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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1995)
The Battalion Monday November 27, 1995 At a Glance Sports Briefs SMU makes quarterfinals of NCAA Soccer tourney DALLAS (AP) — The Southern Methodist soccer team beat Gem- son 3-1 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. In the first half, the Tigers (16-4- 1) took three shots on goal, while SMU (16-3-1) managed nine, but neither team scored. In the second half, SMU got on the scoreboard first when Brent Cox headed in a shot off a free kick from Daniel Hernandez. Clemson played shorthanded much of the second half after Mark Kinch was ejected with his second yellow card. The Mustangs capital ized on the Tigers' loss, with Daniel Montoya scoring less than two min utes after that incident. Clemson's Danny Care cut the lead in half after firing a shot past SMU goalkeeper Tom Presthus. But SMU got an insurance goal from Hernandez off a pass from Montoya to seal the win. SMU faces Wisconsin (17-4-2) in quarterfinal action next weekend. The Badgers defeated William & Mary Sunday 1-0 in overtime. AP Poll • Record Pts 1. Nebraska(51) 1 1-0-0 1,539 2. Florida(11) 1 1-0-0 1,499 3. Northwestern 1 0-1-0 1,412 4. Tennessee 10-1-0 1,322 5. OhioSt. 11-1-0 1,320 6. NotreDame 9-2-0 1,202 7. Colorado 9-2-0 1,147 8. FloridaSt. 9-2-0 1,136 9. Texas 9-1-1 1,074 10. KansasSt. 9-2-0 970 11. Kansas 9-2-0 830 12. Oregon 9-2-0 805 13. VA Tech 9-2-0 773 14. Michigan 9-3-0 734 15. PennSt. 8-3-0 721 / 16. TexasA&M 8-2-0 656 17. Auburn 8-3-0 594 18. SouthernCal 8-2-1 487 19. Virginia 8-4-0 393 20. Washington 7-3-1 345 21. Alabama 8-3-0 293 22. Miami 8-3-0 268 23. Arkansas 8-3-0 236 24. Clemson 8-3-0 206 25. Toledo 1 0-0-1 56 Upcoming Events A&M Volleyball The Lady Aggies received a first- round bye in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. They will host the win ner of the Hofstra-South Carolina match this Sunday at G. Rolliq White Coliseum at 3 p.m. Aggie Football The Aggie Football Team will host the University of Texas Satur day at 2:30 p.m. at Kyle Field. The game, which will be aired on ABC- TV, will decide the final SWC Championship and will mark the fi nal SWC game for both schools. The winner of the game will play the Florida State Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl Dec. 31, while the loser takes on Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Men's Basketball The Texas A&M Men's Basket ball Team kicks off its 1995-96 regular season tonight when it hosts Maryland-Baltimore County at 7 p.m. tonight at G. Rollie White Coliseum. ’ win sets stage for title tilt A&M senior quarterback Corey Carter Stadium. Pullig completed Stew Milne, The Battalion Pullig drops back in the pocket Saturday at Amon 24-of-36 passes and threw a touchdown pass. □ A&M dominated TCU on both sides of the ball in the 38-6 rout Saturday. By Nick Georgandis The Battalion The situation could not have looked worse for the Texas A&M Football Team Saturday in Fort Worth. The Texas Christian Homed Frogs were riding an emotional high, having dedicated the game to running back Matt Moore, who suffered a spinal injury Friday after noon during a freak accident in practice. TCU also had its fourth-largest crowd in stadium history, and the only College Station pregame representative was singer Robert Earl Keen,who butchered the na tional anthem worse than any performer since Roseanne. Fortunately, the opening whistle blew, and the Aggies’ attention was directly fo cused on the matter at hand: winning a ballgame. And that’s exactly what A&M did, blow ing out the Homed Frogs 38-6, and setting up a showdown with Texas Saturday at Kyle Field for the final Southwest Confer ence Championship. “I can’t wait for that game,” junior line backer Keith Mitchell said. “I can’t wait for that that feeling of running out onto the field at the Texas game.” Mitchell and his “Wrecking Crew” mates dominated TCU’s defense — limit ing the usually unstoppable tailback An dre Davis to just 51 yards on 23 carries. The capper of the defense’s fine day came with junior defensive end Brandon Mitchel l’s second career touchdown. With just 2:20 left in the fourth quarter, Mitchell tipped and intercepted a pass from TCU quarter back Max Knake, then returned it 48 yards for a touchdown as the largely A&M-orient- ed crowd went berserk. “I was just concentrating on the end zone,” Mitchell said. “Last year, after I scored at the Texas game, Chris Sanders was like, ‘Man, Brandon, you were run ning slow.’ But this time, he came up to me and said, ‘Brandon, you did all right.’” Sanders, who has been a forgotten man at times this season, enjoyed a banner day along with the rest of the A&M offense — which continued its late-season resurgence. The offense put up 414 yards — an av erage of 5.6 yards per play. The greatest performance was turned in by senior quarterback Corey Pullig who enjoyed one of his finest days as A&M’s signal-caller. Pullig completed 24-of-36 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown. The offense nev er turned the ball over a marked change from the sloppy win over Middle Ten*- nessee State last weekend. Pullig was his usual humble self in the press conference, attributing his success to a solid performance to his front five. “The offensive line did a really good job today,” Pullig said. “They allowed me to do a lot of straight drop-back passing instead of having to rely on a lot of play- action fake stuff. There has not been a whole lot of confidence lately in the A&M passing game.” . Although junior tailback Leeland McEl- roy’s string of two straight 100-yard rush ing games was snapped, he combined with Sirr Parker and D’Andre Hardeman for 161 yards on 39 carries. McElroy had 85 yards on his own, in cluding two touchdown runs that gave A&M a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter. The Aggies set the tone on the first dri ve of the game. After converting one first down, Knake made his first mistake of the game — a lackadaisical pass in the flat that was intercepted by A&M linebacker Larry Walker II. Pullig and the offense took over at the TCU 42-yard line and marched down the field on a nearly perfect drive. Fkillig com pleted 3-of-3 passes for 30 yards, and McEl roy scored on a three-yard slanting run to give A&M a lead they would never lose. The win moves the Aggies to 8-2 on the season and 5-1 in the SWC. The game against Texas, now 8-1-1 overall and 6-0 in the SWC, will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Kyle Field." The winner of that game not only wins the final SWC championship, but will also play in the Sugar Bowl New Year’s Eve in New Orleans, most likely against No.9 Florida State. The loser of the game will not qualify for the new Bowl Alliance and will play in the Alamo Bowl in San Anto nio likely against Michigan. Oilers win shootout with Broncos □ Rookie running back Rodney Thomas gal loped 104 yards on just 11 carries. HOUSTON (AP) — There was no figuring this one. Chris Chandler outdueled John Elway with three touch down passes and one of the NFL’s worst offenses out produced one of the best Sunday. The Houston Oil ers crammed a season’s worth of big plays into one game for a 42- 33 victory over the Den- Thomas ver Broncos. It was a game that even made the dis gruntled and dwindling Oilers fans cheer. Only 36,113 attend ed the game, but they finally got into the flavor of the mo ment as the Oilers (5-7) took off — before they take off for Nashville. Denver (6-6), with the sixth stingiest scoring defense in the league, gave up more than its 18-point average before half time and eventually allowed more points than at any time this season. Elway completed 27 of 41 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns and gave Denver hope of another miracle come back with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 4:50 left. But even Elway, who has 36 career fourth-quarter comeback victories, couldn’t save the Broncos. The Oilers (5-7) started the game ranked 24th in the league on offense, but they matched Denver, ranked No. 4, yard for yard in a fast-paced game. Chan dler completed 18 of 26 passes for 280 yards. It took Denver’s final drive against the Oilers’ prevent de fense for the Broncos to outgain the Oilers 472-448. The Oilers cracked the Den ver defense for a 28-17 halftime edge. They extended the lead with Chandler’s 12-yard touch down pass to Haywood Jeffires 1:20 into the third quarter. They got the clincher in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard run by Mari on Butts. Rodney Thomas bolted 74 yards on the Oilers’ second offen sive play, and Chandler threw touchdown passes of 36 and 35 yards to Chris Sanders. Butts also ran 1 yard for a score, all in the first half. Denver got a career-best 56- yard field goal by Jason Elam and Elway threw a 50-yard touch down pass to Miller in the first quarter. Terrell Davis ran 60 yards for a second-quarter score. The Oilers, who had already doubled their win total from last year with four, are now tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for second place in the AFC Central Divi sion. Next week, Houston travels to Pittsburgh for a game that could very well decide the Oilers’ slim playoff chances. A win would move the Oilers within two games of the Steelers for first place in the Central, a loss would drop them to 5-8. Talks with all-time greats put everything in perspective Houston Oilers 42 Denver Broncos 33 Heisman Trophy Watch ’95 Danny Wuerffel, quarterback, Florida. Completed 25 of 40 passes for 443 yards and four touchdowns in the No.3 Gators 35-24 win over No. 6 Florida State Eddie George, running back, Ohio State: Rushed for 104 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown and caught five passes for 50 yards in the Buckeyes' 31-23 loss to Michigan. Tommie Frazier, quarterback, Nebraska: Completed 12 of 25 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 37 yards in the No. 1 Cornhuskers' 37-0 defeat of Oklahoma Friday. M aybe the greatest thing about being a sports- writer is meeting some of the greatest people to ever grace their respective fields of play. Last year, I talked to Tom Os borne, Nebraska’s head coach. I’ll never forget that surge of pride that coursed through my veins when Osborne said to me, “You know, I don’t know why I’m talking to you right now.” See, I was trying to find out whether or not A&M linebacker Antonio Armstrong had been named an Lombardi Award fi nalist. Osborne Ams trying to find out the same thing, and the lines got crossed. Last week, I experienced two of the greatest conversations of my life. The first occurred on the phone from my house Mon day morning. The person on the other end of the line was none other than 1977 Heisman Tro phy Winner Earl Campbell — live from the University of Texas (sorry, traditionalists, it’s UT in this column). I may have mentioned this before, but I’ve always been a bit of a Houston Oilers’ fan, and Campbell was my hero of heroes in the days of the Luv Ya Blue. I interviewed him for the up coming death of the Southwest Conference special section on Friday — he being arguably the greatest talent to ever come out of that burnt orange stadium somewhere to the west. Campbell was perhaps the nicest person I’ve ever spoken to in an interview, and he really had to be. I was so ridiculously nervous that he had to prod me along to ask him questions in stead of the other way around. When I had managed to get most of my information down on paper, I decided to go ahead and tell him how big a fan I was of him, even though it’s usually not proper interview etiquette. Mr. Campbell thanked me for my praise and took a couple of extra minutes to lament the near-certain moving of the Oil ers to Nashville with me. That was the most worthwhile long-distance bill I ever paid. Saturday in Fort Worth, my biggest highlight — besides be ing stuck in the Carter Stadium press elevator for two hours — was meeting one of college foot ball’s most legendary coaches: Gene Stallings. Nick Georgandis Sports Editor Stallings, whose Alabama Crimson Tide ended its season last week with a loss against Auburn, was just visiting to see one of the last Southwest Con ference games before the league disbands next week. Stallings coached one of the greatest teams to ever come through A&M — the 1967 SWC Champions, who lost their first four games, then rallied to win the SWC Championship. The drive began with one of the most dramatic wins in SWC history in Lubbock. Quarterback Edd Hargett scrambled 15 yards with no time left on the clock to give the Ag gies a 28-24 come-from-be- hind win. That got the ball rolling. The Aggies dashed through the SWC schedule and entered the Thanks giving Day showdown with Texas with a 6-0 mark in the SWC. Texas was having an off-year in 1967, but didn’t have a prob lem getting up with the poten tial to knock the Aggies out of the Cotton Bowl. A&M stunned the Longhorns however, 10-7, and went on to meet Alabama, coached by for mer A&M coach and Stallings’ mentor — “Bear” Bryant. The scene of Bryant lifting Stallings up after the game is burned into SWC history, as is the fact that A&M pulled off a huge upset, knocking off the Kenny Stabler-led Crimson Tide, who were just one year removed from a national championship. Stallings visited with old friends in the press box Satur day, and was outside the A&M locker room after the game at Amon Carter Stadium. Between a lull in the stream See Georgandis, Page 10 Stallings