s
The Battalion Wednesday, Oct
1988 Page
T-l
og kicker named
P player-of-week
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP)—Right
|iere on page two of the University of
rkansas football brochure. Coach Ken
i Hatfield uttered these prophetic words:
“For us to have a good year there are
ame major things that have to click. We
have to be consistent in our field goal
kicking with Kendall Trainer. We need
to make at least 90 percent of our field
goals fr° m makable range. ’ ’
Trainor is not quite up to 90 percent,
but he has made 15 in a row and that’s a
big reason the Razorbacks are 4-0 in the
southwest Conference and only a step
(way from the Cotton Bowl. He was
lood from 29, 46, 23 and 49 yards on
Saturday in a 26-21 victory over Hous
ton.
I For his performance, Trainor was
amed the Associated Press Offensive
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Lady Ags
to face UT
for 1st place
Texas A&M’s Lady Aggie volley
ball team is gearing up for a match to
night against Texas tonight at 7:30 in
G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Lady Aggies are currently tied
for second place in the Southwest
Conference, but a win would put
them alone in first, ousting the Long
horns from the top spot.
The Longhorns are 18-3 on the
year (5-0 in SWC) and ranked fourth
in the nation. A&M is 13-8 overall
and 3-1 in the conference.
Texas holds a 25-9 lead in the se
ries. Dominating the Lady Aggies in
recent years, the Longhorns have not
lost to A&M since 1982.
The Aggies only loss in the SWC
was to Houston .
Player of the Week in the Southwest
Conference. The Defensive Player of the
Week is Arkansas linebacker Kerry
Owens, who played two positions
against the Cougars and was in on 12
tackles.
Trainor has not missed since he
flubbed a 25-yarder against Mississippi
on Sept. 17. The streak started in the sec
ond half. The Razorbacks fell behind 13-
12 in the third quarter, but Trainor
kicked field goals of 31,38 and 43 yards
and Arkansas won, 21-13.
The following week, he made a school
record five field goals in a 53-10 victory
over Texas Christian University.
Then, against Texas Tech, Trainor
made a 49-yarder in a 31-10 victory. A
week later, in a 27-24 victory over
Texas, Trainor kicked field goals of 41
and 28 yards. The latter gave Arkansas a
27-10 lead and proved to be the differ
ence.
Hatfield was so emphatic about the
need for solid kicking because three
B times in the past four years, missed field
goals have cost the Razorbacks possible
trips to the Cotton Bowl.
Ironically, on Monday before the
Houston game, Trainor suffered a groin
pull that affected his left leg — his plant
leg.
“He’s scored some important points
for us,’’ Hatfield said. “I don’t recall a
time this year when we forced a turnover
on our opponent’s end of the field and
didn’t score. Even if we didn’t get a
touchdown, we’ve been able to count on
Kendall to make a field goal. He’s been
the difference in all our close games.
Any time our opponent has gained mo
mentum, he’s kicked a field goal to give
it back to us.”
Arkansas led 13-0 when the Cougars
scored a touchdown. On the next posses
sion, Trainor upped the margin to nine.
In the third quarter, the Cougars zipped
56 yards in five plays to cut the lead to
16-14. Arkansas came right back and
Trainor was good from 49 yards for a 19-
14 lead.
Gurley trying to come back
Aggie fullback waits patiently for knee to heal
By Hal L. Hammons
Sports Editor
He remembers the play as if it were
yesterday:
“Bucky (Richardson) was scram
bling. I was downfield. I was block
ing LeRoy Etienne (Nebraska’s All-
Big 8 linebacker). I cut him, and
Bucky cut behind me. I was on my
knees on the way up, and (Etienne)
caught me up inside my shoulder
pads. My knee kind of went side
ways, and he rolled over it. . . .
“I jogged off the field. I didn’t
think I had any ligament damage.”
Matt Gurley had ligament damage.
And for the past two months he has
had ligament damage.
It was almost healed a few weeks
ago, but he stepped off a parking-lot
curb wrong — without his brace on
— and undid two weeks worth of re
habilitation.
The word was he might not play
again. Ever. Now word has it he
might be ready next week against
Louisiana Tech, at least to see some
limited action and get back in the
groove before the big showdown
against Arkansas in Fayetteville the
week after.
But for now, Matt Gurley is re
signed to strapping his brace onto his
left knee every morning, watching his
teammates hit one another every af
ternoon, and laying in bed wondering
every night.
It’s getting old.
It’s not just Gurley who thinks so,
either. Despite the good play of fresh
men Robert Wilson and Randy Sim
mons, missing the senior fullback
hurts the Aggies. A lot.
If you doubt it, talk to Jackie Sher
rill for a while. Gurley is a common
subject of conversation at his weekly
Profile of the Week
Matt Gurley
Tuesday press luncheons.
After the Nebraska game the injury
list was as long as a Cain Hall lunch
line. It included Darren Lewis, Rod
Harris and Gary Jones — all key
starters. Guess which one Sherrill
singled out as the most important.
Gurley.
Pretty high praise for someone who
wasn’t a blue-chip recruit like Lewis
or Simmons. Someone who wasn’t
even recruited as a running back —he
was an outside linebacker.
“I switched, I guess, because I was
a worthless outside linebacker,” Gur
ley said with a smile Tuesday. Why
not smile? It’s worked out for him.
And for A&M.
It can be pretty intimidating being
a running back at Texas A&M. The
list of pro players from Aggieland is
long and illustrious: Earnest Jackson,
Johnny Hector, Curtis Dickey, Keith
Woodside. And playing in front of
Gurley when he arrived were three
future pro players —Roger Vick, An
thony Toney and Ira Valentine. Vick
and Toney are still starters for the
New York Jets and Philadelphia Ea
gles, respectively.
But Matt Gurley doesn’t concern
himself with comparisons.
“I’m not going to fill their shoes,”
he said. “If it happens, it happens.
I’m just going to go out and do what
I’m asked to do.”
Not much rattles Gurley. He de
scribes himself as someone who is
“easy-going, trying not to make my-
See Gurley, page 8
Photo by Jay Janner
All Matt Gurley can do these days at A&M football practice is watch.
He’s still being held out of contact drills because of his left knee, which he
injured in the season opener against Nebraska.
botball’s secret isn’t in the heart, it’s in the shoes
leyKi
lave you ever noticed how much difference a
bn’s uniform style can make in how it plays?
In football, as in most sports, teams have several
different-colored uniforms they use, depending
on whether they are playing at home or away.
■Some games a team plays great and the next
(game they come out and obviously are being
,heklback by something.
■Take the Dallas Cowboys. In past years, when
the Cowboys were winning most of the time,
you could count on their losses coming in games
fwhen they wore their dark blue jerseys.
| 1 used to ask my Dad what color the opposing
|teams home jerseys were so I could figure in ad-
Ivance what Dallas would be wearing. That way I
Icould figure out how good of a chance they had
to win and I could brace myself early if it was a
sure loss. I was probably one of the few 5-year-
olds around that was thrilled when the Cowboys
had a rare road game against a team with dark
rhorne jerseys.
■Being an adamant Cowboy fan from that early
age, I developed a keen awareness of the factors
that controlled their won-loss record.
Playing in their home whites, and even play
ing on the road in white, Dallas was next to un
beatable. But put them in those top heavy, blue
things, even Roger “The Dodger” Staubach rar
ely pulled ’em through.
The Cowboys moved like Dap on a cold day
and scored about as much when wearing blue. I
never quite figured out why, either.
I’m not superstitious at all, so my best guess is
that it was because the dark blue absorbed more
heat from the sun and wore the Cowboys down
faster. That never explained the indoor or rainy-
day games, though.
In college football, something besides the
color of the jersey seems to play a big role in a
team’s success.
How about shoes?
Things really started going downhill in the
1970’s when Billy “Whiteshoes” Johnson spa
ghetti-legged his way onto the National Football
League scene with the Oilers. After that, every
one suddenly thought of the standard black cleats
as outdated, and they had to have white shoes.
From pro football to college and all the way to
pee-wee league, the whiter the better.
The thing with white shoes on the football
field is that they just remind me of the ones I had
to wear as a little boy — the ones that matched
my white three-prong belts. Come on, admit it.
You had a pair too. They were just like your
dad’s.
And just when we get old enough to laugh
about the goofy things we wore as youngsters.
The NFL tosses out the good of sensible black
cleats and falls for a fashion statement.
Fortunately, not everyone tossed the old
blacks. At least at the college level, a few of the
real classy teams held on to their integrity and
stuck up for guys like ex-Bronco kicker Jim
Turner who got out of pro football before he had
to boot the ball with white shoes.
Teams like Southern Cal, Notre Dame, Michi
gan, Penn State and Alabama — the teams that
win almost all the time — continued to wear
black shoes. Ohio State nearly made the list but
high-top red shoes don’t quite match up with
black, although it’s a step in the right direction.
At first thought, you might be saying “This
guy’s gotta be joking.” But take a look at the
coaches these teams had when everyone else was
tossing their players sparkling white shoes.
USC’s John Robinson — a consistently great
coach — battled it out every year with Notre
Dames Ara Parseghian, who wasn’t anyone to
spit at.
Alabama had the greatest of all, Paul “Bear”
Bryant, who led the Crimson Tide to six national
titles in his tenure. Michigan has Bo Schem-
bechler and Penn State is lead by Joe Patemo,
two more all-time greats.
These five led their squads onto the field every
week ready to play football. And they looked
like they were there to play ball, not to do a jig in
the endzone.
Even though USC, Notre Dame and Alabama
have different coaches now, the new ones have
kept up the black shoe tradition and continue to
win. All five are consistently in the Top 20, with
Notre Dame and USC ranked No. 2 and No. 3,
respectively, this season.
Sure, there are plenty of white-shoed teams
that have spurts of greatness, with Miami and
Oklahoma being the most notable.
Who knows, maybe the problem with the
Southwest Conference is the color of their shoes.
idtej
:atsiiA
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Oct. 31-Nov. 4 5-7 p.m.
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April
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