The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 09, 1988, Image 9

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The Battalion Wednesday, Nov. 9, 1988 Page 9
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Aggies set to back up words
By Doug Walker
Assistant Sports Editor
iThis is the week the Texas A&M
Eggies have been waiting for all sea-
P'
[Now A&M gets the chance to ful-
[l the promise to send the second-
Ist team in the Southwest Confer
ee to the Cotton Bowl New Year’s
lay when they meet Arkansas in
kyetteville on Saturday afternoon.
|At his weekly press conference
pesday, A&M Head Coach Jackie
hemll wouldn’t make any promises.
“Like I always say,” Sherrill said,
iVhenever you say something you
jiould back it up.”
Sherrill listed the keys to winning.
; “Bucky and the offense need to un-
brstand the different defensive
[hemes and put themselves in a posi-
pn where Arkansas can’t turn people
[ose on them,” Sherrill said.
“Defensively, you have to be ag-
bssive and patient at the same time,
[ny option team ends up becoming a
ig-play team if you’re not patient
fith them,”
The undefeated and Hth-ranked
[azorbacks will severely test the Ag-
»es on both sides of the line of scrim-
tage.
Arkansas leads the SWC in total
bfense (265.3 yards per game) and
jishing defense,
Against the rush, Arkansas leads
ke nation, allowing only 72.1 yards
br game.
Offensively, the Razorbacks rank
fccond in the SWC in rushing with an
berage of 265.8 yards per game and
re second in total offense with an av~
(rage of 421.3 yards per game.
Sherrill said the main ingredients
i the Razorbacks’ success defensi-
ely are the experience of their play-
rs and complexity of their defensive
bhemes.
“Defensively, they have eight se-
lors, and an awful lot of players that
eve started for them the past three or
pur years," Sherrill said.
“1 would say every senior on their
efensive team would have a chance
iplay in the pros.”
Sherrill mentioned linebackers La-
lalle Harper and Kerry Owens,
kkle Wayne Martin and safety Steve
ktwater as leaders of the defense.
“They’ve got some great athletes
Ike Martin and Atwater," Sherrill
aid “Martin is playing a lot better
ban he was last year. They’re getting
Batiste: They don’t
think they can beat us
By Hal L. Hammons
Sports Editor
Jackie Sherrill said Tuesday it was
OK for his players to talk big about
Saturday’s game against Arkansas,
just as long as they backed up their
words on the playing field.
Dana Batiste didn’t need any en
couragement.
The always-vocal Texas A&M
linebacker wasn’t short on confidence
going into the showdown for the
unofficial title of “Best in the South
west.”
“1 really believe we’re going to
send the second-best team to the Cot
ton Bowl,” he said.
“1 thought it was going to be us (in
the Cotton Bowl), but we made a few
mistakes earlier,” he said, referring
jokingly to the NCAA violations that
cost the Aggies an opportunity of
winning the Southwest Conference
championship this year.
“I think Arkansas doesn’t really
believe they can beat us,” Batiste
said. “Does Dukakis really think he
can beat Bush?”
He said if A&M beats Arkansas
Saturday, the Hogs’ SWC
championship will be just a sidenote
in the record books.
“I think Arkansas should have
three asterisks by their name,” he
said. “Bold print across the page. It
should be on the scoreboard at the
Cotton Bowl — on signs on 1-45
North to Dallas.
“I think the sign that says, ‘Wel
come to Arkansas’ ought to say,
‘Texas A&M beat Arkansas, but wel
come anyway.’
“I feel they’re the champions as far
as the NCAA says, but who are
they?”
He said he would feel indebted to
the NCAA if he were on a Razorback
team that won the SWC despite being
beaten by the Aggies.
“I’d write the NCAA a letter of
thanks — send them a Christmas
card,” he said.
He admitted that Arkansas’ de
fense is strong, but he said it takes a
back seat to the self-styled “Wrecking
Crew II” of A&M.
“It’s going to be a low-scoring ball
game,” he said. “Arkansas has a good
defense, but they don’t have the best
defense.”
He downplayed claims by the Ra
zorbacks that their linebacking corps
is comparable to the Aggies’.
“From what I see, they’ve got one
—LaSalle (Harper),” he said. “Be
hind him they’ve got nothing but
(All-SWC free safety Steve) Atwater.
“Our defense is more balanced.
Our linebackers are more balanced.
Every team has one linebacker —
only Texas A&M has four.”
He said the Aggies will present the
first real test for the Razorbacks.
“I think Arkansas hasn’t been
tested at all,” Batiste said. “I think
we’ll put them to their test.”
Stopping the explosive Arkansas
wishbone is just a matter of playing
the kind of defense the Aggies can
play, he said.
“We know what it takes to beat the
wishbone,” he said. “That’s the ad
vantage we have. It’s discipline. If
you’ve got that pitch man, you can’t
run off and try to get the quarterback
at the same time.
good play from their linebackers and
are much more consistent. They're
good because they’ve got excellent
talent and they can run.”
Sherrill said the Razorbacks force
teams to run inside and shut them
down.
“They try to funnel everything in
side and let Atwater make the plays
on the pass,” Sherrill said.
“The key is how well the offensive
line plays and how well Bucky can
read the defense and adjust to their
schemes.”
Although many skeptics contend
the Razorbacks have better defensive
statistics than A&M because of a
weaker schedule, Sherrill gave Ar
kansas full credit for being a quality
defensive team.
“They’re leading the nation in
rushing defense. They’ve done it ev
ery week,” Sherrill said.
Offensively, Arkansas has bene-
fitted from a revitalized passing game
this season after concentrating on di
versifying an attack which was shut
out in last year’s game with the Ag
gies at Kyle Field.
Last year A&M held the Razor-
backs to 125 yards of total offense
and forced them to pass in the 14-0
Aggie shutout. This season has seen
Arkansas improve the passing of
fense.
Quarterback Quinn Grovey is the
SWC’s top-rated passer and has
passed for 888 yards while complet
ing 64.4 percent of his passes.
However, the Razorbacks still live
and die with the run. Arkansas has
three players averaging over four
yards per carry.
Grovey leads the trio with a 4.9 av
erage per rush and has totalled 468
yards on the ground this season.
Running back Barry Foster aver
ages 4.5 yards per tote and has gained
509 yards to lead the team. James
Rouse has added 359 yards and aver
ages 4.1 yards per carry.
Sherrill said the key for the Aggie
defense is to stop the fullback dive on
the Arkansas wishbone and force the
Razorbacks to run outside.
Nose guard O'Neill Gilbert will
have to take up the slack left by the
graduation of Sammy O’Brient.
O’Brient played a big part in the last
three games against Arkansas in
which the Aggies held Arkansas to an
average of 6.7 points per game.
“If I could go find Sammy O’Bri
ent, I’d go dress him out,” Sherrill
said jokingly. “They’re a good, solid
football team with some outstanding
football players. They’ve played
really well. I think their offensive line
has really been consistent.”
The Arkansas offensive line is
anchored by giant right guard Freddie
Childress. The six-foot-four, 310-
pound senior presents a large problem
for the Aggie defense because of his
bulk and quickness.
He outweighs the Aggie linemen
by 45 to 60 pounds.
If Gilbert and defensive ends Leon
Cole and Terry Price can hold their
own in the trenches, the Aggies can
stop the Razorbacks. '
No wonder athletes
get such big heads
Taking a mental look through the
unwritten book of sports writing ethics, I
came across a big mistake. Somewhere
down the line, sports writers have taken
up the job of putting athletes on a paper
pedestal that gets jerked out from under
them later in life. The result is that the
players have been forced to carry a
burden not one can bear.
As sports writers, the nature of the
industry calls for me to report the
performance of athletes, which quite
often are phenomenal performances. The
problems occur around graduation time
when these great athletes step out into a
world that is much more real than they
imagined. In the case of a top college
football player who fails to make the
National Football League draft, he may
end up wondering if he has been lied to
about his ability the past four years.
>For example, 1 can write in a story that
“Joe Slasher gained 220 yards on 15
carries to lead the Aggies in a stomping
of Arkansas.” The player reads that and
says, “Hey, I was pretty hot this week.”
And all of his friends and acqaintences
confront him with, “Man, you’re the
hottest thing on two feet. Where did you
get moves like that?”
In the course of a college career, a top
athlete may read that same story twenty
or thirty times. Athletes, who are no
more or less vain than the rest of us,
learn to enjoy hearing how great they
are. It becomes a charge to them to be
exalted and suddenly the athlete has an
image or attitude he has to keep up.
At A&M, guys like Darren Lewis and
Bucky Richardson as sophomores are
already getting praised for their weekly
efforts. There is also a good chance that
beneath the helmets of these two young
stars is growing a need or desire to here
just how good they are. The sports writer
continues to do his job and so do Lewis
and Richardson, and pretty soon the first
signs of a monster ego begin to break the
surface.
There’s no doubt these two are
exciting to watch, and Lewis has as
much opportunity to win a Heisman
Trophy the next couple of years as
almost anyone. In fact, there is already
talk of that around town.
And beyond college, barring a serious
injury, Lewis will undoubtedly make it
in the National Football League. But not
every player is a Darren Lewis. Take
Kevin Murray, for example.
The Aggie offense was built around
Murray when he was here. He could
throw the ball like a bullet and with the
accuracy of a high-powered rifle. He
heard and read all the time how great he
was and what incredible talent he had.
And he knew the coaches and former
students thought he was worthy of all
kinds of goodies.
See Egos/Page 10
Lady Ags back home
against UH tonight
The Texas A&M Lady Aggies return
to G. Rollie White Coliseum on the tails
of a three-game winning streak to face
the Houston Lady Cougars tonight at
7:30.
A&M, 16-11 overall and 5-2 in South
west Conference play, beat Rice and
Texas Tech last week. The Lady Aggies
dropped only one game in the two
matches.
The Lady Cougars are 16-10 and 3-4
this year.
Houston is coming off a win over
Baylor Friday night, which snapped a
five-match losing skid for UH.
A&M holds a 20-16 series edge. The
teams split last year’s two meetings, with
each team winning on the other’s home
court.
t 69
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Now there’s
a Parkside
in Bryan-
College Station.
Parkside Medical Services Corporation, a
not-for-profit corporation, owns or operates more
than eighty facilities for the treatment of
alcoholism, drug dependencies, eating disorders
and psychiatric illnesses throughout the United
States and Sweden. Parkside’s facilities are
affiliates of the Lutheran General Health Care
System, a network including the Lutheran General
Hospital in Chicago, and a number of other health
care related organizations.
And now, in Bryan/College Station, Parkside
Outpatient Services has an alcohol and drug
abuse treatment center with specialized programs
for adults. Under the guidance and support of
Parkside’s professionally trained counselors,
you’ll participate in a variety of educational,
therapeutic and interpersonal activities designed
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healthy, productive life again.
Alcohol and drugs are not the answer. Just
ask the professionals at Parkside. The healing
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Quality Care for Alcohol and Drug
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Parkside
Parkside Outpatient Services
505 University Dr. Suite 607
College Station, TX 77840
(409) 846-7069
Parkside Medical Services, Corp.,
A subsidiary of Lutheran General Health Care System VZlV
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THE ® BLOOD CENTER AT WADLEY?
November 7
1988
Commons-10 a.m. to 8 p.m. MSG-10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
SBISA—10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Zachry —10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
THE
BLOOD CENTER
at Wadley
Another service of Student Government, Alpha Phi Omega and Omega Phi Alpha