Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1995)
I The Battalion nr« sia Heve Ji out his I Evere: meetiii: ‘cts, ant irt doon f s wet; iphonei to dele to at; Kay’s dved a d. )ectedo! ie Flore urdayi I for Crr inyheii! charge; apping urderc aumont locked ^ednes:; vford le impoc ■k he k ed, at he k nk. ford, wt armed s; ;urity G; ouston, .ection, ervedaii ie Bea; , in thei remain Count;: id. noth pay ft- death hat ha: lo wit: Monday September 18, 1995 Sports 7 apa }8 in 195 ed Sunda; oka, 95 mi n Chiba, in died ai mtly knW' ito an irrit isenoin eportedajj were fW* rinds f| jima kyo. d until )ok. f to be ictures ■5 )6 t >ana. ;ion. Briefs Pullig passes into Aggie record books Foreman added to Barone's staff The Texas A&M men's basketball team replaced departing assistant coach Porter Moser with restricted earnings coach Matt Foreman on Friday. Foreman, a native of Logansport, Indiana, was an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin for the last four years and helped the Lumberjacks to the fi nal of the Southland Conference Tour nament last season. Foreman was also an assistant coach at Blinn Junior Col lege (1989-91) and Kilgore Junior Col lege (1985-88). Foreman played basketball for Campbellsville College in Kentucky where he led the Kentucky Intercolle giate Athletic Conference in assists as a senior. Indians rated best fan value by Money magazine NEW YORK (AP) —- The Cleve land Indians, in the postseason for the first time in 41 years, are the best fan value in sports, according to the Oc tober issue of Money. In the magazine that will reach newsstands Monday, teams were rated on factors such as ticket avail ability and price, parking access and price, stadium cleanliness, food costs, team performance and star power. The Indians were followed by the Chicago Cubs, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants. Rounding out the top 10 were the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins. In 1994, Money rated the Cow boys as No. 1 in fan value. In the magazine's survey, fans said the Cowboys were the nation's most popular team, followed by the Chica go Bulls, San Francisco 49ers and New York Knicks. In a similar survey conducted for the magazine last year, the Knicks didn't rate in the top 25. The magazine said 54 percent of fans were less interested in baseball following the strike. It also said the perq?ptage of fans listing the NBA as their.favorite sport increased from 18 percent to 23 percent. □ The senior became A&M's winningest quarterback Sat urday against Tulsa. By Kristina Buffin The Battalion After a record-setting day, A&M quarterback Corey Pullig believed his performance against Tulsa University on Saturday at Kyle Field was not one of his best. A&M’s 52-9 win over the Golden Hurricane made Pullig the win ningest quarterback in A&M history with a record of 26-3-1, surpassing Kevin Murray (1983-86) and David Walker (1973-77). Pullig finished the game 13 of 18 with 272 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, yet he was not satisfied. “In games like last week against LSU, I think I played better than the stats showed,” Pullig said. “(To day) I don’t think that I threw as well as I did last week.” While Pullig, a senior from Deer Park, may be disap pointed with his "He's the con ductor of the train." —R.C. Slocum Texas A&M Head Football Coach Evan Zimmerman, The Battauon Aggie senior quarterback Corey Pullig barks out signals at the line of scrimmage during A&M's 52-9 win over Tulsa University Saturday. Pullig completed his first 11 passes. performance, his teammates said Pul lig is back on track and on his way to a record-breaking season. “He has bounced back,” junior wide receiver Albert Connell said. “He is a great quarterback and the leader of the team. We all knew he would come back.” In addition to becoming A&M’s winningest quarterback, Pullig be came only the third quarterback in A&M history to pass for 5,000 yards. Pullig is also the nation’s most win ningest active quarterback. A&M Head Coach R.C. Slocum had nothing but praise for Pullig. “I am very proud of him,” Slocum said. “He is a special guy; he came in a difficult position as a true fresh man. He provides leadership and is not worried about his stats. He’s the conductor of the train. I’m happy for him. This is well deserved. He is a team player.” With his numbers on Saturday, Pullig is on his way to holding career school records in every passing cate gory. Pullig needs 11 touchdowns and 1,366 yards to break the passing yardage record and passing touch down record. Pullig’s improved execu tion this season will aid him in break ing these records. “I was pleased today,” Slocum said. “I think Corey really showed some im provement. I thought the overall exe cution of the passing game was im proved. He’s a guy when he is really focused and wired he can be pretty good. He was exceptional I thought to day.” A&M had a balanced offense in which Pullig was able to throw to a corps of receivers and give the ball to __________ Heisman Trophy candidate Leeland j,, McElroy. “It was our in tention to pass more because we didn’t do good enough against LSU,” McElroy said. “Those plays were designed to come to me. We had good plays. They worked out for us, and Corey had a pretty good game.” Pullig’s 272 passing yards ties his career high set in 1992 against the University of Houston. F*ullig’s suc cess with the balanced attack of both passing and rushing is important for the upcoming game against the Uni versity of Colorado. “Balance is very important for the Colorado game. Especially for Corey Pullig to have the game that he had,” Offensive Coordinator Steve Ens- minger said. “(He has been) coming back this week and working hard the last two weeks and being so active in the ballgame.” In addition to his passing, Pullig did what he is usually not known for. See Pullig, Page 8 Complete domination assures no ’91 repeat 'R.C.: It’s □ After Tulsa kicked a field goal, the Aggies scored 45 straight points. By Tom Day The Battalion It may have taken a while, but the Ag gie football team finally received its wake- up call. Sleepwalking through most of the first quarter against Tulsa Saturday at Kyle Field, A&M appeared to have hit the snooze button one too many times. But, when the Golden Hurricane kicked a field goal to grab an early lead, the Ag gies were wrenched wide awake. Two quar ters and 45 straight points later, the team could have easily fallen back to sleep, satis fied with a job well done. “We had a slow start,” A&M senior out side linebacker Reggie Brown said. “They did some things we weren’t expecting. We just had to stay focused and adjust.” Led by the potent passing of quarter back Corey Pullig and the all-purpose yardage of tailback Leeland McElroy, the Aggies overmatched Tulsa. Aiming to diversify and balance its attack, the A&M offense piled up 592 total yards, 303 on the ground and 289 through the air in its 52-9 victory. “Everything worked today,” offensive coor dinator Steve Ens- minger said. “They locked man-to-man on our wide receivers and filled the gaps for the run with basically a nine-man front, so we had to throw the ball to be effective. “It was a well-executed game by our offense.” Pullig, tying a career-high with 272 passing yards, chose McElroy and junior wide receiver Albert Connell as his prima ry targets. Connell snared four passes for 76 yards while McElroy caught four passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns on his way to 290 all-purpose yards. “That was our intention, to go out and try to pass the ball more because we didn’t think we did a good enough job of it against LSU two weeks ago,” McElroy said. “We needed to spend the open-day time working on (the passing game),” A&M Head Coach R.C. Slocum said. “For us to be a good team, that’s an area we have to be better in. “I thought the overall execution im proved today, and you can tell that Connell will really help this offense.” The A&M “Wrecking Crew” defense turned in another solid performance, limit ing Tulsa to just 182 yards of total offense and only nine points. Senior cornerback Ray Mickens led the defensive charge, posting seven tackles and picking off two passes. “I watched a lot of film and really stud ied their offense,” Mickens said. “Those breaks that I made were from watching film and applying my technique to the game.” With the game safely tucked away ear ly, Slocum was given the luxury of playing his freshman players and reserves. In the second half, freshman running backs D’An dre Hardeman and Sirr Parker gave fans a promising glimpse at the future. Parker carried the ball nine times for 83 yards while Hardeman rushed for 64 yards on seven carries. With a unit composed of nine true fresh man and two sophomores, the Aggie of fense marched 80 yards on its final scoring drive. “We substituted and tried to play every body we could and I thought they did a great job,” Slocum said. “It was good to ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ have a game where "We're conning out of this game feeling pretty good." — Leeland McElroy A&M running back we could play a lot of players and they have some success and feel good about them selves. “Games like this are good for the chem istry and morale of the team.” The game’s lone dark moment for the Aggies came in the third quarter when junior safety Typail McMullen was forced to leave the game with a pulled hamstring. It is undeter mined if he can play next week. “It will be a serious loss if he can’t play against Colorado,” Slocum said. “We’re re ally limited in terms of experience and depth at that position. It’s a grave concern right now.” Despite the possible loss of McMullen, the Aggies are ready to focus on their long- anticipated match-up against Colorado next Saturday in Boulder. “We’re coming out of this game feeling pretty good,” McElroy said. “We had a few penalties and made some mistakes we’ll have to correct. Colorado is a very good team and every little thing counts.” “We’ve got great respect for Col orado,” Slocum said. “We know they’re a talented team playing at a very high lev el right now.” time for blowouts Hlslf '—mSJIIlim; mm- IIP iil 1 1 111 “ Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Aggie senior cornerback Ray Mickens turns the corner on one of his two interceptions Sat urday against Tulsa. The Aggies won the game 52-9 and remained No. 3 in the AP Poll. Nick Georgandis Sports Editor I was not really surprised when I saw No. 1 Florida State had beaten hapless North Carolina State Saturday by the score of 623-17. O.K., maybe that wasn’t the real score, but ESPN was flash ing them by so fast, that’s what it looked like. At halftime of the game I was watching, the Nebraska- Arizona St. highlights came up. The Comhuskers were up 63- 21. Yes, that was at halftime. The two whippings made A&M’s 52-9 defeat of Tulsa look almost paltry in comparison. The NCAA voters sure thought so. No. 4 Florida’s 62-37 blowout of Tennessee moved the Gators within 11 votes of the Aggies. At last week’s press confer ence, R.C. Slocum made the point that his team will not run up the score on lesser teams to impress the pollsters. Unfortunately, impressing the pollsters is the only way to get to the Fiesta Bowl. At No.3 in both major polls, the Aggies are still on the outside looking in on the National Champi onship Game. If Florida State and Nebras ka both continue to win by 50 points per game, A&M will con tinue to have tremendous diffi culty moving up. Even if the Aggies knock off No. 7 Colorado in Boulder this Saturday, they will not move into one of the top two spots in the polls unless the Com huskers or Seminoles are upset See Georgandis, Page