Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1995)
Monday* October 16, 1995 Sports Page 9 • The Battalion Pathetic passing keys Hershiser’s magic A&M’s fall from elite continues in Cleveland F or the third game in a row, the Texas A&M football team found itself in hot water in the closing minutes. This time, the end result was a win. Woo hoo! The Aggies won by three points over SMU. Geez, what a great game. To watch the Aggies struggle to the very end against the lowly Mustangs was flat-out painful. And while everyone is glad A&M won, the problems are more evi dent than ever. Aggie fans have been tiptoeing around the problem for weeks now, and I just can’t sit around and hope it gets better. The A&M offense is sick, and there is no cure in sight. More specifically, the Aggies have no passing game. Many fingers are pointing at Corey Pullig for the team’s woes. Quarterbacks are often blamed when the offense doesn’t click. But for those fans who are calling for the head of Pullig, calm down. Pullig isn’t the win- ningest quarterback in the na tion for nothing. It isn’t his fault that the A&M offense sputters along about as well as Harvard’s. Well, not total ly anyway. Pullig is only one part of a greater problem — A&M’s offen sive system and play calling have been terrible this year. When A&M’s main weapon sat out of Sat urday’s game, the state of the of fense became crystal clear. A&M is plain mediocre without Leeland McElroy. As great as he is, every defense etov eekt')| waii. in Joad' sai^ 3d re- effort nities ’very ay-” Koop oai i" ecoad epted ss 30 and ward ireak- :h <ie- ■ and in the country knows. For most of fenses, this would completely open up the passing game. But not for our dear old Aggies. They just don’t have a passing game to open up. A&M passing plays consist of screen passes to running backs, short passes to tight ends and sideline patterns to wide receivers. Nice variety. That’s what made Albert Con nell’s game-winning touchdown so surprising. A&M almost never scores on long passes to wide re ceivers. Depending on the running game translates into disaster if McElroy is shut down. He can’t do it alone. When watching offensive powers Florida State, Nebraska and Ohio State, it becomes evident just how far behind the times A&M is. It also makes it clear that A&M was overrated by being ranked as high as No. 3. Top five teams don’t struggle offensively as A&M does. And they don’t lose to teams like Texas Tech or struggle with teams like SMU. A loss to Colorado was perhaps understandable, but losing to Tech was a devastating blow. And the Aggies’ home winning streak was almost destroyed by SMU, a team A&M should have destroyed. Steve Ensminger needs to re evaluate his offensive game plans to incorporate a better passing at tack. Ensminger was hired after his successful seasons at Georgia and coaching offensive stalwarts like Eric Zeier and Garrison Hearst. Pullig and the wide receivers have the skills, but are lost in a system that just doesn’t work. Without a diverse attack of run ning and passing, the Aggies are just another team. Snap the ball directly to Lee land. Have Sirr Parker run the op tion with McElroy and Detron Smith behind him. Do something. Anything. Please. 3-2 □ The Indians take a 3- 2 lead in the best-of- seven series. CLEVELAND (AP) — Tri umphantly, Omar Vizquel took the game in hand.a Vizquel stabbed Luis Sojo’s eighth-inning line drive to shortstop and demonstrative ly turned it into a double play as the Cleveland Indians held off the Seattle Mariners 3-2 Sunday night, taking a lead in the AL playoffs. Jim Thome put Cleve land on top with a two- run homer off Chris Bo- sio in the sixth inning, and the Indians twice wriggled out of difficult situations to stay there. The gut-wrench ing finish kept Orel Hershis- er perfect in the postseason, improving his career record in the playoffs and World Series to 7-0 with a 1.47 ERA. He broke a tie with former Yan kees pitcher Lefty Gomez for most postseason wins without a loss. , Game 6 will be back in the Kingdome on Tuesday night, and Randy Johnson once again will be asked to save the season for Seattle. It’ll be his fourth appearance this month with the Mariners’ sea son hanging in the balance. Indians reliever Paul As- senmacher was the first to step up big on Hershiser’s be half. The left-hander struck out Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner in succession to end the seventh inning, stranding the potential tying run at third base. The Mariners then put run ners at first and second with one out in the eighth, but Sojo — whose RBI double had won Game 1 — hit a 3-2 pitch di rectly at Vizquel. Vizquel, the former Seattle shortstop, caught it before tagging out Alex Diaz as he overran second. Had there been no outs, Vizquel would have had an easy unassisted triple play, because he stepped hard on second base for emphasis. Sojo flung his bat toward the Seattle dugout in disgust. Jose Mesa closed it out for Cleveland, his first of the postseason save after convert ing 46 of 48 during the regular season. Edgar Martinez ended the game with a fly to the warning track in cen ter. Hershiser, the MVP of the playoffs and World Series for Los Angeles in 1988, was n’t as sharp as usual, but he still managed to strike out eight batters in six innings, surpassing his own team record of seven in a postsea son game. He’s 3-0 with an 0.84 ERA in three playoff starts for Cleveland. Eddie Murray had three hits, drove in a run and scored another for the Indi ans, who could scarcely have afforded to go back to the Kingdome trailing by a game. The Mariners are 4-1 at the dome in the playoffs, and ace Randy Johnson up next. Seattle’s Chris Bosio matched Hershiser through five innings, limiting basebal l’s best-hitting team to one unearned run on five hits. But with one out in the sixth, Murray doubled, and three pitches later Thome homered into the mezzanine in right field, putting Cleveland ahead 3-2. O O o o o o o • o • o • o o Guaranteed Best Drink Specials in Town Thursday Nite $3 Bock Pitchers Sunday 4-close $3 Reddog Pitchers $1.25 Reddog Longnecks 16 pool tables Pool Tournament Sundays Fooseball and Darts &cce Lunch Special 11:30-1:30 1/2 lb. double meat cheesburger chips 12 oz. drinkAea 1 hour pool $3.00 1/2 lb. cheeseburger only $3.00 all the time! No Cover, Open All Night 103 Boyett across from E-Z Mart o • o • o • o o o o o o o Heisman Trophy Watch ’95 Eddie George, RB, Ohio State: Rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns. Season totals: 882 yards rushing. Warrick Dunn, RB, Florida State: Rushed for 112 yards. Season totals: 801 yards rushing, seven touchdowns. Danny Kannell, QB, Florida State: Completed 28 of 36 passes for 342 yards and five touchdowns. Season totals: 120-152 for 1,335 yards and 19 touchdowns. Keyshawn Johnson, WR, USC: Caught nine passes for 85 yards. Season totals: 52 catches for 765 yards and four touchdowns. ABOVE AND BEYOND TRAVEL AQENCY A Full Service Travel Agency 4001 E. 29TH STREET, SUITE 114 BRYAN, TEXAS 77802 409-260-1267 1-800-229-7033 EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL AGENTS FOR ALL YOUR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AT THE LOWEST AVAILABLE FARE. Front Cover Back Cover That about covers it. ftfftfffftffftf 50g Protein per serving LEAN GAINER $ 39 95 Loaded with Creatine| Why pay high prices for MET-Rx? MLO’s BIO-Rx $ 23 95 $ 1.20 per serving 20 serving Container Articles in Newsweek and TV. MELATONIN $ | | 95 60 tablets Sleep Better-Feel Great! 4r MSC HOSPITALITY PRESENTS SERVICE AWARENESS DAY SERVICE WITH A SMILE!!!! WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18,1995 9:00 A.M. TO 3:00 P.M. IN TH E MSC COME FIND OUT WHAT SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ARE HELPING TH E B/GS AREA AN D HOW YOU GAN GET INVOLVED!!!! Persons with JisaiiPties phase, caffl 845-1515 to inform as ofi pour specialneeds, life request notification three fjJ worP'np claps prior to the eo-ent to enahce us to assistpou ta the lest o^ our ah Pities. ENZYMATIC THERA PY GLUCOSANINE SULFATE $I8’s 60 Tablets Ligament and Tendon Repair ASN CREATINE MONOHYDRATE 400 gr. powder $ 57 95 Limited Supply SAVE OVER $22 PHOSPHAGAIN 2.6 lb. can $vl 095 HOT STUFF DOUBLE XX $■>095 O W 2.87 lbs $ I 095 ■ M 1.43 IbS Over 50 Bodybuilding Products all in one SPORTHARMA THERMADRENE 60 count $ | 2 95 Thermogenic Stimulator Bricker Anabolic CHROMIUM PICOLINATE $59$ 00 capsules - 200 mlg. CLOTHING SPECIAL T. Micheal Jerseys $24 95 Reg. *48 9s Super Selection CYBERGENICS Iphase 1 $59.95 INFINITY 3,000 4lbs $24.95 QUICK TRIM two weeks $39.95 TOTAL In 1..1 su! ^ a-oa or TEXAS l\A 11*"* ✓■> 1 CV I—4- Big Selection of Parrillo Products Men's & Women's Posing Suits & Workout Wear WORKOUT BELTS All sizes - styles POWERLIFTITING BELTS All Styles Including Lever & Special Orders