he Battalion
PORTS
11
Thursday, November 2,1989
Sports Editor Tom Kehoe 845-2688
&
A&M may be in
IWC driver’s seat.
Ags, Ponies resume delayed rivalry
but it’s a long road
Clay
Rasmussen
Sports Writer
Arkansas Coach Ken Hatfield and Texas
Coach David McWilliams are quick to say
' tiat Texas A&M is in the driver’s seat on
— the road to the Cotton Bowl.
I.fe But A&M Coach R.C. Slocum just
^ chuckles.
don’t know if we’re in the driver’s
Slocum said. “1 just hope we’re in the
I Hr somewhere.”
■ Still, Slocum has a proposition for his two
colleagues.
■ “If they feel that’s the case, why don’t
thev just let us drive away with the
Conference championship and not even
show up for the games?” hejoked.
■ Nice try, Coach, but I don’t think
McWilliams or Hatfield would buy that one.
■ Contrary to Hatfield’s and McWilliams’
concessions, the only real advantages A&M
■s over Texas or Arkansas is the fact that
the Aggies only have three games left on
the season and all are played at home.
■ Arkansas has four SWC games left, while
the Longhorns face five more conference
fo«S.
■“They talk about scheduling and how
that’s such a factor,” Slocum said. “As I look
at it right now, (A&M, Texas and Arkansas)
S); are contenders for the SWC title, and Texas
“has already played Arkansas. We still have
iC 1 to play them both.
lit “I don’t know how much tougher you
bc can make it.”
JJHThe Razorbacks have, by far, the easiest
remaining schedule of the three
i contenders.
■Arkansas hosts Baylor in Fayetteville and
games against Rice and Southern Methodist
should provide little challenge for the
Ra/orbacks.
■Texas, on the other hand, faces
Houston’s prolific Run-and-Shoot scoring
See Rasmussen/Page 13
Battalion file photo
The last time Texas A&M played SMU, the Aggies sacked Mustang quar
terback Bobby Watters six times. On this play, A&M defensive end Jay
Muller sacks Watters in the second quarter of A&M’s 39-35 victory. Mul
ler led the Aggie defense with two sacks on the day.
Series picks up where it left off in 1986,
but 39-35 thriller not expected Saturday
By Richard Tijerina
Of The Battalion Staff
It’s been two years since Texas A&M and
Southern Methodist last met, but Saturday’s
game at Kyle Field probably won’t be as
close as the game they played in 1986.
That year, A&M brought a 4-0 South
west Conference record into the game.
SMU was 4-1-0, and the game was the Po
nies’ Homecoming.
The Aggies won that day 39-35, and
went on to the conference championship
and a second straight Cotton Bowl appear
ance (a 28-12 loss to Ohio State). But SMU’s
SMU at Texas A&M
• Site: Kyle Field (72,387 cap.)
• Kickoff: 2 p.m.
• Ranking: A&M (20th), SMU (—)
• Records: A&M (6-2), Rice (2-5)
• TV/Radio: The game wall not be
televised live; KTAM (AM 1240)
program took a turn for the worse.
The NCAA slapped the Mustangs with
the death penalty — two years without a
football program. Underclassmen left the
school and transferred to other programs.
Head Coach Bobby Collins resigned, and
for the first time in history, the NCAA
banned a football program.
But none of that mattered on Nov. 1,
1986. There was no talk of resignations or
NCAA death penalties. That day, two
teams fighting for the conference
championship met at Texas Stadium.
SMU scored on its first possession — a
73-yard drive that ended with a three-yard
touchdown run by junior fullback Cobby
Morrison. A&M, led by junior quarterback
Kevin Murray, responded with a 52-yard
drive that ended in a 35-yard field goal by
Scott Slater to cut the SMU lead to 7-3.
The Aggies opened up a 10-7 lead later
in the first quarter on an 18-yard scoring
toss from Murray to tight end Rod
Bernstine.
However, the Mustangs took a 21-17 lead
into halftime after they scored two touch
downs in the second quarter. Running back
Jeff Atkins, who was the Mustangs’ leading
rusher with 81 yards, scored the first of his
two touchdowns on a one-yard plunge.
After a Roger Vick touchdown on a
fourth-and-one play at the Mustangs’ goal
line, the Aggies jumped back on top with a
17-14 lead with less than two minutes left in
the half. But the Mustangs marched right
back with a 65-yard touchdown drive in
1:25 to take the halftime lead, 21-17.
The Aggies knew they had to put more
pressure on Mustangs’ quarterback Bobby
Watters in the second half. Watters was 10
for 17 for 95 yards and one touchdown in
the first half.
“We just had to keep fighting the whole
game,” Aggie linebacker Johnny Holland
said after the game. “We could never give
in and we knew if we kept fighting good
things would happen.”
Good things eventually would happen to
the Aggies, but the situation looked grim at
the start of the second half. SMU, just like
its first possession of the game, scored the
first time it touched the ball in the third
quarter. Atkins dived for a one-yard touch
down to widen the Mustangs’ lead to 28-17.
After three straight A&M drives that
ended in punts, the Aggies found them
selves in a bad situation. Fortunately,
A&M’s defense, the best in the SWC and
one of the top-ranked ones in the nation,
kept the Aggies in the game.
With just 41 seconds left in the third
quarter, A&M marched 63 yards on but two
plays to cut into SMU’s lead. Murray threw
a 49-yard touchdown pass to Woodside,
and a successful two-point conversionrter.
A&M went up 32-28 on a four-yard
touchdown run by running back Keith
Woodside with a little over ten minutes left
in the game. But SMU marched right back.
Running back Ron Morris scored on a 23-
yard scamper to put the Mustangs up 35-
32.
Time was running out on the Aggies.
There was 2:37 left in the game when Mur
ray again hit Woodside for a 34-yard touch
down pass. The Aggies went up for the last
time, 39-35.
“The character of this team has really as
serted itself,” A&M Coach Jackie Sherrill
said after the game. “Our players played as
hard as they could for 60 minutes and they
never lost sight of what they had to do.”
SMU had lost a close game, and Mustang
See Last Time/Page 13
#) ON CAMPUS
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Ask Kimo Ford why he bought a Volkswagen and
get ready for some family history.
"Everyone in my family has driven a Volkswagen
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And my brother, who's also a student drives an
'83 Volkswagen Rabbit.
"So when I saved enough money to buy a car
there was only one logical choice. A Volkswagen.
My car's a '79 Rabbit. With 145,000 miles on it.
Ten years old and all those miles and it's still
running great.
"If you ask me, it's the perfect student's car.
Good on gas. Fun to drive. And big enough to
carry four friends." Even so, Kimo is already think
ing about his next car. Another Volkswagen?
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It's time to think about
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