Tuesday, September 14, 1993
Sports
The Battalion Page 5
A&M coaches look past loss, aim for Cotton
William Harrison/THE Battauqk
A&M tailback Rodney Thomas (20) runs into Oklahoma free safety Larry Bush (31) and strong safety John Anderson (39) with
A&M linemen Tyler Harrison (55) and Dexter Wesley (75) pursuing. Thomas rushed 22 times for 106 yards against Oklahoma.
Bee Gees and
snot bubbles -
it's just sports
T ell me,
please,
that
everyone else
is as upset as I
about Texas
A&M losing
big to ex-Bee
Gee Gary
Gibbs.
At least the
Oklahoma
coach wasn't
wearing those
polyester
jumpsuits,
chains, and
cheesy seven
ties' hair in
digenous to he and his brothers Mau
rice and Barry's Saturday Night Fever
hey-day.
But better him than being beaten
by the Village People.
Other random observations:
• Just as the fire in the press box
symbolized the rise of Fred McGriff
and his Atlanta Braves in August, can
it be more fitting that the Houston
Astros were snowed out last night in
Denver? They just put Jeff Bagwell
on ice for the season with a broken
wrist, and I hear they're still thawing
Greg Swindell and Doug Drabek.
• Tire Battalion staff picks took a
woeful beating this week - but that's
what happens when everybody picks
A&M, Michigan and Washington.
The staff's record for the week stood
at 68-64, an average of .515. I hope no
Bryan bookies are hunting us down.
• HOW BOUT 'DEM COWBOYS.
Yes, 1 am a Houston Oilers fan tak
ing a swipe at the Emmittless Dallas
Cowboys. Dallas not only flaunted
its lack of a franchise tailback against
Buffalo, but also its lack of a field goal
kicker. -But let's not talk about
-> • -t 7 QJ-
See^Jlarrison/Page 6
By Mark Smith
The Battalion
Texas A&M head coach R.C. Slocum
said the first practice for the Aggies since
their 44-14 loss last Saturday to the Okla
homa Sooners went well despite the team
still being disappointed over the defeat.
"I would say that the guys came out
somber," Slocum said. "But they came
out with a work attitude."
A&M defensive coordinator Bob Davie
said yesterday's practice is the beginning
of a healing process.
"(This) is just the first step of coming
back," Davie said. "Any time your
ride's hurt and your ego's hurt, then you
ave to start somewhere.
"I think what you do as a coach is to
try and stay on an even keel. You don't
over-react when you win and you certain
ly don't over-react when you lose.
There's no reason to panic and change
anything."
A&M offensive coordinator Bob Tole
do said his players had a good practice
and he remained confident in his offense
and quarterback Corey Pullig which
stumbled against Oklahoma.
"I think the kids are resilient and have
responded to what we told them - the
game's over, there's not anything we can
do about it," Toledo said. "We still have
a season to play and a chance to win a
conference championship and that's what
our goals have to be right now."
Slocum said the loss, A&M's first in 22
regular season games, hurt a great deal
because of the team's streak of success.
"When you lose all the time it becomes
a habit," Slocum said. "You don't think
much about (losing). The more you win,
the more you want to win and the worse
the defeats hurt."
A&M came into the game ranked fifth
in the nation but fell to 16th in the Associ
ated Press poll. Davie said that was to be
expected from not only a national per
spective from a team viewpoint.
"Any time you lose a game like we
lost, when expectations were so high,
there's always a little bit of a let down,"
Davie said.
Slocum said, however, the loss would
not hamper the continued success of the
team. * ., 1-
T o ■
rib
"We're not going to lay around and
throw in the towel," Slocum said. "That
(the 22 consecutive regular season wins)
was the second longest streak in SWC his
tory. That's something to be proud of.
Now we just have to go back and start
again."
Davie agreed:
"I think I know what our players are
made of and I think we'll find out some
thing about our team this week," Davie
said. "We'll put Oklahoma behind us
and go on from there."
Starting over again might be a little bit
more difficult on the defensive side of the
ball, according to Davie.
Cornerback Ray Mickens, inside line
backer Larry Jackson and outside line
backer Steve Splari all received slight con-
>9ff?.r
cussions during Saturday's game. Defen
sive end Eric England has a knee and a
finger injury and defensive end Sam
Adams has an elbow injury.
All five players are probable to play
against Missouri.
While Davie was concerned about his
players' welfare, Slocum was miffed with
the NCAA's choice of times to reveal its
penalties for the five A&M players sus
pended because of money received for
unperformed work.
"The timing was what was so impor
tant," Slocum said. "You wait nine
months for something and then you get
late in the afternoon, when you're leaving
town for one of the most important
games of the year.
worse.
"When you wait to give the decision,
you interfere with the appeals process be
cause we didn't even get the (NCAA's)
penalties until we were right at the end of
(the penalties) we recommended for the
players.
"They almost denied f n (tl U
ers) the right to appeal."
Davie said the A&M pi gram has had
too many positive results to let the nega
tive result of the Oklahoma loss and the
NCAA suspensions unravel the team. He
asked only one thing of A&M's fans.
"Based on the success we've had, 1
think we deserve the right to get a second
chance," Davie said. "It's a long season.
With patience and maturity, things, will
WILLIAM
HARRISON
Sports Editor
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