Tuesday, November 25, 1986/The Battalion/Page 7
Sports
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A&M vs. Texas
Sherrill says slumping 'Horns
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By Ken Sury
Sports Editor
Although Texas A&M and the
■ University of Texas are coming off
■ completely different results Satur-
Bday, both A&M Coach Jackie Sher-
■ rill and Texas Coach Fred Akers
■ said they expect as emotional a game
■ as ever when the two teams square
Boffin their annual Thanksgiving ri-
B valry.
A&M is coming off a 74-10 cake-
I walk over Texas Christian, while the
■ Longhorns lost to Baylor in Waco
■ 18-13 to kill any possible Cotton
I Bowl hopes they had.
Akers, in a telephone interview
1 Monday during Sherrill’s press con-
I ference, said he’s not sure of his
I team’s mood as the game nears.
“I haven’t determined that yet,”
■ Akers said. “I expect our players to
I be looking forward to it. That was a
I big disappointment last Saturday for
I us to finally be knocked out of the
I championship race and I don’t know
I what ef fect that’ll have.
“I hope that we’ll bounce right
■ back and give the kind of effort
I we’ve been giving.”
| Sherrill said he knows rhe UT
I players will be ready for the Aggies.
“They’re going to be emotional
land pumped up because they’re
I playing Texas A&M,” Sherrill said,
I “just like our players are going to be
I ready to play Texas. We can try to
| throw in all the added incentives (to
Iwinning this game) and that doesn’t
■ really make any difference.”
Texas doesn’t have many incen-
nn l>Btives to beat A&M other than the ri-
ar j ■ valry. Texas will not be headed to a
‘"■bowl game for the first time since
ll JBl967, but can knock the Aggies out
“■ofthe Cotton Bowl much like A&M
ra ' K did to UT last year.
I For Akers, a win could be his last
‘^fflhope of keeping his job as Texas
lon 'Bh ea d coach. But Akers said he won’t
Eapproach this game any differently
^Wthan any other season finale.
■ “I’ve got a group of players here
It that expect me to see that they’re
prepared as best as they can be to
play the ball game,” he said. “And
that’s exactly what I would do any
year.”
Sherrill said his 8-2 Aggies aren’t
going to treat Texas as just another
5-5 team.
“I don’t think either team is going
to look at the stat sheets and say,
‘Well, this team is good and this team
is bad,’ ” Sherrill said. “It really
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Texas Coach Fred Akers
doesn’t matter. We’re just going to
go out and play and play hard.
“A&M and Texas is always a bowl
game to each other. Even if one of
them has already clinched the na
tional championship or whatever,
they’re still going to line up artd go
after it.”
Akers said the Longhorns will
have to contain A&M’s explosive of
fense.
“The thing that we would have to
do if we were going to have a chance
(to win) is not give up the big play
and certainly not give up any that
they don’t earn,” Akers said. “Like
last week \ve go over (to Waco) and
we have to do the same thing, yet on
our first three possessions we turn
the ball over.
“I thought it was a miracle that we
still had a chance to win in the fourth
quarter. You can’t make those mis
takes.”
Sherrill said A&M profited from
the easy win over TCU by resting
players such as center Matt Wilson,
nose guard Sammy O’Brient and of
fensive tackle Marshall Land, who’s
been hampered with a nagging leg
injury throughout the season.
For the Longhorns, that wasn’t
the case.
“We’ve got some bruises and
strains that come from a very tough
football game,” Akers said, “and that
one was a tough football game
(against Baylor), but hopefully (the
players will) be healed by game time.
“That’s the biggest problem we
have with the short week — is play
ing after such a physical game,
whether or not the bruises and
strains can heal properly and suffi
ciently enough.
“It’ll make it that much tougher
for us to overcome that. But there’s
no way we can change that. They
had a fait ly easy day and we had a
real dogfight.”
But the advantage for the Long
horns is that the game is in Austin,
although Akers said he would like a
little more of an edge against the Ag
gies.
“I’d just as soon A&M wasn’t as
good as they are, then it would really
be a good edge,” he said.
Sherrill agreed that playing in the
Longhorns’ backyard would aid
Texas.
“Austin is extremely tough to play
in,” he said. “It has, over the history
(of the series), been a very tough
place to play, but it’s kind of like
Kyle Field. They’re both tough for
each other (team).
“But then we’ll have some people
there hollering too. Crowd noise
really doesn’t affect you unless the
guy on the other side is putting a
knot on your head anyway.”
By
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Friday
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No
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Be Refused
3100 Briarcrest Drive at the East Bypass 776-7600
Battalion Classified 845-2611
Longhorns have a lot on the line
in annual showdown with Aggies
By Homer Jacobs
Assistant Sports Editor
Longhorn fans have got to be sick
to their stomachs.
When Texas A&M and Texas bat
tle in Austin Thanksgiving night, the
Longhorns _
have just about Viewpoint
everything to
lose: their coach, their pride and
their winning tradition.
What do they have to gain?
Try nothing, except maybe a vic
tory over the bowl-bound Aggies.
But even a win over A&M probably
won’t ease the pain too much for UT
players and fans alike.
After all, the Aggies will leave Me
morial Stadium with either a Cotton
Bowl or Orange Bowl invitation in
hand. And the Longhorns . . . well, I
guess they can yell for the Aggies on
New Year’s Day from their living
rooms.
Longhorn strong safety John
Hagy said after UT’s loss to Baylor
Saturday that if A&M beats Texas,
then Longhorn fans will hear about
the win from every little A&M “cock
roach” in the country.
Maybe Cotton boll weevils or Flo
ridian fruit flies, but not “cockroa
ches.”
Well, whatever level of the food
chain Hagy chooses to place the Ag
gies, the question still remains
whether the Aggies on the field will
continue to feed upon the Long
horns like flies on Bevo’s back.
With scores like 37-12 and 42-10
in the last two A&M-UT games, and
a solid Aggie team taking on a sus
pect Longhorn squad, the outcome
could be like the T-shirts that say
“The Texas Massacre — Part III.”
What a difference three years
makes. In 1983, the Aggies were 5-4-
1 taking on the No. 2 Longhorns in
Kyle Field. The Aggies jumped to a
13-0 lead in the first quarter before
UT woke up and decided to domi
nate. The final score was 45-13, and
A&M Coach Jackie Sherrill and the
Aggies seemed “Akers away from
Cotton.”
Two years and a Cotton Bowl vic
tory later, Sherrill and his Aggies are
riding high, while Texas is sinking
and stinking.
The Longhorns would suffeF
their first losing season since 1956 if
they lose to the Aggies. And UT
Athletic Director Deloss Dodds has
already said the Longhorns will not
be in any bowl game for the first
time since 1967.
Times do change.
And things aren’t looking bright
for the Longhorns in the future, ei
ther, unless a new coach and better
recruiting classes can turn things
around in a hurry.
While in College Station, Sherrill
has got the Aggies in a position to
compete for the Southwest Confer
ence title for years to come.
When Aggies sing the “Aggie War
Hymn” tonight at bonfire and
Thursday in Memorial Stadium, the
words, “Goodbye to Texas Univer
sity, so long to the orange and the
white,” now may be well-founded
foresight instead of just an Aggie
dream.
HEY ALL YOU TURKEYS!
Have a great Thanksgiving.
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