lie Battalion
orts
Page 7 • Monday, December 7, 1998
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running back Sirr Parker runs for the game-winning touchdown in overtime against KSU Saturday.
BY JEFF SCHMIDT
The Battalion
ST. LOUIS — For a while, Texas A&M players and
coaches talked about getting one win to put the pro
gram over the hump and into national prominence.
Top-ranked Kansas State University (according to
the USA Today/ESPN Poll) proved to be more than
a hump, but A&M was able to climb it anyway.
The Aggies stunned the Wildcats 36-33 in double
overtime Saturday to claim their first Big 12 Cham
pionship. The victory was A&M’s first ever against
a No. 1-ranked team. The 36 points A&M scored
were the most the team has scored all season.
With the win, A&M earned a berth in the Sugar
Bowl against Ohio State University and a No. 8 rank
ing in The Associated Press poll.
“I’ve said all year that this team is a special team,”
A&M coach R. C. Slocum said. “Ever since early in the
season, we have had lots of adversity. We lost some
guys and we had trouble getting started.
“The players never wavered and they got closer
together. This has been one of the easiest teams I
have ever coached in terms of managing them and
them managing themselves. It has been a very un
selfish team.”
A&M’s victory hopes looked dim when KSU quar
terback Michael Bishop scored on a five-yard run
with 40 seconds left in the third quarter to give the
Wildcats a 27-12 lead.
A&M rebounded quickly as senior quarterback
Branndon Stewart, replacing junior Randy McCown
who was out with a broken collarbone, hit junior
wide receiver Leroy Hodge for a 13-yard touch
down on third down and 10 yards to go with 9:20
left in the game.
Sophomore placekicker Russell Bynum tacked on
the extra point to bring the score to 27-19.
K-State stopped another A&M possession and took
the ball over on downs.
Trying to run out the clock. Bishop tried to keep the
KSU drive alive by scrambling, but A&M senior line
backer Warrick Holdman jarred the ball loose and
sophomore linebacker Cornelius Anthony recovered
it at the KSU 35-yard line.
A pass interference penalty on A&M moved the ball
back to the 50, but on the next play junior wide re
ceiver Matt Bumgardner made a diving 36-yard catch
to the KSU 14-yard line.
Three plays later, Stewart fired a pass to senior run
ning back Sirr Parker for a nine-yard touchdown,
pulling the score to 27-25.
On the two-point conversion attempt, Stewart
rolled right and lofted a pass to Parker for the score as
the unlikely heroes hooked up again.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them and proud of
this team,” Slocum said. “I said before the game that
we wanted to play every play, we wanted to play the
next play, and that we would never, never, never give
up regardless of what happened.”
The 12th Man was in full effect for A&M, but it al
most cost the Aggies the game.
A 15-yard illegal participation penalty (12 men on
the field) put KSU within field goal range, but the
penalty was switched to a five-yarder because the ex
tra player was attempting to leave the field.
A false start pushed KSU back farther, and Bish
op threw a Hail Mary that bounced around and end
ed up being caught by wide receiver Everett Burnett
on the A&M two-yard line.
A&M senior safety Toya Jones made a game-sav
ing hit to keep Burnett out of the end zone and the
win column.
A&M started its first possession in the overtime
period with a Bynum field goal, giving A&M a 30-27
lead, its first of the game.
KSU countered with back-to-back Martin Gramati-
ca field goals, but led by a Herculean effort by Parker,
A&M scored the winning touchdown.
On a third and 17 from the KSU 32-yard line, the
Aggies were just trying to get into position to kick
a field goal.
see Football on Page 9.
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JEFF
SCHMIDT
„ are: champions.
J“1 told some of the young guys af-
| e [ the game to remember what this
ftls like and what it took to win all
ft games we played this year,” se-
enb Dan Campbell said. “I
IOIIOwJ ffink this year was a pretty good
fth towards a dynasty. 1 think this
Uthertrf
dent AffaiiCf
was a really special team and a really
special group.”
A&M came from 15 points down to
tie the game, take it to overtime and
unlike last week, the Aggies sealed
the deal.
“When we were in overtime, I said
to the other guys, don’t let this one
slip away,” senior linebacker Dat
Nguyen said. “We let the game
against Texas slip away, but we did
not let it happen.”
A&M has had a never-say-die atti
tude all season, senior safety Rich
Coady said.
He said the Aggies somehow always
find a way to win.
This will to survive is what has
made this A&M team great. And to do
so through the attrition that the Aggies
faced is truly remarkable.
A&M lost senior fullback Marc
Broyles, junior running back Eric
Bernard and junior fullback Jason
Bragg to injuries. Then there was the
“Tiki” Case. The ineligibility of A&M’s
toughest runner, D’Andre “Tiki” Harde
man, cost the Aggies a win.
So what makes this team better
than previous teams that had more
going for them?
Two words: chemistry and character.
Coach R. C. Slocum said this team
does not have any one superstar, aside
from Nguyen, but the team plays well
as a group and feeds off of Nguyen’s in
tensity. Slocum also said this team has
some of the most character of any team
he has ever coached.
He talked about players who kept their
egos in check for the good of the team.
“We have had two quarterbacks
who have competed for the starting job
all year, but both have had a very un
selfish attitude,” he said. “They have
been in the background of this team’s
success all year, but they have definite
ly contributed to the success.”
“This is a team that could have been
a 6-5 team, if it wasn’t for their charac
ter,” Slocum said at a weekly media
luncheon. “Just playing on ability, this
team isn’t going to win 10 games. But
the team really played together.
“We’ve had as solid of chemistry on
this team as we’ve had on any team
here in a long time. I think that’s a trib
ute to the coaches and I really think it’s
a tribute to the caliber of the young
men that we have.”
Jeff Schmidt is a senior
journalism major.
l
X X X
-W K m K ?
ys. j a s
ewart shines in victory
BY JEFF SCHMIDT
The Battalion
i hOlTtf'niifl' b °LHS — Another chapter in senior
" ■ r erbac k Branndon Stewart’s up-and-
Bt n ri career at Texas A&M came to a close
I u , raa y — in a way most fans probably
idderTo^f aicl not have believed.
'IT t i art ’ starting for the injured junior
I nerb^k Randy McCown, passed for 324
I s, the third-highest total in A&M histo-
les r tbree tou chdowns, leading the Ag-
tl. ° a 36-33 upset over top-ranked Kansas
| a | e University.
I For some reason, I thought Branndon was
!Lk n° bave ^ good game tonight,” A&M
10t D6 ft h R. c. Slocum said. “He had confidence
I- mailed ft I “, Week an h had been relaxed in practice.
' Jan 1111 ex t re mely pleased with his perfor-
maiW- Ccrep 6 ')^ 6 some U P S an d downs in his
r mo hie but be has never been selfish and he
845-26L | sal ways showed class.”
he beginning however, it did not look
1st n eWart s ba y- Stewart did not complete his
ftm un hl A&M’s second possession of the
l c ond quarter.
ieff bl ?* s hed two-of-seven for 39 yards in
ii ee rSt la * b Stewart also hyperextended his
IntPrQK 1116 first quarter, forcing junior
ftp D ane Uechler, a former quarterback
Sernard High School, to begin warm-
pajjj tewart re turned and played through .
rdl^ 38 .^ to come out of the game, re-
Histh- Stewart said.
com C i uar t er wa s not so impressive as
te fir t u te d onl y two more passes to finish
st three periods four of 11 for 89 yards.
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After that, Stewart got into a rhythm. He
hit sophomore wide receiver Chris Taylor
twice for big gains and found junior wide
receiver Leroy Hodge open for a 13-yard
scoring strike.
“He had a splendid day,” KSU coach Bill
Snyder said. “He was very proficient and
played ... with a great deal of character.”
Stewart threw a perfect pass to diving ju
nior wide receiver Matt Bumgardner, then
completed a pass to senior running back Sirr
Parker to close the score even more.
But coming out of high school, playing for
the Aggies was the farthest thing from Stew
art’s mind. He originally signed with the Uni
versity of Tennessee out of Stephenville High
School in 1994.
He said he signed with the Vols because he
wanted to help them win a national title and,
indirectly, he may have.
“I think we kind of did that today,” he said.
Stewart said he did not know whether or
not he would start again because of the way
McCown was playing. But when he got the
call to play he said he could not wait.
“I can’t recall being this excited about a
game prior to a game,” Stewart said. “I could
n’t wait till Saturday. I’m normally excited,
but not this excited.”
Perhaps Stewart never became Peyton Man
ning, the name he will forever be linked with.
However, he has created his own leg
endary status at A&M, not because he won,
but because he is a winner.
“I’m just proud to play for a university
where I can say I’m proud of our student
body and proud of our alumni, and not be
ashamed to say that.”
•Texas A&M’s 36-33 victory over Kansas State
University Saturday was the first time A&M had
beaten a No. 1-ranked team (KSU was ranked No.
1 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and No.
2 in The Associated Press poll). A&M’s previous
highest-ranked victim was then-No. 2 University of
Nebraska earlier this season.
•A&M’s win gave the Aggies their first confer
ence crown since 1993 when they won the
Southwest Conference title.
•A&M rallied from 15 points down, 27-12, to tie
and eventually win the game. It ties the school
record for largest comeback victory, set last year
against Oklahoma State University (28-25 Aggie
victory at Kyle Field). Ironically, A&M scored a late
touchdown against the Cowboys and made a two-
point conversion on virtually the same play to Sirr
Parker that the Aggies used on KSU Saturday to
tie the game.
•With 113 yards rushing, junior running back
Dante Hall went over the 1,000-yard plateau for
the first time in his career.
He is A&M’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Leeland
McElroy rushed for 1,122 yards in 1995. For the
season, Hall has 1,090 yards.
JAKE SCHRICKLING/Thf. Battalion
Senior quarterback Branndon Stewart is helped off the field in the first
quarter after a knee injury. He returned and directed A&M to the win.
“This may be the most difficult thing to
happen in their young lives.”
— KSU coach Bill Snyder on the loss
to Texas A&M.
“We let the game against Texas slip
away, but we did not let it happen to us
again.”
— A&M senior linebacker Dat Nguyen.
“I think this year was a pretty good start
towards a dynasty.”
— A&M senior tight end Dan Campbell.