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riiAggies look to boom Sooners
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theconcernl By Jamie Burch memories, will effect his play. izes how difficult it is to stop the option. f ^ ^
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The Battalion
Friday • November 14 ; 1997
PORTS
By Jamie Burch
Staff writer
Texas A&M senior defensive end Zerrick Rollins’
long journey began at the University of Oklahoma,
five years ago under then head coach Gary Gibbs.
But playing for the Sooners as a true freshman was
not Rollins biggest concern.
His father, who lived in Houston, was diagnosed
with cancer the same year. Rollins was forced to de
cide between staying in Norman, away from his fa
ther, and the possibility of losing a year of eligibility
ifhe transferred. Rollins chose to be closer to his dad.
Rollins switched to A&M in 1994 but had to sit out
the year due to NCAA transfer rules. He went on to let
ter his sophomore season as a backup and played in
feltacros; lall 12games in 1996.
jur public Following his junior season, Rollins’ world fell
^nd 19 peri| apart. His dad lost the long, grueling battle with can
cer and passed away in May. Rollins fought through
Ins criteria [the pain and the turmoil to reestablish himself as a
intherighi presence on the Wrecking Crew.
Ion. H I it After the Aggies’ 7-2 start this season, things have
ter educat | come full circle. The Aggies are set to play the Sooners
tomorrow in Norman. It will mark Rollin’s first time
Ibranchat: I back since he packed his bags and left. The visit will
uld allow., give Rollins the opportunity to reconcile the past.
memories, will effect his play.
“I really won’t know until I get out on the field,”
Rollins said. “I will definitely be more emotional. That’s
natural. But we’re just going to go up there to take care
of business, not to have fun.”
The Aggies have plenty of business on the agenda. A
win moves A&M one game away from a spot in the Big
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R.C. SLOCUM
A&M COACH
Rollins said he is not sure how the emotional re
turn to Norman, a place filled with excruciating
12 Championship. A loss could jeopardize the teams
chances of earning a shot at the south championship.
Despite the Sooners losing record (3-7,1-5), they pre
sent problems defensively for A&M. Oklahoma runs an
option style offense utilizing a shuttle system at quar
terback and a big play threat out of the back field. Okla
homa will test A&M’s often exposed run defense.
Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz said he real
izes how difficult it is to stop the option.
“(De’mond Parker) will be the best back we’ve
played,” Hankwitz said. “[The two quarterbacks] Eric
More and Brandon Daniels are extremely fast in a sys
tem designed to get quarterbacks the ball. It’s some
thing you can’t always simulate in practice. Your quar
terback is not an option guy and your scout line are not
300-pound lineman.”
Through nine games this season, Parker has carried
the ball 194 times for 1,143 yards, an average of 5.9
yards per rush, ninth best in the nation.
Daniels made his first start at quarterback last week
against Oklahoma State. He guided the Sooners to a 7-
0 lead with two minutes remaining in the first quarter,
but six turnovers erased any hope for a victory.
A&M junior quarterback Branndon Stewart said he
recognizes Oklahoma is a good team once they elim
inate the mistakes.
“They have the potential to not turn the ball over
and all of a sudden they’re as good as team as we’ve
played all season,” Stewart said.
Combine all this with 70,000 plus hostile Sooner fans
and it appears the Aggies have an uphill battle in store.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum said the team is very aware
of the challenge of playing on the road.
“I’d much prefer to play at home,” Slocum said. “But
you can’t win championships by playing all home
games. At some point you have to go on the road and
play at some of those places.”
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Sirr Parker and the Aggies will look to close in on San Antonio.
Soccer team has something to
prove as SMU comes to town
By Stephen Boudreau
Staff writer
For the third consecutive season, the Texas A&M Soc
cer Team (18-2) will be making a run for the national
championship in the NCAA postseason tournament.
Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., the Southern Methodist Uni
versity Mustangs (16-4-1) will ride into the Aggie Soccer Com
plex looking to upset die third-ranked Aggies.
"It’s going to take what it has taken us throughout the
whole season to come out on top,” Big 12 Rookie of the Year
Claire Elliott said. “Everyone has to play as a team, be on their
game and stay focused. Of course we have had our slumps,
le every single team, but when we get out there and play
lewe can play, we are unstoppable.”
Earlier this season, the Aggies defeated the Mustangs in
aphysically and emotionally exhausting 1-0 overtime
gaipe in Dallas. i
"Home field advantage against SMU is a huge edge for
us.The game we played in Dallas was a very physical game,
itwas marked by a lot of fouls,” said Coach G. Guerrieri.
They are a very physical, hard defending team. We are go
ing to have to be technically quicker than them and play
halls off before we get knocked off our balance and out of
our rhythm.”
The Aggies hold a 3-3-1 career series record against the
Mustangs. In the second round of the 1995 NCAA tourney
SMU outscored the Aggies 4-2 in overtime.
“It’s going to be another tough game. We are lucky to be
playing at home in front of our big crowd who loves to
come out,” Elliott said. “This team is ready to play. It will
he even better since we will have the fans on our side in a
higgame like this.”
A&M holds a 1-2 record in NCAA tournament play.
Last season, the then fifth-seeded Aggies were upset by the
University of San Diego in the first round at the Aggie Soc
cer Complex.
This season, despite being ranked third in the nation,
the Aggies were not seeded for the tournament and will
have to play a much more difficult schedule on their way
a potential national championship.
“I think (not being seeded) just shows that no one re
spects us yet in the nation. I think that needs to be some-
i( thing that motivates us going into the playoffs,” senior All-
American Bryn Blalack said. “We need to gain respect. We
can’t focus on the negative, we’ve got to turn it into some
thing positive. I think we are all going to go for it all and try
to prove some people wrong. We can’t complain about the
seedings if we don’t come out and produce and win games.”
But produce the Aggies have. Despite being ranked third
for a large part of the season, in the top ten for the duration
of the year and winning both the Big 12 regular and post-sea-
son titles, the Aggies were overlooked for the seedings.
think the team was offended by the seedings, but like
sve’ve said all along, we can only worry about the things we
Lave control over,” Guerrieri said. “To the players’ benefit,
they have control over how they play on the field. Our per
formances have been strong all season, which is evident by
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Senior harriers make
final run at NCAA meet
By Jeff Webb
Staff writer
The Texas A&M Cross Country team will make
its way to the NCAA District VI Championships
November 15 in Denton, Texas. The Aggies are
looking to clinch a NCAA berth with a second
place finish for an automatic
bid. Coach Greg Hinze says
he feels the Aggies can make
a strong showing despite the
competition.
“This is it,” Coach Hinze
said. “This is the meet we’ve
been striving for. You’ve got
one slot. There are three or
four teams fighting for the
second automatic bid and
they’re all within 20 points
of each other. It all comes
down to who runs well that day.”
The Arkansas Razorback team is currently die
second-ranked team in the nation and will al
most certainly qualify for the first automatic spot.
For the seniors on this year’s squad, this will prob
ably be their final time to run for the Aggies.
“I feel pressure,” senior Kari Wyatt said. “I’ve
put pressure on myself. I don’t feel any pressure
Hinze
from anyone else.We want to have fun and do
well for ourselves.I want to end my career on a
good note.”
The practice schedule for the Aggies has ta
pered off in lieu of the big meet this weekend.
Mileage has been reduced much to the plea
sure of the athletes.
“The practices now are better than doing 80
miles a week,” Scott Lengfield said. "I’m at 50
miles a week, so the workouts aren’t as long. I
have more energy in class now.”
Coach Hinze will probably be coaching his se
niors for the last time this weekend and ap
plauded the effort given throughout their careers.
“The group of seniors 1 have, I can’t say
enough good things about them,” Hinze said.
“We have to use some track scholarships for
this team, and most of our students don’t get
scholarships. They do it because they want to.
These other teams emphasize cross country,
but if you put them on the track with us, our
team might beat them every time.”
Although the Aggies don’t look likely to
knock off Arkansas, they have a better than
average chance to qualify for the second au
tomatic bid. If that happens, the Aggie se
niors will get to enjoy the feel of competition
one last time.
DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion
Texas A&M All-American Bryn Blalack heads a ball in the
Big 12 Championship game against Nebraska. Despite being
ranked third in the nation, the Aggies are not seeded in the
NCAA Tournament.
our championships. We’re going to have to go out and prove
ourselves every single game.
“It is motivation for us that we were overlooked. There is
nothing we can do but go out and play our best.”
The seeded teams were, in order, 13-time and defending
national champion North Carolina (22-0-1), last year’s run
ner up Notre Dame (20-0-1), Connecticut (19-3), Santa Clara
(17-2-1), Duke (15-5), Virginia (13-4-2), Portland (14-4-0)
and Maryland (12-8-3).
The winner between the Aggies and Mustangs will go on
to play the winner of Portland vs. UCLA game, with the site
being determined based on results of the two contests. The
Aggies could potentially face Notre Dame in the third round.
“We are going to have to beat those teams at some point
in the tournament if we want to come out on top, so we
might as well get them out of the way in the beginning,” El
liott said.
Tickets for Sunday’s match will be $8 for reserved seats,
$7 for adults and $5 for students and children. Prices are
set by the NCAA.
Golfers set for Hilton Head
By Jason Whitcomb
Staffwriter
The No. 30 Texas A&M Men’s
Golf Team will close out the fall
season this weekend at the infa
mous Palmetto Dunes Invitation
al in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
This tournament will consist of
the most competitive group of
collegiate golfers outside of the
NCAA postseason tournament in
the spring,including the top 10
teams in the nation.
In preparation for this tour
nament, each Aggie golfer par
ticipated in the “Aggie Cup,” a
replication the the Ryder Cup,
this past week.
“We broke the guys up into
two teams and it really worked
out well,” said Coach Bob Ellis.
“We got a lot of good responses
from the players. The level of
competition was real high and it
was particularly beneficial be
cause it had been so long since
our last tournament situation.”
The course at Palmetto Dunes
has traditionally benefited expe
rienced players who have had the
opportunity to play on it before.
Last year, the Aggies played for
the lead throughout the tourna
ment, except for two disastrous
holes that pummeled them to
end of the pack. This year, how
ever, the Ags will have three
golfers that have played the
course before and know when
and where to avoid any mistakes.
“Our experience will definitely
improve our chances to have a
good tournament this year,” Ellis
said. “It is a demanding course as
far as game management is con
cerned. It has some long holes,
but, in the most part, consists of
short hole golf. We just need to
avoid the two mistakes we made
last year.”
The Aggies are hoping to end
the fall season with a strong per
formance and send a message to
collegiate golfing world that they
are a contender. Their five-man
lineup will consist of senior
Miguel del Angel, junior Ty Cox,
sophomore Lee Reed and fresh
men Clay Fullick and Ryan Tull.
“Last year we finished 17th
and the challenge then was
putting it behind us,” Ellis said.
"This year, we are hoping to fin
ish higher, but it will not be detri
mental if we do not perform well.
I believe that a strong showing
here could gives us a big boost
into the spring season.”
The Battalion's 1997 Staff Picks
The Match-Ups
Chris
Ferrell
Paul
Mitchell
Jeremy
Furtick
Kristina
Buffin
Jamie
Burch
Matt Stephen Travis
Mitchell Boudreau Dabney
Margaux
FJarris
Len Jeff
Callaway Schmidt
Jeff
Webb
Jason ^
vMtfuni) Consensus
■
'18 Texas A&M (-14) @ Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M
Texas A&M: Two wins for South title
\ Iowa St. @ Nebraska (-43)
Iowa St.
Nebraska
Nebraska
Iowa St.
Iowa St.
Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska
Iowa St.
Nebraska: Huskers on fire for this one
• Colorado @#10 Kansas St. (-10)
Kansas St.
Colorado
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Colorado
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.
Kansas St.: Last beat Buffs in 1984
Texas Tech @ #24 OSU (-6)
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU
OSU: Tech is finished
Baylor @ #25 Missouri (-16)
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri
Missouri: No dramatic finish this week
Kansas® Texas (-6.5)
Texas
Texas
Texas
Texas
Kansas
Texas
Texas
Texas
Kansas
Texas
Texas
Texas
Texas
Texas: KU's the only worse team in Big 12
’1 Michigan (-15) @ #23 Wisconsin
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Wisconsin
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan: No Ron Dayne, no problem
*6 Penn St. (-6) @#19 Purdue
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Purdue
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.
Penn St.: Playing for Big 10 pride now
U6 Auburn @ #7 Georgia (-7)
Auburn
Auburn
Georgia
Auburn
Auburn
Georgia
Georgia
Georgia
Auburn
Georgia
Georgia
Auburn
Auburn
Auburn: Tigers take bite out of Dogs
Hi 3 Washington @ #9 UCLA (-2)
Washington
Washington
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
Washington
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
UCLA
Washington
UCLA: This one's for the Rose Bowl
Redskins @ Cowboys (-6)
Redskins
Redskins
Cowboys
Redskins
Cowboys
Cowboys
Redskins
Cowboys
Redskins
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Redskins
Cowboys: Every week crucial for Dallas
6r oncos (-3) Chiefs
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos: Elway owns Schottenheimer
^st Four Weeks
9-3
8-4
10-2
7-5
8-4
8-4
8-4
5-7
8-4
8-4
8-4
5-7
8-4
Last Week: 100-56
Emulative
67-50-3
60-57-3
67-50-3
59-58-3
60-57-3
61-56-3
63-54-3
56-61-3
58-59-3
35-23-2
41-41-2
53-64-3
61-56-3
Cumulative: 782-704-38
; NOTE: The Battalion Staff will be picking against the betting line this semester. We in no way encourage any illegal wagering with the use of these betting lines, they are presented solely for entertainment purposes.
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