Sports
Page 4
The Battalion
Monday, December 7,15!;
Monday,
Money proves
more important
to Cotton Bowl
L et the
record
show that
the 1992 Texas
A&M football
team was one of
the best in the
history of the
school and one
that was
screwed at every
turn.
The Cotton
Bowl opted to
bring No. 5
Notre Dame to
Dallas and in
CHRIS
WHITLEY
Sports Editor
doing so ended any shot whatsoever
of the Aggies winning the n itional
championship. The powers that be
decided against bringing No. 3 Florida
State back for a second straight year
because they didn't want to see a re
match of the 1992 game and because
Notre Dame could bring a bigger tele
vision draw.
And as the Cotton Bowl rakes in
their money, the Aggies are paying
the price.
What happened by the Cotton
Bowl Athletic Association on Sunday
not only demolished the integrity of
the newly-formed Bowl Coalition, but
it also took the one team in the South
west Conference that had any kind of
national respect and threw it aside for
a fast buck.
Robert Smith, chairman of the Cot
ton Bowl, and Jim "Hoss" Brock,
chairman of the selection committee,
should be ashamed of themselves. For
an organization that has committed it
self to preserving the integrity of the
SWC, its latest action has shown that
they couldn't give a damn about the
conference or what its champion
wants.
By selecting Notre Dame (9-1-1),
Texas A&M (12-0) lost whatever infin
itesimal chance it had at the No. 1 spot
in the Associated Press poll. Should
See Whitley/Page 6
Cotton Bowl chooses fifth-ranked Notre Dame
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DALLAS —The Cotton Bowl, despite
the objections of host team No. 4 Texas
A&M, picked No. 5 Notre Dame over No.
3 Florida State for its guest team on New
Year's Day.
In the first year of a longterm agree
ment with NBC television, the Cotton
Bowl on Sunday ignored a possible 3-4
matchup between the Seminoles and the
Aggies, and went with a team which has
all of its home games exclusively tele
vised by NBC and has a strong national
following.
"We wanted to play the highest
ranked team possible and I'm disappoint
ed in that regard," A&M head coach R.C.
Slocum said. "Notre Dame is a great op
ponent and I hope we are still in the na
tional playoff picture. We played the
schedule given to us and even played
Stanford in an extra game. We did our
job."
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden got
a tip on Friday that the Cotton Bowl had
decided to let the
Orange Bowl have
the Seminoles.
"I had thought
we would be in the
Cotton with 3 play
ing 4, but I was told
Friday something
might happen,"
Bowden said. "I fi
nally tracked R.C.
down on a recruit
ing trip and told
him to get on the
telephone with the
Cotton Bowl peo
ple. He wasn't sure
what was happen
ing, but I could
sense it wasn't go
ing to be us in the
Mobil
Cotton Bowl
Classic
the Seminoles.
Robert Smith,
chairman of the
Cotton Bowl, an
swered criticism of
the Fighting Irish
as the choice by
saying, "We didn't
have a national
championship
game. If we picked
Florida State it
would be a repeat
game. We didn't
think there was
that much signifi
cance in choosing
No. 5 over No. 3."
"We thought
some questions
would be raised
Cotton Bowl. I'm happy to be going into
the Orange Bowl."
Cotton Bowl officials said they didn't
want a rematch of last year's Florida
State-A&M game which was won 10-2 by
over our choice," Jim Brock, chairman of
the selection committee said. "We put the
coalition together to get No. 1 and No. 2
together, not No. 3 and No. 4. We have a
strong matchup. We wanted to avoid a
rematch."
Brock denied that NBC calledtli
shots.
"Anytime Notre Dame is in a footb;
game you have to take the TV ranking
into account, but NBC didn't have a
thing to do with the selection/'Br
said. "Notre Dame is one of our
vorites."
A&M athletic director John Davii
Crow said there was still a chance theAj
gies could win the national title if Mian
and Alabama tied.
"There are a lot of what ifs and wt'
rather play the highest ranked teampo,
sible, but we support the Cotton Bowl
decision," he said.
Notre Dame, 9-1-1, will lose aboutl
million by being in the Cotton Bowl
stead of playing Nebraska in the Ori
Bowl.
However, Notre Dame athletic din
Dick Rosenthal said the Irish "are elal
to be playing in the Cotton Bowl. We
(
Missouri tough on A&M again this year
By K. LEE DAVIS
Sports Writer of THE BATTALION
Texas A&M head basketball coach
Tony Barone has said that he doesn't
think his team can get better without
playing against some of the top teams in
college basketball, if for no other reason
than to gauge how far his team might
have progressed.
After playing against and losing to the
Missouri Tigers for the second time in lit
tle over a year, Barone may already be
forming an answer.
Yes, the Aggies are improving. Slowly.
"Texas A&M did a good job," Missouri
coach Norm Stewart said. "I was im
pressed, one of our coaches went out to
New Mexico and watched them play, and
they had that game won with a minute to
go, then I watched them and I was really
impressed because they play a little big
ger than they are.
"They've gotten better since last year,
and they can do what they set out to do."
Playing in front df a near-capacity
2r at G.
crowd of 6,498 in the home opener
Rollie White, the Aggies led the Tigers for
most of the first half Saturday before suc
cumbing 81-55 to a taller, faster and more
physical Missouri team.
Barone said after the game that A&M
was clearly out-muscled on the court.
"We new the key to the game going in
would be playing physical," Barone said.
"They just kept coming at us and it really
took a toll on us.
"They just wore us down."
Asked what the difference in the game
was, Barone gave a complete answer.
"Bring the players in here from both
schools, and I'll show you; They're bigger
than us, stronger than us, and faster than
us, I promise you," Barone said.
Freshman forward Lance Broderson
agreed with his coaches assessment of
what went wrong for the Aggies.
"They were more physical than us
tonight, that was the difference," Broder
son said. "They were bigger and stronger
and that wore us down."
Broderson played 18 minutes in the
first home game of his career, scoring 11
points in that span.
For the evening, Broderson was 5-for-5
from the field including a three-pointer,
and was 2-for-3 from the free-throw line.
If there was one facet of the game that
the Aggies did control, but still failed to
excel at, free throw shooting was it.
A&M shot 11 of 22 from the charity stripe
for a dismal .500 percentage.
Missouri standout forward Jevon
Crudup said the Aggies had improved
over the last year.
"They're going to be a good ballclub,
and they're real young right now,"
Crudup said. "It was a big improvement
from last year and they have a good
coach, and as the year goes on they're go
ing to improve a lot."
Missouri shot .750 from the free throw
line, draining 18 of 24 against the Aggies.
While A&M struggled against Mis
souri, sophomore forward Damon John
son, who led his team in scoring with 17
points, restated the teams belief that they
have to play quality competition to im
prove.
"We've got to play the best to be the
best," Johnson said. "When you can beat
See Aggies/Page 6
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