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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 1992)
Sports Wednesday, September 16,1992 The Battalion Auto racing cures road football blues s o you think since your Ag gies are on the road playing the Sisters of the Poor, or some other lightweight football team, that it is safe to go home this weekend and not miss any thing. Guess again. The greatest K. LEE DAVIS Sports Writer spectator sport in North America is rumbling right up to your doorstep this weekend, but don't blink, you might miss it. Thats right, big time 200 mph auto racing is coming your way, Brazos Valley. You had better step right up to witness it, or we may never get this chance again. More than $15 million has been spent at the Texas World Speedway in the last several years to bring the facil ity up to racing standards, and the two most important sanctioning bodies in the stock car world have taken notice. The National Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing, or NASCAR, and the Automobile Racing Club of America, or ARCA, have sanctioned a race together at the two-mile oval track this weekend. While the facility can handle well over 100,000 people, the speedway is hoping to draw in at least 40,000 rac ing fans to the track located five miles from downtown College Station. That's whbre we come in. More fans personally witness auto racing in the United States than any other spec tator sport, and Texas is one of the last jewels to be placed in racing's crown. Should this weekend's slate of rac ing be a commercial failure, there's no wav to be sure that we will ever get . r. , n -n u<>\i ’ See Davis/ Page 6 Aggie defense still climbing Crew 1 starts to find niche By CHRIS WHITLEY Sports Editor of THE BATTALION Texas A&M's "Wrecking Crew" de fense, the number one such unit in college football last year, has led the Aggies through their first three wins of this sea son. However, defensive coordinator Bob Davie said that as good as it is, the 1992 Aggie defense doesn't compare with last year's group. "Statistic-wise, you're never going to have what you had last year," Davie said. "When you lose players like Quentin Coryatt and Kevin Smith, it's a big loss. "But our young guys have shown a lot of intensity so far." The Aggies' defense has given up an average of 13 points and 269 yards a game this season. In all of 1991, the Ag gies allowed only 222 yards a game. Yet, linebacker Steve Solari said he thinks the Aggie defense is just as good as the defense was after three games last year and is capable of improvement. "I think we're just about at the same level that we were at this time last sea son," Solari said. "I'm not at all surprised that we're 3-0. I don't think we have peaked at all." In their latest battle against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, the Aggies allowed no touchdowns, nine points and only 184 to tal yards. Three times the Hurricane pen etrated the Aggies' 25-yard line and went away without a touchdown each time. Senior linebacker Marcus Buckley was a big part of that defensive stand, Davie said. After an ankle ailment kept Buckley in limbo before the season began, Davie said that Buckley finally came to full strength against Tulsa Saturday. "Tulsa was the first sign of his playing better," he said. "Against Stanford, he didn't play much. In the LSU game, he had a little more playing time. But he re ally came to form against Tulsa." One of the problems plaguing Davie and the defensive unit was the void at strong safety caused by Steve Kenney's injured knee in the opening game against Stanford. Kenney's replacement, sopho more Michael Hendricks, has relieved many of Davie's fears. "Hendricks came to life against Tulsa," Davie said. "Kenney was going to be a star this year until he got injured, but Hendricks came out and proved he could play." Cornerback Derrick Frazier has shown that the Aggie secondary can survive without former Southwest Conference in terception leader Kevin Smith. In three games, Frazier has picked off three pass es. "Right now, Frazier is playing the best that he's ever played," Davie said. "That kid has really made some strides this sea son. If Derrick keeps playing the way he's been playing. I'd put him up there in the same league as Kevin." Head coach R.C. Slocum said that al though Frazier has been overshadowed by Smith, now of the Dallas Cowboys, he has long recognized his talent. "He's kind of been in Kevin's shad ow," Slocum said. "But he has been a good, solid player for a couple of years." Free safety Patrick Bates has not been heard from a great deal this season, but Slocum attributes that factor to opponents staying away from him and not as a re flection of his performance. "I think the nature of the games that we have played, the schemes of (the op ponents') offenses don't allow him to be involved as much," Slocum said. "I think Patrick is playing well." Davie and Slocum both agree that the defensive line has increased its level of A&M fullback Clif Groce makes a cut in the Tulsa defense in the Aggies’ against the Golden Hurricane on Saturday. play throughout the season. "The defensive line has become more of a factor this season," Davie said. "We're keeping more lineman in the game longer than before." Slocum added: "We are better on the defensive line than I've seen us in a num ber of years." One of the large reasons for the line's success revolves around Eric England's move from defensive end to nose guard, Slocum said, even thq.ugh it.tgpk some persuasion for England to make the change. "I was concerned about Eric," said. "He didn't want to move from to nose. 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