The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 17, 1992, Image 7

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'Thursday, September 17,1992
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A&M should
roll to justify
No. 5 ranking
I n three ear
ly season
wins
against three
tough oppo
nents, Texas
A&M fans
have seen
their offense
struggle to put
points on the
board
throughout
the first three
quarters, only
to pull out a
victory late in
the game.
The questions from the doubters
could be answered with the fact that
the Aggies were playing quality teams.
Stanford is in the top 25, LSU knocked
off a tough Mississippi State squad last
week, and A&M's win over Tulsa
broke an eight-game winning streak
for the Golden Hurricane.
But a struggling offense in week
four of the season could raise even
more questions from doubters. After a
tie between Notre Dame and Michigan
last weekend, the Aggies jumped to
No. 5 in the Associated Press poll.
Now, they must prove they are among
the elite in college football.
This week, it's the University of
Missouri. In Columbia.
Sure, they played Illinois a good
game last week on the road, and prob
ably should have won.
But it shouldn't matter.
These are the teams that make na
tional championship seasons. Notre
Dame had their Rice in 1988. Miami
had their Cincinnati in '89. And if 1992
will be a championship season for
Texas A&M, they will need to have
their Missouri.
National championships are built
See Foster/ Page 8
J. DOUGLAS
FOSTER
Sports Editor
Sports
The Battalion Page 7
No rest on the schedule
Fifth-ranked Aggies just another
tough opponent for Missouri
By DON NORWOOD
Sports Writer for THE BATTALION
You will have to excuse Missouri head
football coach Bob Stull if he sounds cau
tious about Saturday's home opener
against Texas A&M.
In the third game of a major rebuilding
project at Mizzou, Stull saw his Tigers fall
behind early in their 24-17 loss to Illinois
last week as the result of several key mis-
cues.
And although Missouri managed to
make a strong comeback and provide a
more respectable final score, Stull said
Wednesday that that comeback was little
consolation in the Tigers' disappointing
season-opening loss.
"We made a lot of mistakes early,"
Stull said. "We were happy that we
played hard and came back, though."
The comeback is something Stull
knows about well, for few coaches per
formed the kind of resurrection he did at
the University of Texas-El Paso during
the late-80's.
After leading Massachusetts to a 10-12
record over two years, Stull strode into El
Paso in 1986 to take over a team mired in
a losing tradition.
Few things changed that first year, as
the Miners finished 4-8. But the rebirth
took hold the next year, as UTEP ended
up 7-4.
In 1988, Stull helped UTEP do the
seemingly impossible when the Miners
capped off a 10-3 campaign with a 38-18
loss to Curley Hallman's Southern Missis
sippi Golden Eagles in the Independence
Bowl.
A year after the first 10-win season in
El Paso in many moons, Stull left the
UTEP comfort zone for Columbia, Mo.,
where the previous five years saw Miz
zou accumulate a less-than-impressive
15-38-2 record.
But with each year that Stull has tried
to work another miracle with the Tigers,
he has seen the Big Eight Conference
multiply in strength. Consequently, Mis
souri has averaged three wins and more
than seven losses during a three year
span.
In this young season, the trend in the
Big Eight seems to be continuing. For
Stull, that means double the strength of
the competition, and double the effort
needed by the Tigers to improve and
have a winning season.
"We don't have to worry about com
petition—we get plenty of it every week,"
Stull said. "With Colorado, Oklahoma
and Nebraska (in the Big Eight), those are
three that are Top 10-caliber teams every
year. Kansas is playing much better, and
Kansas State had seven wins last year.
"I think every team is getting better,"
he added.
As if the conference were not solid
enough, the Tigers are in the midst of
one of the more difficult non-conference
slates around.
Opponents A&M, Illinois and Indiana
all notched bowl appearances last season,
with Division I-AA runner-up Marshall
thrown in for good measure.
With one of those non-league oppo
nents out of the way, Stull is eager to re
turn home to face the Aggies in a game
that should appeal to the Missouri faith
ful.
"We like playing at home, just like
anyone else," Stull said. "Our fans are
looking forward to seeing A&M, especial
ly since they're fifth in the nation.
"That's what our fans like to see," he
said.
What Tiger fans probably will not like
to see is Greg Hill picking his way
through the Missouri defense the way he
did against Tulsa. And even though
A&M's much-heralded "Lion" offense
has thrust Rodney Thomas into a more
prominent role, Stull said stopping Hill is
job one for the Tiger defense.
"For a freshman to come in and lead
the conference (behind Rice's Trevor
Cobb) is pretty good," Stull said. "And,
he had 125 yards last week. That's our
Missouri head coach Bob Stull
(right), faces the fifth-ranked Aggies
this weekend in what will be a long list
of ranked teams on the Tigers’ 1992
schedule.
number-one concern on defense.
"Defensively, you can name guys
down the line, like (Marcus) Buckley and
some of the others. They're a good, all-
around ball team."
Although a sellout is not in the cards
Saturday at 62,000-seat Faurot Field, Stull
said that 45-50,000 fans are expected for
the third all-time meeting between A&M
and Missouri)'
Henneman,
Haas hold
off Rangers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT— Tony Phillips' two-
run double keyed a three-run sev
enth and David Haas combined
with Mike Henneman for a two-hit
ter as the Detroit Tigers defeated the
Texas Rangers 4-1 Wednesday
night.
Haas (5-2) went seven innings,
giving up one run and both hits.
Henneman pitched the final two in-
' nings for his career-best 23rd save to
complete the game, which was the
lowest hit-total contest thrown by
the Tigers' staff this season,
Texas starter Roger Pavlik (4-3),
who had gone 4-1 in his previous
five outings, gave up three runs on
five hits in six-plus innings.
The score was tied 1-1 when the
Tigers started their seventh with
three consecutive walks, two off
Pavlik and one off reliever Edwin
Nunez.
Chad Kreuter's sacrifice fly to
center scored Mickey Tettieton with
the go-ahead run.
Skeeter Barnes hit a grounder
that forced out Mark Carreon before
Phillips lined a double to the wall in
left-center, driving in Rob Deer and
Barnes for a 4-1 lead.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in
the fourth when Jose Canseco dou
bled and scored on an RBI single by
Juan Gonzalez.
It was the 100th RBI for Gonza
lez, who joined former Texas stars
Ruben Sierra and Larry Parrish as
the only Rangers to drive in 100
runs more than once during their
career at Texas.
The Tigers tied it in the sixth. Lou
Whitaker reached on a grounder
that forced Barnes, who had walked.
Whitaker moved up on a wild pitch
by Pavlik and scored on Travis Fry
man's single.
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