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SPORTS
/ednesday, October 4,1989
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Slocum remembers 1987 Tech taunts
ICoach, players say No. 19 Ags are focused for Saturday’s game
test e § By Richard Tijerina
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Texas A&M Coach R.C. Slocum
remembers the spit.
It was two years ago when the Ag
gies last traveled to Jones Stadium in
Lubbock to play Texas Tech. A&M
had beaten Southern Mississippi the
week before, but were dominated by
the Red Raiders in a 27-21 upset.
The Aggies, with then-freshman
quarterback Lance Pavlas as the
starter, looked flat throughout the
game.
“It was one of those days where
we were off-stride all day,” Slocum
said. “We didn’t play very well. It
| was a frustrating day for me, the
players and for everybody.”
Slocum may have thought the loss
was frustrating, but what he and his
team will remember most this week
end is what happened after that
game was over.
“Coming off the field there was a
lot said — people were spitting on us
and that whole thing,” Slocum said.
“I haven’t forgotten one bit of that
day. The players that were on that
trip haven’t forgotten it either.”
That could spell trouble for Texas
Tech. The Aggies and the Red Raid
ers head into this weekend’s South
west Conference game with identical
3-1 records. But A&M carries a 1-0
SWC record and a No. 19 ranking.
A&M at Texas Tech
• Site: Jones Stadium
• Kickoff: Noon
• Ranking: A&M (19th), Texas
Tech (—)
• TV/Radio: Raycom Sports Net
work; KTAM (AM 1240)
Texas Tech lost their SWC opener
last week to Baylor and now face an
early death in the conference race.
“Going out to Tech, they have the
same (season) record we have,” Slo
cum said at his weekly press confer
ence on Tuesday. “They’re back
home for the first time in weeks.
This is a big game for them because
they face elimination in the confer
ence race.
“We’ll have our hands full out the-
But what Slocum didn’t say is that
the Aggies usually do whenever they
play in Lubbock. Since 1979, the last
five games between the two teams in
Lubbock have been decided by a to
tal of 12 points. A&M is 2-3 in those
games.
Jones Stadium (47,000 capacity)
has been unfriendly to Aggie foot
ball teams in the past, but Slocum
said all that is history now. All A&M
needs to do this weekend is play its
game.
“We have to worry about our
selves and not worry about Tech,”
he said. “We have to be concerned
about us going out and getting ready
to play. They’re going to have a big
crowd and it’s going to be noisy and
all that stuff, but it shouldn’t have an
impact on the game.”
Slocum said the game will be a
struggle. With two of their next
three conference games on the road,
at Baylor on Oct. 21 and at Rice on
Oct. 28, he said the Aggies will have
to be successful away from Kyle
Field to be a SWC contender.
To be successful in the SWC, the
Aggies must continue to have steady
output from their offense — partic
ularly from Pavlas and running back
Darren Lewis. Last week against
Southern Mississippi, Lewis rushed
for 126 yards, his first 100-yard
game of the year.
Slocum said Pavlas’ play has
inspired the Aggies, and the team
now is starting to rally around the ju
nior.
“He answered the challenge in the
first ballgame and has done that
since then,” he said. “Against Wash
ington he took some big hits. He has
not waivered at all and I think the
players recognize that.”
Pavlas will have to have a better
game on Saturday than he did that
afternoon in 1987. So will the entire
team.
Lubbock always is one of the
tougher places to play, but Slocum
said that’s all a part of football.
What’s worse, Texas Tech still will
be stinging from last week’s loss to
Baylor. Facing the Aggies in their
home stadium may give the Red
See Taunts/Page 9
Lady Aggies open
conference play vs UH
By Alan Lehmann
Of The Battalion Staff
The Texas A&M Lady Aggie vol
leyball team will open their South
west Conference schedule at 7:30
p.m. against Houston in G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
The match will be the conference
opener for both teams. The Cougars
come into the match with all-2 re
cord, while the Lady Aggies bring a
7-4 mark.
Houston swept matches this week
end from Eastern Kentucky and
South Florida, and their only losses
have come to nationally ranked Ne
braska and LSU.
Coach AI Givens feels that A&M
has built up momentum with a four-
game winning streak.
“We’ve reached our goal of 7-4,”
Givens said. “We’re still improving,
but we’re 6-1 in our last seven mat
ches.”
The match will be a big one for
A&M, said Givens.
“It would be nice to have about
2,000 fans here for ‘Cougar High,
he said. They think that they are the
ones who will challenge Texas (for
the conference lead).
“Houston isn’t giving us much re
spect right now, and I think we’ll
teach them a lesson.”
The Cougars are led by fourth-
year coach Bill Walton, who has a
69-39 record at Houston.
UH’s freshman setter Susan Rice
was named the SWC player of the
week last week, and boasts a .415 hit
ting percentage. Seniors Tina John
son and Julie Gates lead the Coogs
with 129 and 106 scoring spikes, re
spectively.
A&M will be led by Yvonne Van
Brandt, who is ranked second in the
nation in digs per game. She is also
ranked among the conference lead
ers in service aces and assist average.
Packers, Cowboys playing in their own ‘Twilight Zone’ in 1989
Who would ever have figured Green Bay
to be in the running for the top spot in the
NFC Central Division?
1 know it’s still early, and a lot of things
can happen, but just think about it.
The Packers are 2-2 going into the fifth
week of the football season, but more
importantly, they have won in dramatic
fashion — scoring points in the last seconds
of games to make opposing coaches
nervous wrecks.
The 1989 Packers resemble the Packers
I ofold. You remember last year’s team:
They couldn’t even lose to come out ahead.
In the last game of 1988, all the Packers
had to do was lose to earn the NFT’s top
[ draft pick. Green Bay won and in the
process lost an opportunity to snatch the
Cowboys’ Troy Aikman.
Green Bay has been outscored in the first
two quarters of their four games 30-90, but
returned in the second half to outscore
I opponents 96-27.
Clay
Rasmussen
Sports Writer
What’s the deal, Green Bay?
The second-half Packers have staged
four comebacks — falling short, but
dangerously close, twice. Lambeau Field is
becoming a sort of Twilight Zone.
“Submitted for your approval: a ragged
bunch of men from Milwaukee struggle to
play football on a field where a man named
Vince once prowled. Fumbles,
interceptions, broken body parts — these
young men will see it all. They retire at the
end of the first half to a mysteriousjug of
Gatorade. But they will spend the second
half. . .in the Twilight Zone.”
What’s with these Packers? Can the
C ->wboys drink from that magical jug?
Iv'r the first time since “The Icebowl” of
1967, the Packers will host the Dallas
Cowboys on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Back in 1967, the Cowboys were a team
to be reckoned with. In 13-below-zero
weather, the Packers struggled with the
Cowboys to win the NFL Championship in
the last second 21 -17, on a Bart Starr
quarterback sneak.
Hmmm.. . coming from behind to win in
the last minute. Sounds a little like this
year’s Packers. Could they have returned
from the past? Will Coach Lombardi return
in some new coaching form?
Probably not, but the Cowboys return to
Lambeau Field to experience a different
sort of coldness.
Sure, the temperature will be in the mid
eighties, but the Cowboys have been so cold
lately that they’ve mustered only 41 points
this season, and seven of those came from
the defense.
Heading into their fifth game, the
Cowboys are in a twilight zone of their own.
Their offensive schemes are so simple
that New York Giants’ linebacker
Lawerence Taylor said the Giants were
wondering if Dallas was trying to trick them
with the simplicity of their offense last
Sunday.
It didn’t take the Giants too long to
figure out that the Cowboys werejust
simple.
The balance of power in the NFC has
shifted and Green Bay is in the thick of one
of the toughest divisions in the NFL.
The NFC East used to be stacked with
powerhouses like Washington, Dallas, New
York and Philadelphia, but recently those
teams have been struggling with teams in
the Central division.
The Bears had a rough time with
Philadelphia last Monday night, but the
score at the end was all that mattered: Bears
27, Eagles 13.
Or should that read “Chalk one up for
the Central.”
The Bears, Minnesota, Green Bay and
even Tampa Bay are off to impressive
starts. While their records may show 2-2, I
these Central division teams have hung in
with some of the best of the league.
And as these Central division teams
continue to mature and grow strong,
Eastern rivals like the Dallas Cowboys
continue to take their places as the
punching bags of the NFL.
Want to feel like you’ve entered the
Twilight Zone with Green Bay?Just look at
the point spread in the sports page. Green '
Bay is favored by seven.
When’s the last time you’ve seen the
Packers as anybody’s favorite?
r i •
Agriculture
Career
Exposition
October 4th - Free BBQ Olsen Field 6 pm-8pm
October 5th - Career Fair 2nd Floor MSC
9am-11:30am and
1:30 pm-4 pm
Pool-side Reception Hilton
6 pm-8 pm
Companies Attending:
Ag Worker Mutual Auto Ins. Co.
Am. Institute of Real Estate
Appraisers
Barefoot Grass Lawn Service
Cargill Inc.-Nutrena Feeds
Cargill Poultry Products Division
Central Intelligence Agency
ChemLawn Service Corp.
Ciba-Geigy Corp.
Communicating for Ag
Exchange Program
DEKALB Swine Breeds, Inc.
Dow Chemical
A. Duda & Sons Co.
Dupont
Environmental Care, Inc.
Excel Corporation
Holly Farms of Texas, Inc.
IBP, Inc.
Jimmy Dean
John Deere & Company
Kentucky Fried Chicken
Lummus Industries Inc.
MSD-AGVET
Northaven Gardens
Northrup King
Pfizer Inc.
Purina Mills
Sandoz Crop Protection Corp.
San Jose Cattle Company
Society of Real Estate Appraisers
Soil Conservation Service
Syntex Animal Health
Taco Bell
Texas Agricultural Extension
Service
Texas Society of Farm Managers
and Rural Appraisers
Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.
All Agriculture Majors Invited
GRAB A FRIEND AND COME IN FOR
TWO
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VT
Kentucky Fried Chicken
3321 South Texas Ave.
Bryan, TX 77802
846-3238
5 PIECES
2 MASHED POTATOES
& GRAVY
2 COLE SLAWS
2 BISCUITS
Offer good Oct. 2, 1989 Offer expires Oct. 24, 1989
Kentucky Fried Chicken
2501 Texas Ave.
College Station, TX 77840
693-2331
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