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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1986)
Monday, December 1, 1986AThe Battalion/Page 9 Sports ggies Cotton-bound once again $ A&M trips UT 3rd time to win conference title tO years [I t|uein j: I 121 Iiv Ken Sur y 1 1 Sports Editor ar 8 e «Bo the game didn’t have the excit- P r mnli» n t of' the past two Texas A&M- .l )e "* 8 B;is matchups. So the game didn’t a high-scoring performance by [he A&M offense. So the game In’t a sellout. inn,lll! TSo what? just did was what was nec- ’""‘'' fesaiA to win its second consecutive 1 ^pit-Hthwest Conference crown and KeriheliRm to the Cotton Bowl. And in thedejlRg so, Coach Jackie Sherrill’s Ag- [1 priniM became the first SWCi team since ul infe-H ansas j n 1964 to 1966 to beat turns ,m as three games in a row. On Sat- ear 1,111 'Hay. Sherrill was named to coach ■West All-Stars in the Hula Bowl 'tote, Jan. 10, 1987. m M ■he 16-3 victory also could have m the final straw that cost Fred Its his job as UT head coach. Intni had called for his dismissal B|mghout the season and about the H thing that may have saved his obu.tsa big victory over the Aggies. But that didn’t happen either and ,kei s was fired Saturday. . B&M, 9-2, now heads into a New | B rs Day showdown with Ohio ■ B e > looking to defend last jygft/tahCotton Bowl win. For the first half, the game looked i Biteningly similar to the A&M- GC Vnsas contest. Both of fenses had Bed the football fairly well, but Ijust a 3-3 score to show for the fffoi t. cn dnJTexas fans thought they had the rimu. Hings of an upset when Jeff Ward ?t m^Hed a 39-yat cl field goal with 2:01 with eft in the first half . Oranges were I jin ossidonto the field to signify that if idei'! B won ’ ^ wou l ( l send the Aggies to BOrange Bowl. tie for Jut that was the last of the scoring ofn itBrexas that night and it was A&M law ti B W0U ld taste the sweetness of the fatalj Because the game was played secuiKthanksgiving night, let’s count what the Aggies had to be thankful for: • The running of fullback Roger Vick. Vick rolled up a career-best 167 yards on 41 carries and enabled the Aggies to use a lot of time off the clock and keep the ball away from the Longhorns. As Sherrill said after the game, “(Vick’s) our horse, and we kept riding that horse and he kept running.” • A timely roughing-the-kicker penalty on UT’s Tex Mercer. Mercer knocked down punter Todd Tschantz on A&M’s first possession of the second half. The Aggies got the ball back and marched into the end zone for their only touchdown. • Rod Harris’ diving catch for the Aggies’ touchdown. Harris was wide open as he cut across the middle of the end zone. Quarterback Kevin Murray’s throw was low and wide, but Harris made a spectacular diving catch. “I was kind of shocked about getting open,” Harris said. “But I knew I caught it.” • The kicking of Scott Slater. Al though Slater missed his first and last 48-yard field goal tries, the ju nior walkon made three field goals and kicked the extra point to give him a SWC record 100 total points on the season. Slater’s three field goals gave him 21 for the season, breaking the re cord of 19 by Arkansas’ Bruce Lahay and Steve Little and UT’s Ward. “If we didn’t win, (getting the re cord) wouldn’t have felt as good,” Slater said. “I know someone else will come and break the record. But it’s something that’s nice to say I had.” Senior wide receiver Shea Walker, who set a new A&M record in the game with 1,411 yards in career re ception yardage, summed up the Aggies’ feelings about returning to the Cotton Bowl. “The Cotton Bowl goes to the No. 1 team in the conference,” Walker said, “. . . and that’s us.” gf# S.|$i jAssf'Wf;, v ■ . : : . . i' 'X n- I ■ ■ ' . Photo by BUI Hughes A&M fullback Roger Vick evades UT’s Tony Tillmon during on 41 carries as the Aggies clinched the Southwest Confer- the Aggies’ 16-3 victory over the Longhorns on Thanksgiving ence championship and a berth in the Cotton Bowl for the evening. Vick finished the game with a career-high 167 yards second consecutive year. All Stores Open— Mon.- Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun., 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. ACADEMY • 1420 Texas Ave. S. (College Station/Bryan)