The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 03, 1988, Image 11

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    The Battalion Thursday, Nov. 3, 1988 Page 11
Aggies drubbed SMU in ’74
Simonini’s 48-yard fumble return-TD led effort
Coach Emory Bollard's 1974 Texas A&M squad at
tained the No. 4 ranking in the Associated Press Poll
twice that season,.prior to playing at Kansas and SMU.
Both times the Aggies entered the game heavily fa
vored — and came away the loser twice (28-10 and 18-
14). Though they started the 1975 season with 10 con-
“secutive wins, it wasn’t until after defeating Baylor 19-
10 that the 7-0 Ags moved back into the fourth spot in
the AP.
Guess who was their next opponent? Yep, the SMU
Mustangs, fresh off a tremendous game against the
University of Texas, in which fullback Wayne Morris
rushed for 202 yards.
Texas won that game, as it had the previous season.
On November 8,1975, the Ags hit Kyle Field ready for
revenge — or did they?
“I think we had a bit of a revenge factor going into
that game,” former Aggie All-American linebacker Ed
Simonini said Tuesday night. “We certainly didn’t
want history to repeat itself.
“We had an off week before that game, and one of
our defensive lineman, Jimmy Dean, was injured and
didn’t play against SMU. Steve Spitzenberger replaced
him for us, but it was a concern going into the game.”
Unlike the 1974 game when the breaks went the Po
nies’ way early in the game (SMU got its first touch
down when tight end Oscar Roan caught Morris’ fum
ble on one hop and strolled untouched into the wet end
zone), the Aggies got an early boost this time and ran
away with the game, 36-3.
“Pat Thomas intercepted a pass on the first play of
Tim Stanfield
Flashback
the game, Which got us going,” Simonini said.
“Things like that often determine the outcome of a
game. There were games when early turnovers set us
back.”
Simonini had his usual excellent game, stopping
Morris on fourth down at the A&M two yard line in the
fourth quarter in a defensive effort that limited SMU to
203 yards in total offense (154.6 yards less than they
averaged).
But there was something extra for the senior from
Valley High (Las Vegas, Nev.); he returned a fumble
recovery 48 yards for the only touchdown of his A&M
career.
It came at 6:31 of the second quarter and, according
to Simonini, quickly and unexpectedly.
“(Quarterback Ricky) Wesson and Arthur Whitting
ton had a problem with a handoff, and the ball just
popped out of there and right into my hands,” he re
called. “When I caught it, I was wide open, but the
thing I remember the most was how fast Lester Hayes
went by me.
“He and Pat Thomas cleared the way for me to
score, because I wasn’t fast enough to outrun Wesson
and Whittington. In fact, I had to weave back and forth
to the end zone, and some of the guys got on me about
how long it took me to get there. ’ ’
Always fired up, the youngster exited the end zone
with both arms high above his head, fists clenched and
yelling at the top of his lungs. Well, as loud as he
could.
Following the game Simonini said, “I was about to
die from exhaustion when I crossed the goal line. I was
too tired to do anything cute like kick the ball in the
stands.”
Along with quarterback David Shipman’s 84-yard
touchdown pass to running back Skip Walker, Simoni
ni’s touchdown put the game on ice, but, as always,
there were other things still to be done.
Like making life miserable for anyone in the Pony
backfield, but particularly the fleet Morris.
One week after his career-best rushing total, Morris
gained 8 yards on 7 carries, and the entire SMU rush
ing output was a paltry 135 yards on 56 carries.
“We were sort of wondering how their offense
would do against us, and I think we dominated them,”
fellow A&M All-American linebacker Garth TenNapel
said. “We remembered the game from last year and
wanted to beat a good team heavily. ”
“Morris was quoted in the papers that he expected
to have a good game against our defense,” Simonini
added. “So maybe we used the type of defense that
kept him from carrying the ball very much. ’’
One time he did get it was in the fourth quarter,
when SMU made its best bid for a touchdown. On
See Simonini/Page 13
Nets get Carroll
in six-player trade
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) —
Joe Barry Carroll, the No. 1 pick in
the 1980 NBA draft, was acquired by
the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday
in a six-player deal with the Houston
Rockets, a Nets spokesman said.
The Nets also picked up guard Les
ter Conner from the Rockets and
shipped guards Frank Johnson, Lo
renzo Romar, swingman Tony
Brown and 7-foot-1 center Tim Mc
Cormick to Houston.
Carroll, 7-1, was acquired by
Houston from Golden State in De
cember, playing in 77 games during
the season. He averaged 12.7 points
and had 489 rebounds in 2,004 min
utes.
“We are extremely pleased to have
someone like Joe Barry Carroll join
our team,” Harry Weltman, the Nets
vice president and general manager,
said. “His presence in the middle and
his ability to get points from this posi
tion is something we sorely need to
be competitive in this league. ’ ’
Carroll was originally drafted by
Golden State in 1980 out of Purdue
and played four seasons with the
Warriors before spending a year in
Italy. He returned for IVi more years
before heading to Houston with Eric
“Sleepy” Floyd in a deal that sent
Ralph Sampson to the Warriors.
McCormick also was a recent ac-
quistion. He came to New Jersey in a
trade with Philadelphia for Mike
Gminski and averaged 14.1 points
and 6.9 rebounds in 47 games.
“Tim was an integral part in what
turned out to be a fine deal for our
team last year,” Weltman said. “His
development as a player made this
deal possible for us. ”
Conner, a former star at Oregon
State, averaged 2.5 points in 52
games with Houston last year.
Brown, 6-6, missed all of last sea
son with a tom right Achilles prob
lem.
Romar played last season in Eu
rope with Athletes in Action, while
Johnson recently signed as a free
agent with the Nets after playing for
the Washington Bullets.
Hard to find good reason for A&M to play Dogs
’helan M. Ebente
Texas A&M meets Louisiana Tech Saturday
in a non-conference football game which will
benefit the Aggies in no way other than giving
them a practice game in preparation for the re
mainder of the season.
Why play Louisiana Tech? Don’t ask me?
Other than giving A&M an easy win and filling a
vacant spot in the schedule left by the NCAA’s
death penalty ruling against Southern Methodist
it’s hard to see why this game is being played.
Jackie Sherrill summed it up after A&M’s
uninspired 32-3 win over the Bulldogs last year,
“You don’t win in a game like this unless you
just roll over them.”
Exactly! And when was the last time the Ag
gies really clobbered a team that had no business
lining up to play them? Not in a while. The TCU
game in 1986 comes to mind. A&M won 74-10
, in a game in which they could have easily topped
100 points.
Normally, the Aggies play to the level of their
competition — regardless of what level that may
- ,,
s'*
S w
Doug
Walker
Assistant Sports
Editor
be. This is why those of you planning to take in
Saturday’s game should expect the Aggies to
win by a comfortable margin, but not by a huge
spread.
Last year the Bulldogs held the Aggie offense
to 14 first downs and 254 total yards as A&M led
only 11-3 at the half. A&M scored its only
touchdown when John Roper returned a blocked
punt for a score. Only two fourth-period touch
downs, one a 59-yard punt return by Rod Harris,
made the score as one-sided as it was.
A game against an opponent like this can only
help by giving the starters a lot of rest and allow
ing some reserves to gain a little game action.
Maybe the Aggie offense will work on the
passing game and come out of this without any
new injuries.
In fact, the thing that worries me most about
this game is the possibility of losing a key player
like Darren Lewis, Dana Batiste or John Roper
to injury in a meaningless game.
It would be a shame if the Aggies lost their
biggest weapons before getting a chance to prove
they are the best team in the SWC.
On the positive side, the game provides a big
paycheck for Louisiana Tech. Tech is a school
trying to retain its new status as a Division I-A
school and has already played Wyoming, Hous
ton and Florida State in an attempt to gain reve
nue and help their attendance average.
Tech must average 18,600 in attendance for
all home games to retain I-A status and is close
to that mark this year thanks to a big turnout
against Houston. The Bulldogs are paying a
heavy price on the field for their revenues gained
from road games.
The Bulldogs followed a 60-0 home loss to
Houston with a 38-6 shellacking at the hands of
Wyoming in Laramie. The odyssey continued
two weeks ago with a 66-3 pasting at Florida
State in a game in which FSU Head Coach
Bobby Bowden admitted to running up the score
to enhance the Seminoles’ standing in the na
tional rankings.
Bowden’s tactic reminds me of what was
probably another reason why Sherrill scheduled
this matchup. He expected the Aggies to be in
contention for the natioanl title this year and a
huge victory margin over the Bulldogs could
have helped the Aggies in the polls. This would
have been especially vital if the team had only
lost one game thus far.
Based on the success of the Seminole special
teams against the Bulldogs, you might look for
Harris to have another big day returning punts.
Also, there may be a couple of blocked punts by
the Aggies as in last year’s game.
The offense will probably look sluggish once
again. The combination of a week off and the
third straight game against an opponent with less
than impressive credentials probably adds up to
another uninspired victory against as weaker op
ponent.
Lewis should have another big day as the of
fensive line will shove around the smaller Bull
dogs. The Bulldogs, who just moved up to I-A,
have 95 scholarships available and only 86 play
ers on scholarship. Most are freshmen and soph
omores and just aren’t as big as the people they
go up against. T,
The defense is another story. With the Bull-;
dogs’ starting quarterback out with a separated
shoulder and two receivers also injured, the Ag
gie defense should expect a shut out.
Unless they win by about 50 or 60 points and
pass for about 300 yards, it looks like this will be
a game played only to fill a spot on the schedule
and bolster the individual numbers of A&M’s of
fensive stars.
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MSG GREAT ISSUES
PRESENTS
ADRIAN CR0NAUER
7
SUNDAY NOV 6 4:00pm
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TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW AT THE MSC BOX OFFICE
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