Tuesday* October 18, 1994
Texas A&M
still masters
of Southwest
TOM
DAY
Sportswriter
A fter thoroughly whipping a
quality Baylor squad last
Saturday at Kyle Field, the
Texas A&M football team proved
what never should have been an
issue. They are still the cream of
the Southwest Conference crop.
Despite the NCAA’s probation
sentence and television and bowl
bans, the Aggies are doing just
fine, thank you. In fact, this year’s
team could be just as good as the
great Aggie teams of the past.
However, entering the season,
the football writers thought differ
ently. Many of them picked Texas
and Baylor to finish ahead of the
Aggies in the SWC standings.
A&M’s young players were con
sidered a talented bunch, but
their unproven status and a lack
of motivation during probation
made their future look rough.
But in a year when the lame-
duck conference is experiencing a
resurgence in power, the Aggies
have proven the critics wrong. Once
again, the Aggies find themselves
at the head of the SWC class.
The “Wrecking Crew” defense is
as powerful as it has ever been,
while A&M’s “unmotivated” play
ers have made drastic strides on of
fense in the last couple of games.
In an attempt to balance its of
fensive attack, A&M has gone to
the air more lately. The team
amassed 524 yards of total offense
against Baylor, 269 of those
through the air.
The super-charged passing at
tack also opened up the running
game as Rodney Thomas and Lee-
land McElroy each rushed for over
100 yards against the Bears.
Judging by Rice’s upset of Texas
and the Aggies thrashing of the
Bears, it appears that neither UT nor
Baylor is anywhere near A&M’s level.
Will any SWC team have enough
wins to qualify for the Cotton Bowl?
Sadly, it’s a shame that a team
inferior to the Aggies will repre
sent the SWC in the Cotton Bowl.
It’s conceivable A&M could go 11-
0 and only have a top five finish
to show for it.
But there are several positives
that will be gained from this sea
son for the guys in maroon. The
team will pick up valuable game
experience, have the honor of ex
tending its conference and home
winning streaks and the knowledge
and belief that they are the best.
When A&M finishes off the sea
son 11-0, Aggie players and fans
will know who the true champions
are. We just won’t have that bowl
game to show the rest of the nation.
§r
j§yf
This day in Aggie
football
October 18, 1986: In one of
the most exciting games in
Southwest conference history,
Texas A&M erases a 17-0 first-
half quarter deficit against
Baylor as Kevin Murray throws
for 308 yards in a 31-30
Aggie victory over Cody
Carlson and the 20th-ranked
Baylor Bears at Kyle Field.
SPORTS
The Battalion • Page 7
volleyball
Lady Aggies unable to hold lead
Blue Devil rally secures wici
By Kristina Buffin
The Battalion
The Texas A&M volleyball team thought they had sealed
a victory against the 21st ranked Duke Blue Devils after
winning the first two games 15-10 and 15-11. Hitting errors
and a lack of experience though, caused the Lady Aggies to
lose the last three games in front of a crowd of 350 last night
at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
“We’ve been able to maintain our play with top level teams,”
head coach Laurie Corbelli said. “But if you haven’t seen it (go
ing up 2-0 against top teams) it’s hard to believe it.”
After strong play in the first two games, game three (4-
15) was a complete disaster for the Lady Aggies.
“I think we had a lot of miscommunication,” setter Suzy
Wente said. “I think we came out in the third game ex
pecting it to happen. A lot of us thought it would happen
without putting forth the effort.”
12 Lady Aggie hitting errors let the Blue Devils take the
fourth game 15-13.
“I’m looking for a night when all my hitters are ready
to have a stat sheet like all the teams that are beating
us,” Corbelli said. “You cannot beat a team at this level
with more hitting errors.”
Duke rolled to a 15-9 victory in the fifth game after
Corbelli received a red card for protesting what she saw
as a blatant lift.
“I think in a fifth game the attitudes change by the ref
eree,” Corbelli said. “They decided to kind of just let them
play and the inconsistency affects both teams.”
Wente felt there were numerous controversial calls that
went against the Lady Aggies.
“Once they start making bad calls it gets people upset,”
Wente said. “We definitely didn’t have it going for us
tonight, there were a lot of really crummy calls.”
Middle blocker Cindy VanderWoude led Texas A&M
with a career high 17 kills. Junior Dana Santleben led
the team with a career high 30 digs. Outside hitter Jen
nifer Bronner had an additional 20 digs to contribute to a
team season high 108 digs.
“Our hitters are getting a lot more confidence,” Wente said.
“We’re trying to go out and do the best that we can. I’m trying
to work on my setting and hopefully that will help the team.”
Joe Tufts/ Special to Thk Battalion
Dana Santlebean (#14) digs for the ball while Jennifer Wells
(#7) looks on during the Duke game Monday night.
Montana leads Chiefs in last second heroics
DENVER (AP) — Even battered and
bruised, Joe Montana is still the best.
Montana threw his third touchdown
pass of the game, a 5-yarder to Willie
Davis with eight seconds left, lifting the
Kansas City Chiefs over the Denver
Broncos 31-28 Monday night.
The score, which ended the Chiefs’
11-game losing streak in Mile High
Stadium, capped a wild finish that
saw the two teams exchange
fumbles with less than three
minutes left and Denver’s
John Elway run 4 yards for a
touchdown, putting Denver
ahead 28-24 with 1:29 left.
Elway’s scoring run, on a
quarterback draw out of the
shotgun formation, came one
play after his apparent TD pass
to Cedric Tillman was nullified
when the officials said Tillman
had gone out of bounds before
making the catch. Elway then
scored even though the Broncos
had only 10 men on the field.
But Montana, who missed significant
practice time because of sore ribs and a
bruised hip this past week, completed
7-of-8 passes to drive the Chiefs (4-2) to
the winning score. The last four plays
on the 75-yard, nine-play drive were all
completions — 11 yards to Kimble An
ders, 12 yards to Derrick Walker, 19
yards to Tracy Greene and, finally, the
5-yarder to Davis.
Davis extended his arms and
caught the ball at the goal line, head
ed toward the outside and slipped in
side the end zone pylon just as he
reached the sideline.
After a scoreless first quarter, each
team scored two touchdowns in the sec
ond period for a 14-14 halftime tie.
Late in the first quarter, Denver de
fensive tackle Ted Washington tipped a
Montana pass and teammate Dan
Williams intercepted at the Kansas City
21-yard line. Three plays later, Leonard
Russell ran 12 yards off the left side for a
7-0 lead with 14:16 left in the half.
Ron Dickerson returned the ensuing
kickoff 62 yards to the Denver 33, and
although the Chiefs couldn’t capitalize
when Montana threw incomplete on
fourth down, they got the ball at the
Denver 45 after Denver was called for a
holding penalty and Elway was sacked
for an 8-yard loss by Neil Smith.
Anders ran for 14 yards on third-
and-7, and Marcus Allen capped the
drive with a 7-yard slant off the left
side with 6:57 remaining. It was Al
len’s 116th career touchdown, tying
him with John Riggins for fourth
place on the NFL’s career TD list. It
also ended a Chiefs’ touchdown
drought at nine straight quarters.
Denver countered three min
utes later, however. Lin Elliott’s
kickoff sailed out of bounds, giving
Denver possession at the 40. El
way hit Anthony Miller on a 19-
yard pass, then found Miller on a
27-yarder for the TD.
The Chiefs then went 62 yards in
nine plays. Anders caught a 9-yard pass
on third-and-9, and Montana then
passed 26 yards to Davis and 19 yards
to Walker before hitting J.J. Birden on
a 6-yard scoring toss in the rear of the
end zone with 1:12 remaining.
Rice in running for SWC crown, Cotton Bowl
HOUSTON (AP) — Before the sea
son started, the Rice Owls talked about
playing in the Cotton Bowl.
Few took them seriously, but no
body’s laughing following Sunday
night’s stunning 19-17 victory over No.
13 Texas that ended a 28-year losing
streak to the Longhorns.
If the Owls can beat those odds, why
can’t they return to the Cotton Bowl for
the first time since they lost to Navy
20-7 in 1958?
The Owls have the momentum of a
three-game winning streak and a 2-0
Southwest Conference record going into
Saturday’s game against No. 6 Texas
A&M at Kyle Field.
“We made history,” defensive tackle
Brynton Goynes said. “This is the
biggest win in the history of Rice foot
ball. But because of everything, because
of the streak, because they had no re
spect for us, a win never felt so good. I
don’t know if another ever will.”
n (3-2, 2-0) could lose to A&M (6-
0, 3-0) and still reach the Cotton Bowl
because the three-time defending cham
pion Aggies are barred from post-season
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play by NCAA sanctions.
The Owls will face major obstacles
against A&M. Rice hasn’t beaten the
Aggies in 13 years and they’ve won only
twice in 23 years. The Aggies also have
the nation’s longest home winning
streak of 24 games in a row.
But the Owls have hope.
“We’ve been talking all along that
our goal was the Cotton Bowl,” guard
Chris Cooley said. “We still have a
great Baylor team to play, but this
brings faith a little bit farther.”
See Rice/Page 8
Five unbeaten
teams cloud
championship
(AP) -- It’s college football’s night
mare scenario: Five teams go unde
feated in the regular season and
none meet in a bowl game.
How about Penn State in the
Rose Bowl, the Nebraska-Colorado
winner in the Orange, the Colorado
State-Utah winner in the Holiday,
Alabama in the Sugar and and
Texas A&M on the sidelines? <
Or, if Auburn beats Alabama,
scratch The Tide and add the Tigejs
to the list of unbeatens.
Like Texas A&M, Auburn is on
probation and can’t play in a bowl.
Both teams are eligible for the na
tional championship in The Associ
ated Press media poll, although pro
bation teams are barred from the
USA Today-CNN coaches’ poll.
Five unbeaten teams and no
head-to-head competition to coni-
pare them because of conference
commitments or bowl bans.
“It would be wild,” said ESPN conj-
mentator Beano Cook. “There’d be ar
guments in every bar in America.”
The last time five Division I-A
teams had perfect regular seasons
was 1979, when Alabama, Brigham
Young, Ohio State, Florida State
and McNeese State did it. They all
played in different bowls and they
all lost except for national champion
Alabama, which beat Arkansas 24-9
in the Sugar Bowl.
The situation could be more con
fusing this year because of the
NCAA sanctions against No. 4
Auburn (7-0) and No. 6 Texas A&M
(6-0). What happens if the probation
teams are the only ones left without
a loss after the bowls?
Cook said he might vote for
Auburn because the Tigers would
have completed their second straight
11-0 season. They finished fourth in
the AP poll last season behind a trio
of once-beaten teams, including na
tional champion Florida State.
“If they’re allowed to play, their
games should count,” Cook said.
“You can’t ignore a team that goes
two years without a loss”
“Probation teams should not win
the national championship because
they can’t take the last step, which
is winning a bowl game,” Cook’s
ESPN colleague, Lee Corso, said.
So who’s got the inside track to
the title?
Is it top-ranked Penn State (6-0),
which leads the nation in scoring and
just beat Michigan at Ann Arbor?
Is it No. 2 Colorado (6-0), which
has already beaten four teams that
were ranked at the time they played.
Is it No. 3 Nebraska (7-0), which
continues to win despite the loss of
star quarterback Tommie Frazier?
How about No. 8 Alabama (7-0),
which keeps winning close games
with clutch plays?
Nebraska-Colorado on Oct. 29 and
Auburn-Alabama on Nov. 19 will
serve as elimination games. And
we’ll know more about Penn State’s
chances following the Lions’ upcom
ing three-game stretch against OJiio
State, Indiana and Illinois. v
In his preseason predictions,
Cook picked Penn State to the win
the national championship. He
thinks the Nebraska-Colorado Win
ner will take over the No. 1 ranking.
Corso said Penn State, Colorado
and Alabama would all have strong
arguments if they go undefeated.
“Colorado because of its tough
schedule, Penn State because it
beat Michigan more impressively
than Colorado did, and Alabama
because of its extra game (for the
SEC championship),” he said. “You
may have to flip a coin.”
And what about the winner of Sat
urday’s Western Athletic Conference
showdown between No. 12 Colorado
State (7-0) and No. 18 Utah (6-0)?
‘They don’t have a shot because
they haven’t played enough stiff
competition,” Corso said.
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