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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1989)
The Battalion Lane liwesi I'erij a strial ' tht said btlit itiai. J. othe rat ) ige £ er- i SPORTS Monday, November 13,1989 Gardere falls in Ware’s lair Longhorns embarrassed 47-9 in Astrodome By Richard Tijerina Of The Battalion Staff Attention R.C. Slocum. Judging from the way Texas looked on Sat urday, that possible “showdown” for the Southwest Conference championship on Dec. 2 just might end up being a chance for the Ag gies to “show up” the Longhorns. Texas visits Kyle Field on Dec. 2 — the last game of the season for both teams. Texas A&M (5-1) must beat Arkansas (5-1) on Nov. 24 for its game against Texas (3-2) to mean anything to the conference race. But if it does, the Aggies have to be encouraged from what they saw in Saturday’s game, a 47-9 Houston blowout over Texas in the Astro dome. Texas looked shaky on both of fense and defense, and UH’s pass rush flustered the Longhorns. If things hold up, it might mean Aggie linebackers will have an early Christmas on Dec. 2. Houston’s defense pressured Texas quarterback Peter Gardere throughout the day, and the redshirt freshman didn’t handle it well. Gar dere finished 14-of-27 for 247 yards, but he also threw two interceptions. “That was probably the best de fense we’ve seen all year,” Gardere said. “They’d get in there fast and put on a lot of pressure. Those two interceptions were all my fault.” It was a game that looked similar to Houston’s win over Baylor on Oct. 7. In that game, the Bears stayed close to the Cougars in the first quar ter before being blown out 65-7 in the Astrodome. Houston had a small 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, but SWC Standings T*«m SWC Record T«xm A&M 5-1 Arkansas 5-1 Texas 3-2 Baylor 3-3 Texas Tech 4-2 x-Houston 4-2 TCU 2-5 Rice t-5 SMU 0-6 x-meltgibk) (or conference championshtp. Saturday’s results Houston 47, Texas 6; Arkansas 19, Baylor 10; Texas Tech 37, TCU 7; Notre Dame 59. SMU 6 Next Saturday's schedule TCU at Texas, noon; Rice at Baylor, 1 p.m.; Texas Tech at SMU, 2 p.m.; Texas A&M Is idle. Houston Is idle Texas surrendered 21 second-quar ter points on the way to its second conference loss of the season. The Longhorns still can earn a trip to the Cotton Bowl. They can tie for the SWC title and earn the bowl bid by winning their last three games (against Texas Chrisitian, Baylor and A&M) if Arkansas and Texas Tech each suffers another loss. “We can still control our destiny to a large extent as far as the Cotton Bowl is concerned,” Texas Coach David McWilliams said. “We can’t worry about those teams we have no control over.” Gardere, who started just his fourth game, said it was time for the Longhorns to pick up and go on. “We need to get on with playing football,” Gardere said. “We can’t dwell on this one too long. It’s a bad loss, but we’ve still got other games that we need to play.” It was Houston’s third consecutive victory over Texas, and the past two games have been about as close as Saturday’s. In their last three meet ings, the Cougars have outscored the Longhorns 173-64. Andre Ware, the Cougars’ Heis- man Trophy hopeful, had another big day. Ware finished with 411 yards, four touchdowns and two in terceptions on 29-of-47 passes. Ware even caught one. On the first play of the third quarter, Ware lined up behind center, then started walking down the line as if to make sure the Cougars were aware of the audible he was calling. While Ware was in motion, center Byron Forsythe snapped the ball to reserve quarterback David Klinger, who was set up at tailback. Klinger threw complete to the wide-open Ware for a 37-yard gain. “Everyone was saying we couldn’t win a big one after we lost to A&M and Arkansas,” Ware said. “That’s why this one was a big win for us.” Leading 6-3 at the start of the sec ond quarter, Houston recovered an Adrian Walker fumble at the Texas 28. Two plays later, Ware completed an 18-yard screen pass to running back Kimble Anders to put UH up, 13-3. After Wayne Clements’ 52-yard field goal that cut the UH lead to 13- 6, Ware again took over, conducting a six play, 68-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 38-yard pass to wide receiver Emmanuel Hazard. Hazard, the Cougars’ leading re ceiver with 226 yards and two touch downs on 19 completions, set an NCAA record with 19 touchdowns in a season. Ware also broke SWC career marks for total offense and passing yardage, held by Southern Method ist’s Chuck Hixson. UH Coach Jack Pardee took Ware out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. With Ware still at quarterback, Houston scored 14 third-quarter Sports Editor Tom Kehoe 845-2688 Photo by Jay Janner UH’s Chuck Weatherspoon pushes UT’s Van Malone away in Saturday’s 47-9 rout. points. Super back Chuck Weath erspoon broke through a blitzing Texas defense for a 60-yard touch down run that made it 34-9 Weatherspoon led all rushers with 164 yards and one touchdown on only 11 rushes. On their next possession, Ware passed for his last touchdown of the afternoon — a nine-yard toss to Haz ard that made it 41-9. In the fourth quarter, Gardere re bounded somewhat. He completed his first four passes of the period and had the Longhorns threatening in Cougar territory. But at the Hous ton 18-yard line, Gardere was sacked hard by strong safety Alton Mont gomery. He stayed in for two more plays, but after a failed fourth-and-14 play, Gardere, still feeling the effects of Montgomery’s hit, was taken out of the game by McWilliams. “I was disoriented a little bit after that last sack,” Gardere said. “I told Coach about it and he made the de cision to take me out.” Houston sacked Gardere seven times for a total of 54 yards in losses. Freshman fullback Adrian Walker led the Longhorns with 103 yards on 27 carries. Wide receiver Johnny Walker caught six passes for 83 yards. If the Aggies can get by the Razor- backs after a three-week layoff, they’ll be in good position for a fourth Cotton Bowl trip in five years. A&M has won five in a row over Texas, and hasn’t lost a SWC game at home since 1984. ms ■or ing ah icr I 'S, 1 ice (| loo I im | ag' II at I m- | er- I up isa ian snt Ags, Hogs have inside track to Cotton Bowl berth (AP) — Get ready for the colli sion in College Station. The defending Southwest Conference champion Arkansas Razorbacks can get back to the Cotton Bowl, but they have a nasty piece of business left. All they have to do is beat Texas A&M on Nov. 24 in Col lege Station, where the Aggies have won 19 consecutive SWC games. Then they have to beat undermanned Southern Method ist on Dec. 2. The guest team berth is boiling down to the Nebraska Cornhusk- ers of the Big Eight or Illinois of the Big Ten. The Cotton Bowl will announce its guest team in two weeks. The Cornhuskers always bring thousands of fans to a New Year’s bowl and would appear to have the inside shot at pickin’ cotton against the SWC host team on Jan. 1. Houston can’t go to a bowl be cause of NCAA probation so it appears the SWC may only have three teams in post-season com petition. Arkansas whipped pesky Bay lor 19-10 on national television at Fayetteville on Saturday to set up the showdown in College Station. In other games, Texas Tech stayed alive in the SWC race and impressed the bowl scouts with a 37-7 victory over Texas Chris tian; Houston dealt Texas’ SWC hopes a severe setback with a 47-9 rout; and Southern Methodist lost to No. 1 Notre Dame, 59-6. The SWC ended its non-con ference record with a 16-9-1 re cord, one of its best in years. Here’s how the Cotton Bowl chase stands: • Arkansas goes by beating A&M and SMU. • Texas A&M goes if it beats Arkansas and Texas. • Texas Tech goes to its first Cotton Bowl as a conference member if the Raiders beat SMU and Houston and both A&M and Arkansas each get another loss. • Texas goes if it beats TCU, Baylor and A&M while A&M beats Arkansas. Tech would have to lose to either SMU or Houston. « Lady Aggies drop Bears in three games tile By Alan Lehmann Of The Battalion Staff ! § Every Lady Aggie volleyball player contributed Saturday night as A&M swept the Baylor Bears 15-9, 15-5, 16-14 in G. Rollie White Col iseum. A&M Coach A1 Givens took ad vantage of the match to get his younger players some playing time, removing senior stars Kelli Kellen and Yvonne Van Brandt after the first game. Each of the other nine healthy Lady Aggies played in at least two games. “We used a lot of different peo ple, and got a lot of our younger players into the match,” Givens said. “We pulled our older kids out after the first game to try to keep every body healthy for (the Texas match) Tuesday.” Although the Lady Aggies looked bad in spots, Givens was happy with the result. “We struggled to control the mo mentum, and the third game wasn’t pretty.” he said. “But, we won in three games, and that’s what the: good teams do.” A&M dominated the first game, scoring nine points before Baylor scored their first. Leading 1-0, Amy Cumings took a Van Brandt set and spiked it hard cross-court for her first kill. After two Baylor errors led to A&M points, Kellen and Krista Hi- erholzer each killed two more, and combined for a block to make the score 9-0. Baylor took advantage of A&M errors to score eight of the next 11 points. However, it was too late. Cumings scored the final point on a spike past a diving defender. Cumings led the Lady Aggies with 13 kills and a .435 hitting percent age. Redshirt freshman Raychelle Michalke added five aces and three blocks, including two solos. Baylor was led by Kathi Jones and Dawn Martin, who had nine kills each. Jennifer Burrows had added five kills in eight attempts with only one error for a .500 hitting percent age. After wholesale lineup changes, the Lady Aggies looked even better in the second game. A&M jumped out to leads of 8-1 and 10-2, before Baylor scored on a tip and an A&M error. Leading 10-4, Michalke served two consecutive aces. After a Bear point, the Lady Aggies scored on a Baylor error and a Moniki Daniels tip to make the score 14-5. Fresh man Elizabeth Edmiston spiked the ball under a Bear block for the final point. In the third game, Baylor erased a 4-3 A&M lead and used a string of Lady Aggie errors to take a 9-4 lead. However, trailing 11-5, A&M came back and scored seven consecutive points. Baylor tied the game 14-14, but a Cumings kill and a Hierholzer block sealed the match for A&M. A&M is now 11-15 for the season, 3-6 in Southwest Conference play. Baylor is 10-20 and 0-9 in the SWC. Givens said he was pleased with the play of his youngsters, especially Michalke. “Everybody contributed for us to night,” Givens said. “I thought Barb Bella came in and had a couple of blocks to snap that bad streak in the third game. Many of our errors were the kind of mistakes that happen with a new lineup, when players aren’t comfortable with each other yet.” “I thought that Raychelle did a great job serving,” Givens said. “Eve rybody knows that she can hit the ball hard, but she needs to develop some finesse shots to go with that.” Michalke said that she hits her serve differently than most players. The Lady Aggies play their final home match of the season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when they host the de fending national champion Texas Lady Longhorns. “I think Texas is beatable, they’re not blowing anyone off the court,” Michalke said. “We hung with them in Austin, and I think if we get a lot of fans behind us, we can get G. Rollie rockin’.” A&M’s Amy Cumings digs in the second game of Saturday’s match with Baylor. Supa Tupa stops Dallas win streak Aikman throws for 379 yards in Cowboys’ 24-20 losing effort TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — After throwing six interceptions and being sacked six times in his first NFL start last month, Phoenix Cardinals backup quarterback Tom Tupa says all he wanted was a chance to re deem himself. He got it Sunday and led the Car dinals to a wild 24-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Tupa, taking over at the start of the second half after Coach Gene Stallings benched Gary Hogeboom, threw two fourth-quarter touch down passes to Ernie Jones, includ ing a 72-yard bomb with 58 seconds remaining for the game-winner. “Gene talked to me on the way into the locker room at halftime. He said to be ready and I was ready,” said Tupa, who completed 14 of 22 passes for 245 yards in his fourth NFL regular-season appearance. “I’ve been waiting for another chance.” After Dallas (T9) had taken a 20- 17 lead on a 75-yard bomb from Troy Aikman to James Dixon with 1:43 left, Tupa lofted a pass to Jones along the sidelines on a third-and- four situation. Jones caught the ball in stride at midfield and raced untouched into the end zone for his second touch down of the game as Phoenix evened its record at 5-5 and kept its wildcard playoff hopes alive. “It was a great comeback. We really hung in there and we’re right back in the hunt now,” Stallings said. “We gambled with the quarterback change. I just had a gut feeling. “We just weren’t doing anything offensively and I just thought we needed a change in direction. Tupa came in and gave it to us.” The Cardinals didn’t clinch the victory until Dixon fumbled the en suing kickoff and rookie tight end Walter Reeves recovered at the Cow boy 2. Phoenix then ran off the re maining 51 seconds. “It’s a bitter defeat,” said Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson, whose team upset Washington 13-3 last Sunday night and was trying for its first two- game winning streak in two years. “We missed too many opportuni ties early and we turned the ball over too much. We had them beat and let them back in the ballgame with that long pass.” Hogeboom was 7-for-13 for 91 yards with two sacks and suffered a mild concussion late in the second quarter before Stallings benched him and played Tupa for the first time since a 17-5 loss to Philadelphia here Oct. 15. “I’m not mad at Gary. We just didn’t get much production from him,” Stallings said. “This will help Tom’s confidence, but I don’t know who will be the starter now. I’d rather have a quarterback contro versy and be 5-5 than not have one and be 4-6.” The loss overshadowed the 379- yard passing performance of Aik man, playing for the first time since breaking his left index finger Oct. 1. Aikman, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft, completed 21 of 40 passes before leaving the game with a mild concussion after being leveled by linebacker Anthony Bell on his TD pass to Dixon. “I was knocked out and I didn’t know what happened until Coach Johnson told me just before I got up off the field,” Aikman said. “This was a tough loss. There was no rea son for us not to win it.” Aikman also threw two intercep tions — both by Tim McDonald, who returned one 53 yards for a second- quarter touchdown. The Cardinals, trailing 13-7 at halftime, took a 17-13 lead on A1 Del Greco’s 45-yard field goal with 9:14 remaining and Tupa’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Jones with 6:25 left. Del Greco, 14-for-18 this season but 2-for-4 since having his club re- cord-tying string of 10 consecutive field goals broken last week, was wide left on a 44-yarder 5:55 before halftime and had a 41-yard attempt partially blocked by Ed “Too Tall” Jones with 10:05 remaining in the third quarter. Aikman, 14 of 27 for 229 yards in the first half, hit Kelvin Martin for a 5-yard touchdown pass and 13-7 lead 25 seconds before halftime — capping a seven-play, 71-yard drive that took just 58 seconds. Phoenix led 7-6 on McDonald’s interception return 4:05 before half time. McDonald stepped in front of tight end Steve Folsom on a second- down sideline route and went un touched for the first touchdown of his three-year NFL career. He has six of Phoenix’s 11 interceptions this season.