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ng converted toil
r years of vacanc, By Tom Day
)ther projectisi The Battalion
he vacantl
ey's depaucBThe fun is back — for at least a week, anyway,
ough federal ftiii With the University of Colorado coming to Ag-
land this week, the struggling Texas A&M Foot-
Team felt it had to find a winning formula be-
the 12th-ranked Buffaloes came calling,
fission accomplished.
he Aggies out-hustled, out-classed and thor-
hly dominated an overmatched University of
|rth Texas squad on Saturday at Kyle Field, whip-
the Eagles, 55-0. Rolling up 624 yards of total
Jense (312 passing yards, 312 running yards) while
liting UNT to 70, A&M dominated every facet of
■game to put the Eagles away early.
Even more important for the Aggies, they elimi-
ted the mistakes that plagued them in losses to
igham Young University and Southwestern
Ived make thisd hsiana— turnovers, costly penalties and defen-
e breakdowns.
ButA&M Head Coach R.C. Slocum said the team got
:most important thing it was looking for — a win.
;oon.
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998, Jones sail.
“We have a young group of players, and they
hadn’t tasted victory and what it feels like to make
plays and have fun in a ballgame,” Slocum said.
“Sometimes the harder you try to accomplish it, you
almost start working against yourself and start
pressing, and it makes it more difficult."
A&M strong safety Rich Coady, who intercepted
two passes Saturday, said the players blocked out
the pressure and approached the game with the sole
intention of enjoying themselves.
"Coach Slocum took the attitude this week of us
going out there and having fun,” Coady said. “This is
college football and you’re supposed to have fun,
and we lost sight of that the last couple of weeks.
“After losing two games, it was rough with people
asking what’s wrong all the time. We definitely got
the monkey off our back.”
It took a little while for the Aggies to warm up of
fensively. After settling for a 24-yard field goal by
Kyle Bryant in the first quarter and another 47-
yarder to put them up 6-0 with 1:35 gone by in the
second, the A&M offense caught fire.
After holding UNT again and getting the ball
ting
versity
ors
Dave House, The Battalion
junior special teams player Trent Driver pile drives UNT sophomore kick returner
bby Coleman in the second quarter of A&M's 55-0 win Saturday at Kyle Field.
back a minute and a half later at their own 45, A&M
went for the jugular. Aggie quarterback Branndon
Stewart called an audible at the line and connected
with senior wide receiver Albert Connell in the left
flat on the first play of the series for a 55-yard touch
down pass.
Going for the two-point conversion on the next
play, Stewart scrambled out of the pocket and to
ward the sideline before throwing a strike to sopho
more tight end Matt Mahone in the back of the end
zone to put the Aggies up 14-0.
Connell's touchdown reception came on a quick-
hitch pattern, an east-west style of passing play that
has come under criticism from fans in the past.
Slocum said the Aggies use the play when oppo
nents show blitz and rely on single-man coverage.
“It’s one of those plays where you can complete it
and a guy comes up and makes a great tackle and
you get three or four yards and people ask why
would you throw that pass,” Slocum said. “The rea
son why you do it is because they don’t always make
that tackle, and if they don’t, it’s a big play.”
Coady’s first interception of the day came on the
Eagles’ next series and his 18-yard return set the Ag
gies up on the UNT 21-yard line. Two plays later,
Stewart found Connell again on the right sideline as
the wideout slipped three or four tackles before
bulling his way into the end zone to break the Ea
gles’ spirits.
“We started off slowly today,” Connell said. “We
were just getting a feel for the defense and getting
momentum, and after my first touchdown run,
everyone got hyped and we were just having fun.”
That spelled doom for the Eagles as the Aggies
would run rampant the rest of the afternoon.
Freshman punt returner and tailback Dante
Hall had a career day, returning eight punts for
119 yards while carrying the ball from scrimmage
14 times for 93 yards.
His 37-yard punt return and an Eagle face mask
penalty set up another A&M touchdown with 8:06
left in the first half. A 15-yard run by sophomore
tailback Sirr Parker would move the Aggies down to
the UNT three-yard line, before sophomore D’Andre
Hardeman pounded the ball in for a score to put
A&M up 28-0.
In the second half, Slocum was able to unload
his bench.
“I thought it was important to come back this
week and have a game where we could play a lot
of people,” Slocum said. “I’ve found that really
helps your squad morale when you have a lot of
guys get into the ballgame. That’s good for our
team and it comes at a great time for us in getting
ready for a great challenge next week to play a
team like Colorado.”
Touchdown runs by Hardeman, Parker, Hall and
sophomore Eric Bernard in the second half put icing
on the cake for A&M. Pacing the Aggies was Parker
Texas A&M 55, North Texas 0
UNT 0 0
A&M 3 25
0 0—0
20 7 —55
UNT
A&M
First Downs
4
29
Rushes-yards
24-(-10)
60-312
Passing yards
80
312
Comp-att-int
8-23-1
20-35-1
Return yards
6
36
Punts-avg.
11-46
2-25
Fumbles-lost
1-0
5-1
Penalties-yards
6-54
8-60
Time of possession
24:06
35:54
with a career-high 117 yards on 18 carries, while.
Bernard carried 13 times for 98 yards.
After suffering four fumbles last week at USE, the »
A&M backfield held on to the ball against UNT.
“We didn’t all of a sudden change everything we *
did this week for those backs,” Slocum said.
“Sometimes bad things happen to you. We had a j
lot of second-effort runs today — a lot of yardage
after the contact.”
Stewart’s 275 yards through the air on 17-of-30 |
passing was the most by an A&M quarterback since »
Bucky Richardson threw for 321 yards against Texas j
Christian University in 1991.
The A&M defense was just as impressive, limiting
the Eagles to minus-10 yards rushing, the Aggies’,
lowest total since limiting BYU to minus-12 yards irv
the 1990 Holiday Bowl.
In posting their first shutout since a 7-0 blanking,
of Rice in 1994, the Aggies turned the ball over just'j
once and limited their penalties to inexperienced-)
mistakes by second team contributors.
Slocum said playing at home was the answer for' 1
the struggling Aggies.
“I thought getting home with our fans, the band j
and the families would be a positive thing for us,”: 1
Slocum said. “Colorado presents a great challenges
to us. You need everything going for you in thafcj
game and you need a positive mental attitude./
Coming off a game like today, we had a chance tos
regain some of that.” J
\ggies eliminate mistakes on both sides of the ball
nd a
eception
sition oj
By Kristina Buffin
The Battalion
Senior outside linebacker Kei-
Tlitchell epitomized the atti-
ide of the Texas A&M Football
m when he screamed, “I feel
Id, yeah!” when he walked into
e press conference following
urday’s 55-0 shellacking of the
iversity of North Texas.
\gainst Brigham Young Uni-
sity, the defense had its prob-
tns. Against the University of
jithwestern Louisiana, the of-
se had too many tournovers.
Bwith their first win of the sea-
pn, the Aggies pulled together all
ects of their game and showed
that they do have the talent and
ability to turn the season around.
“I was pleased both sides of
the ball produced,” A&M Head
Coach R.C. Slocum said. “Play
ers on both sides made a signif
icant contribution and they can
feel good about themselves go
ing into this next week.”
Junior quarterback Branndon
Stewart looked his most comfort
able in a game situation thus far.
Except for two fumbled snaps,
Stewart had a career day, con
necting on 17-of-30 attempts for
275 yards, two touchdowns and
no interceptions.
“I was very comfortable out
there,” Stewart said. “Since the
?r 23
i Room
; on Htl* 011
t td BARA ,
“Fm proud of
him (Connell); I
think he’s one of,
if not the best re
ceiver we’ve had
in a long time.”
R.C. Slocum
A&M Head Coach
Dave House, The Battalion
ihomore safety Rich Coady (#48) points to freshman defensive back
mdon Jennings for a block after his interception in the second quarter.
first two-a-days and in spring
drills, I was comfortable with the
guys and at ease.
“You have to remember that I
didn’t play much
in my first year
of college ball,
and each game
and each week I
am gaining more
experience.”
Stewart’s 275-
yard perfor
mance was the
most by an Aggie
quarterback
since Bucky
Richardson threw
for 321 yards
against Texas
Christian University in 1991.
Stewart’s primary target, senior
wide receiver Albert Connell, also
had a career performance. Con
nell had nine receptions for 166
yards and two touchdowns. His
previous best was a seven-catch
es, 112-yard performance against
SMU in 1995.
“I didn’t know the ball was go
ing to come to me as much as it
did,” Connell said. “I started off
(the season) a little slow, but this is
a big confidence booster for me to
have a game like this when big
things happen.”
Slocum had nothing but praise
for his star receiver.
“Albert Connell is a really good
player and he is dangerous when
he gets the football,” Slocum said.
“I’m really proud of him; I think
he’s one of, if not the best receiver
we’ve had in a long time.”
The Aggie offense illustrated
its commitment to a balance of
rushing and passing by accumu
lating 312 yards in both aspects.
“Going into North Texas, we
wanted to keep it balanced, and it
worked for us,” Stewart said. “We
proved we have a good team and
that we should win. I
said this week, regard
less of who we beat,
we just need a win.”
Perhaps the
biggest surprise of
the game was the
emergence of fresh
man tailback/punt
returner Dante Hall.
Hall, who ironically
wears the same
number of former
tailback Leeland
McElroy (#34), re
turned eight punts for
119 yards, which puts him at No. 3
in the A&M record books.
In the fourth quarter, Hall was
called upon to take up rushing
duties. He had 14 rushes for 93
yards and a touchdown score
with five minutes left to play.
The Wrecking Crew showed
the power they exuded in the
BYU game by shutting out North
Texas and holding the Eagle of
fense to 70 total yards and only
four first downs.
Mitchell said the defense’s play
was only a matter of coming togeth
er and making the game more fun.
“You see what happens when
we have fun,” Mitchell said. “We
came together and bonded to
gether. Sometimes things happen
for a reason, and I’m really happy
about our play together.”
Sophomore inside linebacker
Dat Nguyen led the team with
seven tackles, six unassisted, and
senior noseguard Eddie Jasper
recorded two of the defense’s five
quarterback sacks.
Dave House, The Battalion
After bulling his way through three defenders, senior wide receiver
Albert Connell dives for a touchdown in the second quarter.
Slocum said this game was
encouraging because it is always
a challenge when things are not
working out.
“Part of you wants to push
them, but you have to remember
that these are young people,”
Slocum said.
For the second consecutive
game, the secondary showed im
provement. Former walk-on strong
safety Rich Coady had two inter
ceptions in the second quarter.
Coady said although one of his
pick-offs set up a Connell touch
down, his teammates riled him
about not returning the intercep
tions for touchdowns.
"The front seven did a good job
of pressuring and I was able to
read the quarterback’s eyes to see
where he was going,” Coady said.
“But I’m starting to get it from the;:
guys about not scoring.”
A&M has not yet begun to wor-
ry about the University of Colorado ■
stampeding into town this week-jj
end. Instead they are just happy to 1
have a game in the win column I
and are intent on keeping up their:
positive attitude.
“There’s an old axiom I learned,
back in my coaching days thaC)
when players get down coaches get- !
up,” Slocum said. “You have to"
coach them to be enthusiastic and ,
positive and I thought the staff did |
a good job with that.
“[Colorado] is the first confer- |
ence game for us and I expect a big j
crowd. It is significant in terms of j
the conference and Colorado is re-,
spected nationally and it will be a-
great challenge for us.”