Monday - October 17, 1994
Upsets, crazy
plays abound
college scene
SPORTS
The Battalion • Page 7
SSjP
NICK
GEORGANDIS
Asst, sports editor
T here’s a word for the weekend
of college football that was.
Weird.
Teams lost that shouldn’t have,
teams won that had no business
even covering the spread. Bizarre
plays abounded across the coun
try. Here’s a re-cap of what you
might have missed.
First of all, the Top 25 Associat
ed Press poll is beginning to look
like a NCAA basketball poll. Now
in the Top 25 are Duke, North Car
olina, Syracuse, Michigan and Ari
zona. Duke is undefeated at 6-0,
and the general opinion around
Durham, North Carolina, is “What,
we have a football team?”
In the conference, the Houston
Cougars denied themselves a shot at
a perfect 0-11 season by outlasting
Southern Methodist 39-33 in Dallas.
Now the two teams who share the
‘Houston’ moniker have combined
for two wins. Rumor is the Cougars
and Oilers are thinking of playing
each other at the end of the year, to
ensure at least one of them will pick
up another victory somewhere.
Notre Dame lost their second
straight game, 21-14 to Brigham
Young, and fell out of the rankings for
the first time since 1986. The Fight
ing Irish are a (for them) horrible 4-3.
Could there be a January 1 without
Notre Dame? Isn’t there something
in the Constitution about that?
The Florida Gators were defeated
in The Swamp’, where only Florida
State had defeated them since be
fore the dawn of time. First Miami
loses at the Orange Bowl, then on
Saturday Michigan and Florida lose
at home. A&M better watch out at
Kyle Field, home field advantage
ain’t what it used to be.
A&M’s game was weird because
the Aggie offense was totally domi
nating while the defense was not;
Texas A&M’s defense didn’t record a
sack for the first time in what seems
like ages, while Corey Pullig again
threw for more than 260 yards.
Brandon Ward, a senior offensive
lineman starting for the first time,
See Georgandis/page 8
Baylor no match for A&M s explosive offense
Balanced attack nets 541 yards, 41 points
By Nick Georgandis
The Battalion
“Uh, oh,”
The above statement is not a direct
quote from any one person, but it is
probably the dominating thought in the
minds of the defensive coordinators of
Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas,
Louisville and Texas Christian-other-
wise known as the rest of Texas A&M’s
1994 schedule after seeing highlights
of the Aggie offense from Saturday.
“I was very pleased with our mixture
of offense,” head coach R.C. Slocum
said. “CoreyCFkillig) did a great job of
taking advantage of their defense.”
Saturday’s 41-21 defeat of Baylor Uni
versity marked the true coming-of-age for
the offensive system of Steve Ensminger,
which has shown modest improvements
from week to week before cranking out
524 total yards against the Bears.
Not only was A&M’s attack highly
explosive, it also achieved its season-
long goal of being a balanced effort,
with 255 yards on the ground and 269
through the air.
Junior quarterback Corey Pullig en
joyed his second banner day in two weeks,
completing 15 of 27 passes for 269 yards
and two touchdowns. The yardage was
the second-highest total of Pullig’s career,
and his best day ever at Kyle Field.
“In the first half, they weren’t ex
pecting us to run because of the weath
er, “ Pullig said. “In the second half
they played us more often and it really
opened up the running game.”
The running game opened up indeed,
thanks largely to a retooling of the offen
sive line. All-Southwest conference per
former Calvin Collins was switched back
to his natural position of left guard,
while senior Brandon Ward started at
center and red-shirt freshman Chris
Ruhman started at right tackle. Ward
was the surprise of the game, as he did
not even earn a letter on last year’s
team. As pleased as he was with his
own move back to guard, Collins was
even more excited with Ward’s success
in his first-ever start at A&M.
“The center’s the hardest position in
football, and I just love to play guard, “
Collins said. “Brandon is a talented
strong, he’s very strong. He only
weighs 250 ponds but he can bench
press 400 pounds. Coach ‘D’ (offensive
line coach Joe D’Alessandris) did an ex
cellent job this week(with the line).”
The improved line showed markedly
in the numbers of senior Rodney Thomas
and sophomore Leeland McElroy.
See Offense/page 8
Stew Milne/THE BatiAlion
Chris Sanders scores on a 75 yard pass play in the third quarter.
Lady Aggies fall to Notre Dame in four sets
Costly errors allow Fighting Irish to take match 1 5-1 0, 1 5-8, 1 2-1 5, 1 5-tO
Carrie Thompson/THE Battalion
Cindy VanderWoude (#21), Jennifer
Bronner (#9) block a Notre Dame spike.
By Kristina Buffin
The Battalion
Revenge was on the minds of the Lady
Aggie volleyball team when they played
the University of Notre Dame Saturday
night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. De
spite the obvious motivation factor for
the Lady Aggies, Notre Dame defeated
the A&M 15-10, 15-8, 12-15, 15-10.
“I’m proud of this team, “ head vol
leyball coach Laurie Corbelli said.
“It is obvious there was a lot of effort.
We came out swinging hard.”
After a 3-0 loss at the University of
Colorado Tournament in September, the
Lady Aggies were looking to show Notre
Dame that the team could play better.
“We had a big loss earlier and
wanted revenge, “ senior outside hitter
Jennifer Bronner said. “We just want
ed to play a better game.”
Notre Dame head coach Debbie
Brown had nothing but compliments for
A&M after the game.
“Their play was a lot different from the
Colorado Tournament,” Brown said. “They
played better in every aspect of the game.”
The Lady Aggies’ effort was under
mined by mental lapses in the first two
games. The team had 24 kills and 41
digs, but they committed 23 errors to al
low the Irish to take the first two games.
“Games one and two were loaded with
errors,” Corbelli said. “We killed ourselves
a lot, and they had a lot to do with it.”
The best performance by the Aggies
came in the third game. The team had
only seven errors and consistent block
ing helped the Lady Aggies win 15-12.
“We tried to get our momentum to
gether, “ sophomore Page White.
“Every point was a struggle and the
third game is always tough. Our
blocking was much, much better.” A
Despite the eventual loss in four
games, the Lady Aggies are looking at
this match as a learning experience;;
“This was a huge learning experience, “
Corbelli said. “I refuse to play a team; that
we beat all the time. We play these types
of teams to get better as we should.” ;;
Tonight will present another chal
lenge for the Lady Aggies as they face
2lst-ranked Duke University. The Blue
Devils are coming off a 3-1 victory over
I8th-ranked Texas Saturday night.
Corbelli said the Lady Aggies’: top
priority against the Blue Devils will be
containing top hitter Ashley Wacholder.
“Duke is a very experienced team,
Corbelli said. “We know we are the; un
derdogs, so it would be great to upset
Duke. If we^giye our best, we can get
better and take the win too.”
Women s soccer team improves home winning streak to 12
This day in Aggie
football
aTm
f. ~
October 17, 1992: Running back
Rodney thomas races 84 yards for a
score and running back Greg Hill ads
a 40-yard scoring burst to lead ASM
past Baylor, 19-13 at Kyle Field.
By Stewart Doreen
The Battalion
If the Texas A&M soccer team didn’t
have enough to worry about with their
opponents, nature stepped in and made
it tougher for the Aggies to win three
straight games this weekend.
“There were a lot of distractions with
all three games,” head coach G. Guerri-
eri said. “They did a great job coming
away(with three victories). We set a
goal that we wanted to win all three
games and we wanted to give up no
more than one goal(over the weekend).
The Aggies, 9-2-2, were tough under
all conditions this weekend. Ranked
eighth in the South region, A&M con
tinued its winning ways at home, run
ning their all-time home record to 12-0
(5-0 at the Aggie Soccer Complex).
Sunday’s game at the complex, which
resembled a swamp more than a
playable surface, showed the athleti
cism of the team. After a scoreless first
half, the Aggies overcame the elements
to score three times in their 3-0 win
over the University of South Alabama.
Freshman midfielder Bryn Blalack led
the scoring with two goals, and sopho
more midfielder Jaime Csizmadi, A&M’s
leading scorer last season, scored her
first goal of the current campaign.
“We had to change the philosophy of
how we normally play,” Blalack said.
“We just got our job done and contin
ued our home winning streak.”
The battle against the elements was
the second straight for the Aggies. Satur
day’s 3-0 over U.S. Military Academy’s
(Army) Lady Knights at Houston’s Meyer
Park featured balanced scoring with
goals from senior forward Anna White-
head, freshman midfielder Rachel
Wilkinson and Blalack. A tough defense
came up strong with the shut out against
the normally-potent attack of the North
east region’s ninth-ranked team.
“These types of games are tough,
because they take our advantages
away as far as being soccer players,”
Guerrieri said. “The only advantage
we have is our athleticism.”
Friday’s game against the Univqjrsi-
ty of Arkansas-Little Rock at therAg-
gie Soccer Complex ended with a 1-0
win for the Aggies. Kristen Koop’s
team-leading eighth goal, and fresh
man goalkeeper Amy Chandler’s
shutout in her first career start were
all the Aggies needed to win.
JUNIORS
Class of ’96! Hop on
down and get your class
pictures in the 1995
Aggieland.A R
Photography will take
Junior Class pictures
from 9 to 5, Monday-
Friday for the Aggieland
until Friday, Oct. 28.
AR PHOTOGRAPHY 693.8 183
SUMMER *95 n . fftssfril
Informational Meetings
Oct. 17 (Mon.) at 11:30 a.m.
OR
Oct. 18 (Tues.) at 5:15 p.m.
OR '
Oct. 26 (Wed.) at 4:30 p.m.
251 Bizzell Hall West
Pick up an application at the meetings or
from Dr. E. Garrison - 201B Academic
Study Abroad Programs, 161 W. Bizzell Hall, 845-0544
>s WA m
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Keathley Hall Council is hosting their
First Annual Craft Fair on
Sunday, November 20, 1994 in the
Memorial Student Center on the
Texas A&M Campus.
For more information, contact the
Hall Fundraiser at (409) 847-6507.
Contract and sign-up deadline is
October 31st, so call today!
VOLLEYBALL Oct. 17 vs. Duke 7 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL Oct. 19 vs. Texas Tech 7 p.m.
SOCCER Oct. 21 vs. TCU 3 p.m.
FOOTBALL Oct. 22 vs. Rice 1 p.m.
SOCCER Oct. 23 vs. N. Illinois 1 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL Oct. 26 vs. Rice 7 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL Oct. 28 vs. Georgia 7 p.m.
For tickets to all events call 845-2311
THE AGGIES HAVE YOUR SPORT!