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SPECIAL PULLOUT
Texas A&M vs. SMU
Briday, October 29,1993
The Battalion
Page 5
ies wary of Mustang surprise
By Julie Chelkowski
Q
The Battalion
This weekend's contest between Texas A&M and Southern
Methodist may not be the most anticipated game this season for
any Aggie fans.
For A&M, it has the basis for being a fairly uncontested game
the Aggies are 6-1 overall while SMU is 1-4-2; A&M is ranked
|lth in the nation while SMU is fifth in the Southwest Confer
ence and out of any consideration for a bowl game; the point
read is 32 in favor of A&M; and the game is at Kyle Field.
But despite the obvious advantages the Aggies possess, A&M
lead coach R.C. Slocum said the team will enter the game with
lie same intensity as any game this season.
"I fully expect to go out there and fight for our lives in this
Jail game," Slocum said. "They'll come in here motivated, and
it'll be a heck of a contest.
I "That's what we're prepared for, and we're planning on hav-
Bhg a tough football game."
I Although SMU has only won one game this season, the Mus-
| tang run-and-shoot offense has proved to be a threat to oppo
nents as they have averaged 233.7 yards per game and have lead
in the fourth quarter in four games.
I With SMU's passing attack, the Aggie secondary is anticipat-
!|hg much more business than they received last week against
Rice's run-briented offense.
I A&M cornerback Ray Mickens said he is eager to have the
burden back on the secondary's shoulders.
I "We're going to be put on an island, and the corners will be
■ut to the test a lot of times," he said. "I think we've been do
ing our job, but one game can blow all of that." Mickens said
losing to SMU Or another lesser opponent would be embarrass
ing for the team and A&M could not take the Mustangs for
granted.
"There ain't going to be a let down for this game," he said.
"The game lies in our hands - win or lose it's going to be de
cided in the secondary."
Along with the injury to the Mustang's record this season,
the SMU secondary has also suffered substantial losses in start
ing positions due to injury. Free safety Richie Butler, cornerback
Michael Artmore and free safety/cornerback Troy Williams are
all doubtful for this Saturday's game.
"That's a factor, but I've learned over the years not to put a
whole lot of stock in those injuries," Slocum said. "A lot of
those injured guys have a high tendency to show up and play
on game day.
"I never pay a whole lot of attention to who they have in
jured."
A&M has its share of injuries on defense, as well.
Inside linebacker Reggie Graham (sprained ankle), nose
guard Lance Teichelman (bruised knee) and free safety Junior
White (bruised knee) returned to practice on Thursday for the
first time this week. Graham is the only player, however, who is
questionable for the game.
"I never make a big deal out of the ones we have hurt,"
Slocum said. "Some of them show up on game day (and) feel
like playing, and other days they can't.
"We'll have 11 out there and they will, too."
But the oddsmakers have established A&M's 11 as being 32
points better than SMU. Slocum said he realizes the delicacy of
the situation.
"I've been in coaching long enough that I've been on the oth
er end where it wasti't fun," Slocum said. "I would never try to
do anything to embarrass a coach or a group of young men."
Battalion File Photo
Texas A&M junior wide receiver Brian Mitchell (18) slips away from an SMU
defender in the Aggies' 65-6 victory over the Mustangs at Kyle Field in 1991.
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Mike Steele/THE Battalion
Mike SteeleTHE Battalion
A&M senior inside linebacker Jason Atkinson (43, left) and fellow inside linebacker junior Larry Jackson (37) are locked-in on
helping the Aggies stuff the run. Atkinson has registered 40 tackles and one sack this season while Jackson has made 25 stops.
A&M middle defenders find opponents running
at them, taking advantage of injuries, blitz tactics
By Michael Plumer
The Battalion
If Texas A&M's defense was compared
to the human body, the inside linebackers
and the noseguard would be the heart and
soul.
Linebackers Jason Atkinson and Larry
Jackson, along with noseguard Lance Te
ichelman, form the Aggie's inner core.
With A&M's blitzing style of defense,
sometimes it is easy to overlook the funda
mental key to winning football games -
shutting down the run, especially the up-
the-middle crashes Baylor and Texas Tech
feature offensively. The onus on that falls
on the three inside players.
Predominantly, A&M's defense has
been characterized as a finesse type be
cause of the all-out pass rush, but A&M de
fensive coordinator Bob Davie said that is a
label that should change.
"I haven't seen it where teams run right
at us," Davie said. "I don't think Texas
Tech or Baylor ran the football down our
throats and that is one of their strengths.
There are no blitzes to stop the run.
"You just have to play good, solid tech
nique."
Davie said he stresses fundamentals to
Teichelman, Atkinson and Jackson like get
ting the correct reads and following the
ball.
Playing noseguard, Teichelman is auto
matically the center of attention and said
he has a simple job which directly helps
out the inside backers.
"It is pretty cut and dried," the senior
said. "If it doesn't take two guys to block
me, then I have to make the tackle. I have
a lot of responsibility but that goes with the
territory of playing the position."
So far this season, only one running
back has gained over 100 yards against the
Aggies, and that was Rice's Yoncy Ed
monds last Saturday. Atkinson, a senior.
See Middle/Page7
Kyle Bumett/THE Battalion
A&M senior noseguard Lance Teichelman
(58) pressures Houston's Jimmy Klingler
Q and A with
R. C. Slocum
Selected questions and answers from A&M head coach R.C. Slocum's Tuesday
press conference.
What is your biggest concern with Southern Methodist?
I go back to a game two or three years ago when they came in here
and took the opening drive and went right down the field and
scored. You look out there and say, "They shouldn't be able to do
that." But they did. I think (both of SMU's) quarterbacks are capable of
throwing well, and they've got good receivers there. I've seen their defense
come up and smack us. They knocked our starting quarterback out of the
game last year. I can honestly say. I've never coached a game that I wasn't ner
vous about before the contest.
Is this another week where you have to carefully monitor how your
team approaches the game?
Yes. We've got to make sure we have good practices. If we allow
ourselves to not have good practices, the we set ourselves up to have
failure on the weekend. So the challenge is to make sure we practice
good and have good tempo. The first little sign I see that we are being noncha
lant, I'm going to get that stopped. When you play the big games, it's not as
hard.
A&M has been getting good pressure on the opposing quarterback,
especially from the outside linebacker spot. What are your thoughts?
(Junior outside linebacker) Antonio Shorter is one of the most un
derrated guys around. Outside linebacker was one of the big, big
.questions we had this year. Losing a guy like Marcus Buckley and
all the plays he made, we were really concerned if anybody could step up. But
Shorter has been a solid player. He's not hurt our defense at all. And (senior
Steve) Solari has done a good job.
With an open date next week, are you approaching anything differ
ent this week? Will you play different people or try anything new?
No, we're not doing anything different at all. We're trying to take it
as another game and do everything we can to be ready to play this
.weekend. We'll worry about getting through this October stretch.
Then, next week, if we can successfully come through this five-game stretch,
then we'll feel much better about where we are as a team. Looking at it back in
August, we thought this was going to be a tough grind, playing five straight
weeks with three of them on the road.
Mustangs look for perfect
effort to hang with Aggies
By David Winder Mentors o« of las,
year's team, so we are really
young," SMU head coach Tom
Rossley said. "Our goal is to start
redshirting a lot of our freshman re
cruits so that eventually
The Battauon
Youth has been the biggest prob
lem for the Southern Methodist
Mustangs this year. Four _.
times the Mustangs have
taken leads into the fourth
quarter and four times they
have come away without a
victory.
In their first game of the
year, the Mustangs (1-4-2,
1-2-1) had the lead until the
last play of the game when
Arkansas scored a touch
down for a 10-6 victory.
The next week, the Mus
tangs held a 16-3 advantage
Rossley
over Wisconsin, currently ranked
number 18, only to run out of gas
and lose 24-16.
After leading most of the game
SMU ended up in a 10-10 tie with
Missouri by giving up a late touch
down. The biggest blow to Mus
tangs season though is when they
allowed the Houston Cougars to
score three touchdowns in the final
we'll be able to play some
fifth year seniors.
"This year, only Baylor
and Texas have really man
handled us. Those are the
only two games that we
have had this year where
really didn't have a chance
to win."
Recruiting has been a
problem for the Mustangs
since the football program
was hit with the "death
penalty" by the NCAA in 1987.
Rossley believes, however, that
SMU's recruiting woes are changing
for the better.
"First of all, we don't get some
recruits because are admission stan
dards are really high," Rossley said.
"But now we're becoming more
See Rossley/Page 7