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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1990)
The Battalion SPORTS 10 Friday, S< Ann Friday, September 14,1990 Sports Editor Nadja Sabawala 845-2 .... ^ ^ s -* -Vx.^ ,- s . •: : • S ^ -. -. s ; J : USL not OK with RC Ags worried about Ragin’ Cajun talent By CLAY RASMUSSEN Of The Battalion Staff A&M coach R.C. Slocum says USL will be just as fast, strong and big as the Aggies are ... Texas A&M head football coach R.C. Slocum is not the type to throw caution to the wind. He’ll be the first to tell you that Southwestern Louisiana’s football team worries him. Slocum and the No. 12-ranked Aggies open the home portion of their 1990 season Saturday when they host the Ragin’ Cajuns. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p..m. “You watch the scoreboard and every week teams like Southwestern Louisiana beat teams like A&M,” Slocum said. “It’s not farfetched. It’s a legitimate concern that anyone who understands the game of foot ball has.” Slocum said evidence of the underdog upsetting the favored team is shown week after week. The Aggies are 17-point favor ites going into Saturday’s matchup. “I see it happen all the time,” Slocum said. “Can you believe Southern Miss beat Alabama at Alabama? I can believe it be cause I see it happen every week. “Once you’re aware of that from a coach ing standpoint, then every week you recog nize that you have your hands full. Your challenge is to make your players under stand that.” USL is 2-0 after crushing Tulane 48-6 in its opener and squeaking past Nicholls State last week, 24-21. And although the Cajuns don’t have the national recognition that A&M has, USL has gained Slocum’s re- OAKVILI sped. “People want to know why (USL) is so tal ented,” Slocum said. “In the last several years they’ve taken a bunch of talented Proposition 48 players.” Proposition 48 is an NCAA entrance re quirement that states if an athlete doesn’t meet academic requirements, then he or she must sit out a year and lose a year of eli gibility. “They have taken guys that would have gone to Louisiana State or Tulane,” Slocum said. “When you watch them play, they’ll be as big and fast and strong as we are across the board. “Needless to say, I’m very concerned long absence acl its gre look’s short “My chipf feme left,” 1 laking a shai ■irst round < Rith a 7-und Bn it more i ■ban I have h las a touring I That work ■5-foot chip- ■mtts as the 1 ■ig round 1 Bnost of last See Aggies/Page 10 ... while USL’s Nelson Stokley said he is plenty worried about A&M’s Wrecking Crew defense. . A BUNCH ROBOTS •> Slocum: a fine line ’tween show and celebration By RICHARD TIJERINA Of The Battalion Staff R.C. Slocum didn't even see the play, but he took the referee's word for it. And tight end Derek Ware took the brunt of Slocum's anger. At the time. A&M quarterback Lance Pavlas, evading a Hawaii blitz, rolled right and threw to Ware in the back end of the endzone. Ware's one-handed touchdown grab —his first catch as an Aggie — put A&M up 21-3 in the sec ond quarter of their season opener against Hawaii. But the endzone official called Ware for unsportsmanlike conduct for alleg edly spiking the ball. The Aggies were penalized 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. Slocum ran out onto the field and had a few words with Ware on his way to the A&M sideline. But Slocum said Tuesday at his weekly press conference that after watching the game film, he believed the official's call on Ware was wrong, "If you watch the game film, then you'd know that call was a bad one,” Slocum said. "Here’s a guy who catches his first college touchdown pass in his first college gamO, and he made a heck of a catch. "And he's jumping up and down, and as he is, he just throws the ball away. The ball hits about five yards away and the official calls it. What he did was not spiking the ball. That is not what I saw." But that's where the problem begins, Slocum said. The line between cele bration and showing off is too thin. "It's an emotional game," Slocum said. "You watch the fans and sponta neously you'll have 70,000 people jump up and wave their arms and all that stuff. But now a player jumps up and does that, and he's showboating." A&M's aggressive style of defense might give players too many chances Battalion file photo by J. Janner Coach R.C. Slocum is worried that celebration, like above when Aaron Wal lace sacked LSU’s Tom Hodson in 1989, gets confused with showing off. to celebrate. Sack specialists William Thomas and Quentin Coryatt and big i Derrk hitters Larry Horton and Derrick Fra zier often have good reason to cele brate. In last season's 17-13 win over Hous ton, linebackers Aaron Wallace and Thomas leveled quarterback Andre Ware. Ware's helmet popped off, and Wallace picked it up and raised it above his head. "Grabbing Ware’s helmet relieved a lot of frustration for me," Wallace said after the game. "It was when I had his helmet in my hand that I finally sensed we were going to win." The Kyle Field crowd of 66,423 may have liked it, but Slocum said some times a player can get caught up too much after making a spectacular play. Although Wallace wasn't called for unsportsmanlike conduct, he could have. And that’s what Slocum wants to See Robots/Page 11 wrist surgery He was tiec ||lso used his t p bogey-free ■ey Golf Clul I “Chipping Bre my stron Ibis was a lit Haiti Faxon, Imes. That Irom 20 feel Hooter to save lead on the f it A&M spikers face tougl competition in Nebrask While the flhe lead, a j ■hemselves in ■irst home-gr Bonal champi I Dave Barr Ht 66 and Rii his career-bes pie three we iroup tied foi By SCOTT WUDEL Of The Battalion Staff The Texas A&M women’s volleyball team won’t be welcomed with open arms when it travels to Nebraska this weekend. The Lady Aggies will face three of col lege volleyball’s top teams in the Baden-Mi- zuno Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Lady Aggies (2-3) will face the top- ranked Cornhuskers tonight. They play 20th-ranked Wyoming Saturday before meeting a tough Purdue team the same day. The team may have found a set of start ers and the chemistry they were needing in time to face their toughest competition. The Aggies are coming off a 2-1 home- stand they completed Tuesday night by de feating Southwest Texas State versity Bob cats in a long four-game match. Coach A1 Givens says the tournament will be a good confidence builder. “Nebraska is ranked No. 1 in the coun try, and that’s where we would like to be ranked one day,” Givens says. Nebraska is 4-0 and coming off victories over former No. 1 UCLA and former sec ond-ranked Hawaii in the Hawaiian Air lines Wahine Classic last weekend. The Cornhuskers return ten letterwin- ners from last year’s team that compiled a 29-4 record and won their 14th straight Big Eight championship. They finished run- “Nebraska is ranked No. 1 in the country, and that’s eds where we would like to be ranked one day.” — Al Givens A&M volleyball coach Astr ner-up to Long Beach State for the nationi crown. Givens says the Lady Aggies will haven play unbelievabale defense and serve wd just to be in the match with the perennii powerhouse. The Lady Aggies are 4-4 in the serie against Nebraska, but the Huskers ha« taken the last four matches, includingare over the Aggies last year in College Station. The Wyoming Cowgirls got their No.2(1 ranking by compiling a 4-1 record. Tki reached the finals of .the NCAA West Re gionals last year before falling to UCLA. A&M and Wyoming have split the tw matches they have played, but haven't seen each other on the court since 1983. The Lady Aggies’ last meeting with Pur due was two years ago, when the Boib makers downed A&M in a 2!/2-hourmar athon match. The series between the two teams is set at 1-2 before this weekend! CINCINN an’s inability xmt Thursd nanager Loi liggest w in oj innati Reds, Houston Astr "We had th Med it off Then he hit i Larkin's r tomev. his si duel in which high four h (.‘imrinnati's 1< die Los Angi n the Nation; “I don’t kr he bum do iractice evei Klingler, UH top Tech 51-35 bout this tear Slocum’s co See Lady Ags/Pagelfect that the ( ind-Shoot off LUBBOCK (AP) — David Klingler, pick ing up where Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware left off, threw five touchdown passes, carrying the 18th-ranked Houston Cougars to a 51-35 Southwest Conference victory over Texas Tech on Thursday night. Ware abandoned his senior year to play for the Detroit Lions, and Klingler, a junior from Houston, got his chance. He also threw five scoring passes in a 37-9 opening victory over Nevada-Las Vegas. Klingler, operating a no-huddle run- and-shoot offense, stunned the Red Raid ers, who lost 17-10 to Ohio State in their opener, with a 53-yard scoring strike on the Cougars’ first possession. That got Houston going towards 538 yards of offense. The Red Raiders seldom managed to dis rupt the Cougars’ wide-open passing attack, and when they did, running back Chuck Weatherspoon burned them with 121 yards on 18 carries. Klingler, who hit 29 of 54 passes for 435 yards, took Houston on three 80-yard scor ing drives and another of 55 yards for a 28- 11 halftime lead as the Cougars celebrated their first national television appearance since the 1988 Aloha Bowl because of NCAA probation. A&M punished for NCAA violation A&M softball opens home season OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — The NCAA Thursday levied a $1,000 fine and a public reprimand against Texas A&M Uni versity for failing to report the ineligibility of an athlete before the 1990 track cham pionships. The NCAA said Texas A&M notified its own officials that the athlete was no longer a student at Texas A&M, making him ineli gible for competition. But the track coach did not inform NCAA officials until one day before the competition began, the NCAA said. The delay didn’t give championship coordinators enough time to find another eligible participant, said NCAA spokesman Jim Marchiony. David Walker, chairman of the NCAA’s Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Com mittee, said the school is putting together administrative controls to prevent similar problems in the future. By DOUGLAS PILS Of The Battalion Staff Under the limelight of the Texas A&M football team’s home opener, Bob Brock and his Lady Aggies are quietly embarking on their 1990-91 softball season. The team split a doubleheader in San Marcos against Southwest Texas State Wednesday night. A&M opens its home season today at 5 p.m. against St. Edwards at the Lady Aggie Softball Field next to Ol sen field. The Lady Aggies are also participating in a round robin tournament, 10 a.m. Satur day at College Station’s Central Park. Uni versities such as Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston State, Stephan F. Austin and Southwest Texas State are scheduled to play. Wednesday, Dana Mitchell pitched the Jfgies to an 8-2 victory in the first game, itn both Bobcat runs being scored in the Wit first. In a shortened nightcap, A&M lost by a 3-2 count with Missi Young taking the loss. Brock said he was pleased with his team’s performance. “We had a very positive outing,” Brock said. “Right now we’re way ahead of where we were last year.” That could be good news as the Lady Ag gies return 11 players from last year’s NCAA Regional playoff team. Leading the returnees are pitchers, Mitchell and Young, outfielder Michelle Mayfield and catcher Chris Wilfong. Young and Mayfield were first-team All-Region se lections last year and Mitchell and Wilfong were second-team choices. With all the old faces still on the team, Brock needed to add just three new mem bers. Jennifer McFalls, a shortstop from Grand Prairie, Kim Halbrook, an outfielder from Corpus Christi and Rhonda Halbert, from Yukon, Okla., who returns from aca demic difficulties. Halbert, who will play third base, is actu ally a veteran as she was a member of the last NCAA College WorldSeries team in 1988. Halbert spent two years away from A&M working to improve her academic standing and, in Brock’s words, “to straighten out her priorties. “I’m really excited to have Rhonda back,” Brock said. “She has always been a very fine player, but now she’s a more mature play er.” Both Brock and Assistant Coach Butch Edge were esctatic about Halbert’s perfor mance Wednesday night. “She’s better than she ever was,” Brock said. “You couldn’t tell she’s been away from the softball diamond for a year-and-a- half.” Brock said that since the fall is basically an exhibition season, he wants to make sure everybody gets a chance as he trys to find the right players for the right positions. Owner’s approve NY general partner in quarterly meeting PITTSBURGH (AP) — Broadway producer Robert Nederlander, prom ising to bring front office stability and fiscal sanity to the New York Yankees af-1 Run-and-Shoc jhe University ies successful ws’ offense, Assesses a m ack. “They’re a han Hawaii,” he option be an the optioi etter guy to r Quarterbac he Cajuns’ t ter George Steinbrenner’s 17'/2 years, was unanimously approved Thursday by major league owners as the team’s new general partner. The owners ended their quarterly meetings by extending American League president Dr. Bobby Brown's contract for two years and by more than pound sophor year, recordi USL’s leadin four yards a c; “This guy aid. “He’s a Quinn Grove guys. His inte doubling the pension benefits of players and he’s good who retired from 1947 through 1958 The two leagues failed to reach an agreement on the American League’s suggestion to share in the National League’s $190 million franchise fees prompting Commissioner Fay Vincent's promise to intervene if necessary. Nederlander backed off criticizing j Steinbrenner’s free spending on free agents and revolving-door hirings and firings, but said the Yankees will rebuild j their farm system and “will operate in a ] fiscally responsible manner.” Hinting he won’t be a headline-seek ing, hands-on owner like Steinbrenner. Nederlander said he won’t second-guess general manager Gene Michael, player personnel director George Bradley or manager Stump Merrill. “My own personal philosophy is you have to give people a chance, and conti nuity is important," he said. “If a rea sonable decision has been made, you should stick with it, and you shouldn'i second guess people.” Meanwhile, Vincent — marking his first anniversary as commissioner —said he is sympathetic to the financial plight of small-market franchises such as Pitts burgh, Milwaukee and Cleveland “but there’s nothing that I nor anyone else in baseball can hold out as a panacea in the short term.” One of baseball’s most fiscally conser vative franchises, the Pirates likely will pay Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilb more money in 1991 than tneir total 1986 payroll. “Some of these players may not be re tainable” by small-market teams, Vin cent said. “There will have to be some very hard economic decisions made by clubs like Pittsburgh. That’s inevitable, but that’s the market.” To shut dc Cajuns’ Run-; Jmust rely on man and linet The A&M with injurii Noseguard P; € Ope] Din fine ret