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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1996)
Pag. Jovember 6, | uilding begin ilass of '97 hi il permissiol /concessions- r shirts in seil aid. lowing us e places at or .still have a rest nt 1 think we] ; money. Wen rdest." rom the shirt or the class’ he class has:; through its ' its freshman 17,000. The Battalion Page 9 Wednesday • November 6, 1996 Question of the week Jsiocum insists no quarterback controversy 1* . % i electronic commi tem-software tha ickly, easily and it. rudder 303 net Web TechnokiS!% zation achnologyforcomi^ >lore the key compd cal issues will beds- ; Web strategy and udder 302 it on the Internet the Apple Macinlos’ ledia materials andj nimations, audio an ced on the Interetm ould attend: multai ke their content odd let. i.. Rudder 303 any! phone calls on tie i ig distance charges us of the technoioois .. Rudder 302 (biased Perspect* e Internet including rider, how to pick it eded, and how lost he Internet. /riad Corporation Rudder 302 jr organization ca r .' tically, why the Wra Ihe publishing p-s I i use Intranets total ofyourorganizati#.] t is thinking aboi tin ternally and external nation will be compare] ids. Costs relating to | II also be discussed. 1 ladder 308 te to learn more ay 1 e basic steps reqr ns covered will indi J : owner commands: | lywords to control* Rudder 301 i Learning Researf Rogge Heflin, Special to the Battalion Freshman Randy McCown led the Aggies to a 38-19 win against Oklahoma State Saturday. By Matt Mitchell The Battalion The Texas A&M Football Team’s recent foray in Okla homa brought more than a much-needed victory. It raised a bit of a quarterback controversy as well. While the Aggies are still enjoying the feeling of winning a game by a large margin, the hottest topic among arm chair Aggie quarterbacks is whether junior Branndon Stew art or redshirt freshman Randy McCown will start Saturday against Baylor. Despite coaches’ and players’ best efforts to squelch the growing inquisition, rumors abound as to who will be calling the signals come game time. “We have no controversy because I decide who plays, and whoever I decide, that’s who is going to play,” Head Coach R.C. Slocum said. “Both of them are practicing; actually, I should say all three of them. I anticipate that Randy and Branndon will play.” Offensive Coordinator Steve Ensminger said the insertion of McCown un der center early in the third quarter was an effort to give the offense a jump-start, and he did just that. McCown led the Aggies on impressive drives the rest of the second half, but Stewart said he took his abrupt demo tion to the sideline in stride. “It wasn’t a reflection of if I did this badly or that badly, it was just that they were trying to get something going,” Stewart said. “A lot of people put a lot of em phasis on it because there are so many people that watch the quarterback position; they handle the ball every play. But I think it’s just like any other position. Some guys have tough times during the season and someone else comes in and plays.” But the junior quarterback adds that it was disappoint ing not being on the field helping the team. “I’m pleased that we won the game, and having a chance at a bowl and everything, but it’s frustrating to sit there and not take part in what was going on,” Stewart said. McCown shrugs off his performance as something that was expected. “I don’t want it to be made into a big deal,” he said. “They put me in there and that’s what I was supposed to do, so I just want to be treated like one of the guys, just like always, instead of making a big deal out of it.” The big deal aside, the Aggies’ win comes at a junc ture of the season that could have a profound carryover effect to next season. According to many players, the team was beginning to think it was snake-bit, with frustrating losses to Kansas State and Texas Tech, re sulting in part from breaks that would not go the Aggies way. Saturday, it was the Aggies on the receiving end of good fortune, as they capitalized on several Tech turnovers in the second half to pull away. “The win feels good,” senior outside linebacker Keith Mitchell said. “I think we’re at a point like Coach was saying, where everything bad has happened to us. See Controversy, Page 10 McCown or Stewart? Stewart follows tradition of falling below expectations Jamie Burch Senior speech communications major en will the Texas A&M Football Team ever find the Prodigal Son that it has been looking for since the departure of for mer quarterback Bucky Richardson? Each presea son, the Aggies create a me dia and fan frenzy by hyping the heir appar ent to the quarterback throne. The list starts with Jeff Granger in 1992 and ends with the latest godsend of quarterbacks — Branndon Stewart. Before these athletes have the opportunity to demon strate and prove their tal ents on the collegiate gridiron, some mysti cal source places an enormous pressure to instantaneously metamorphosize the Aggie offense into a prolific scoring ma chine. Inevitably these mortal men fail to measure up to the godlike expectations imposed on them. Granger started the 1992 season as the leader of the Aggies’ offense. He led the Ag gies to a 7-0 start and a 3-0 record in the Southwest Conference en route to an undefeated season. However, Granger suffered a con cussion in the first quarter against Southern Methodist University and freshman sensation Corey Pullig entered the ball game. Pullig led the Aggies to a 41 -7 victory on the strength of Greg Hill and Rodney Thomas’ five rushing touchdowns. Pullig ended the season 56 of 111 for 839 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions with an undefeated 12-0 season. However, the freshman sensation could not carry the Aggies to a victory in the biggest game of the season. See Quarterbacks, Page 10 Tim Moog, The Battalion Junior Branndon Stewart is 125-245 for 1,608 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. tided to be an e do will provide an igical capability invcv i educational subs unt importance. IS ideas are the cored re available to the Ilf' istration, learning ilty development affll eed collapse impacts basketball programs’ schedule, recruiting By Jamie Burch The Battalion for Distance Leant: 1 On Oct. 30, the construction of Reed Center for Distanct Arena suffered a slight setback when a ai Park, off FM20 CVdne carrying a support beam buckled and ilibsequently caused the roof area to col- ernet-based Corse'lapse. The A&M Athletic Department must :ies low assess the damages not only to the are- million revolving l«na, but to the athletic programs, which will state Energy CorsRg g rave iy affected by the setback. SSSwl s P ecial Event Facilities Director repay the loansirtt Steven Hodge said the completion date vings. As otAugust of the arena is estimated to be pushed Texas over35mill®b ac k three to six months. The previous /consumed in state date of completion was late 1 9 97) w hi c h 1 program is the would have been during the middle of uildingstomeasuteThe 1997-98 basketball season. Hodge network includes Te 1 said there is not a new estimate for when be University olleitjjg f ac jp t y scheduled to be completed nd Texas Tech W or ^ ^ Qf ^ dama g e let overviewolthe The primary question now is to what the internetlontts degree w in the collapse affect A&M ath- . __tic programs? teEnSneelgV Both the A&M men’s and women’s echanicai Enginef bpskethall teams planned to utilize the ichanical Enginet'l new facility to bolster their respective programs. Now both squads must wait until the beginning of the 1998-99 season to play in the new arena. A&M Men’s Basketball Head Coach Tony Barone said his concerns lie with the inabil ity to schedule marquee teams. “It will affect scheduling problems,” Barone said. “We’ve had an impossible task of trying to bring other strong pro grams in here. It’s really tough to do be cause they just don’t want to play in G. Rollie White. I can’t blame them. We now have to try and convince other programs to come in and play when we know we’re not going to have the avail ability for it.” However, Barone said the delay will not hurt the squads’ recruiting ability. “It will not affect our reemiting class for this year,” Barone said. “The kids who we will go after this year will have three full seasons to play in the new arena. So I don’t think it will have a huge ef fect from that standpoint.” What the collapse might have an af fect on is the A&M Women’s Basketball Program. A&M Head Coach Candi Harvey feels that the collapse could impact the reemiting program. “It might indirectly affect recruiting,” Harvey said. “We certainly hope not, but when you’re in the heat of battle, people will stoop to some pretty low levels. That wouldn’t necessarily be negative recruit ing; it’s just a fact that we’re going to be a year late getting in there. But my position on that is, if a young lady is coming to Texas A&M solely for the arena, then she’s coming for the wrong reasons.” While Harvey is concerned about the possible negative impacts, she said the team will only worry about what is with in their reach. “The only thing that we can control is to keep putting an entertaining basketball team on the I court,” Harvey said. “Hope fully our fans will enjoy so much what we do on the court that they’ll continue to come re gardless of whether it’s in G. Rollie or Reed.” When construction plans of Reed Are na were announced, ESPN considered the possibility of televising an early sea son marquee game. But because of un certainty as to an expected date of com pletion, no plans were concrete. A&M Athletic Director Wally Groff said the Athletic Department is still hoping to at tract ESPN coverage with a top game, when the arena opens for the 1998-99 season. “Originally we were talking about opening the 1997-98 non-conference season with a big name basketball team that might be on ESPN,” Groff said. “Nothing was concrete because we didn’t know exactly when the arena was to be completed. Maybe we can again rejuve nate those plans and look for a marquee- type team to open the arena.” While the collapse can be seen as a negative situation, Groff looks at the situ ation as a blessing. “In one respect it can be a blessing,” Groff said. “It would have been difficult to sell non-conference games in G. Rollie and conference games over at Reed for the same year. This way it will push it all back to 1998-99.” lerSOB Rudder 301 Publication e nature of election j this format. Is ition and presei :ation formats, and ography for furtW table. Open to alii'-' Rudder 302 er 3.0 Rudder 308 ng Windows NT Inf becoming more art formation Server (t JVWW, FTP and T# izing NT's built-in^j ecus on the installs d intermediate MIS: Services Rudder 301 Parents Night Out A free babysitting service for all Texas A8JVI Faculty, Staff, and Students provided by the members of Alpha Phi Omega will be Friday, November 8, 1996 6:30-10:00 p.m. Rudder 601 Questions? Call the APO office at 862-2525 Imagine a new Plasma Center on University that caters to New Donors!” Smartest, easiest way to earn extra money. Lie back, relax, \l\(.study, or just visit; then receive cash tor your time, and plasma!! Westgate Biologicals, Inc. 700 University Dr. East $25 Suite 11 1 $25 call for an appointment: 268-6050 Bring in this coupon and receive S25 on your first donation Are You Concerned About... Academic Burnout Career Choices Depression improving Study Skills ...Mentors Listen Call 845-6900 for a Mentor, or http://mentors.tamu.edu