONE DA Y SERVICE IN MOST CASES
CALL FOR APPOINTMENT
846-5344
Just one mile north of A&M
On the Shuttle Bus Route
111 Royal, Bryan
■■H] Across S. College From Tom’s B-B-Q
SCHULMAN THEATRES
2.50 ADMISSION
1. Any Show Before 3 PM
2. Tuesday - All Seats
3. Mon-Wed - Local Students With
Current ID’s.
4. Thurs. - KORA “Over 30 Nite”
•DENOTES DOLBY STEREO
PLAZA 3
226 Southwest Pkwy
693-2457
CR0CIDILE DUNDEE pc is
TOP GUN rs
EXTREMITIES s ill
MANOR EAST 3
Regular
Haircuts
$5
MSC Barbershop
Lower Lever MSC
846-0629
Shoe Shines
Hours:
8 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Manor East Mall
823-8300
RUTHLESS PEOPLES
STAND BY MEs
7:20
0:40
TOUGH GUYS i
SCHULMAN 6
2002 E. 29th
‘LINK s
775-2463
FUGHT OF THE
NAVIGATOR ps
7:15
5:30
KKYS 105 Presents
$ DOLLAR DAYS $
This Week’s Features Are:
'‘KARATE KID II ps
NOTHING IN COMMON ps-13
FERRIS BUELLERS
DAY OFF ps
f
UNIVERSAL GROCERY & SNACK BAR
\ CHINESE LUNCH SPECIAL $2°°
-Eggrolls & Wontons-
Imported Oriental Groceries-Exotic Foods
All within walking distance of Campus
Across from Blocker Bldg. & St. Mary Center
110 Nagle-C.S 846-1210
Ski Winterpark
January 9-16, $285.°°
includes: Condo accommodations
n 5 days, 4 days skiing, lift
tickets, and ski rentals
• Roundtrip trans.
call: Steve Buras 696-7958
Rick POPP 846-7506
Lori Claesmann 693-9611
Classified 845-2611
TOESimw Kincsmnr
AUCTION
Tuesday, Oct. 7
Viewing 6-7 pm
Sale Time 7 pm
200 S. Main
Downtown Bryan
Antiques Collectables
& General Merchandise
A.L. Buck Buchanan II
(409)846-3069 Auctioneer TXS-007-0563
Styling for Men
& Women
$5. 00 OFF Perms
with this coupon
(regular $35-40)
Open M-F 9-6 Sat. 9-2
268-2051
Located in the Lower Level Memorial Student Center
Walk-ins Welcome [*
Exp.
12-20-86
Limit of 46 people
Deadline for sign-up Nov. 1
with a $150.°° deposit
Sponsored by the TAMU weightlifting Club
JACK IN THE BOX
OPEN 24 hours
(Wed-Sun)
- 2 cheeseburgers for .990
Free hash brown with the
purchase of a croissant
breakfast (6am-10:30am)
Bring this coupon in and receive a free
medium soft drink with the purchase of
any Supreme Sandwich after midnight.