ie Battalion
Sports
Page 9 • Tuesday, January 19, 1999
[
First-class exit
I his last
â– ame in
t Texas
.V&h! uni-
orn i, se-
lior tight
i nd Derrick
ipijler pulled in 5 passes
o»3 yards in the
^Kia Sugar Bowl.
spuiER
Big season ends in ‘Big Easy’
>ay what?
“We never
thought about
ing out of it.
VfeVe come
., , back so often.
mce into the frr 7
door Togettowe always
think we can
do it again.”
— Branndon Stewart
A&M quarterback
KATHERINE STW
ng the two bu •::
“In the first
ICtantWter we just
didn’t play well.
rtlllt was just one of
, ,0 Austin -those things.”
oi children- | — Dat Nguyen
A&M linebacker
ial
day’s cereffic:
> a prayer sen -:
ring-in cerem:
ol s south stef
eechesfromBi
Sports Illustrated
All-Bowl Team
Ja’Mar
TOOMBS
HEIGHT: 6’1”
WEIGHT: 235 lbs.
YEAR: Freshman
POSITION: FB
HOMETOWN:
Kilgore, TX
1
TOOMBS
Rushed for 62 yards on 10
carries; Caught two passes
for 19 additional yards.
Dat
NGUYEN
HEIGHT: 6T”
WEIGHT: 213 lbs.
YEAR: Senior
POSITION: ILB
HOMETOWN:
Rockport, TX
Recorded 14 sacks, inclu
ding 10 solos; Made 51st
straight start of career.
LEFT: Aggie senior quarterback Branndon Stewart completed 22 of 39 passes in the
Nokia Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, setting A&M bowl records for both passes attempted and
passes completed.
ABOVE: A&M senior linebacker Dat Nguyen recorded 14 sacks against Ohio State Univer
sity in the Sugar Bowl, his 30th career double-digit sack game and sixth in a row.
BY JEFF SCHMIDT
The Battalion
NEW ORLEANS — Th? Big Easy was not too
easy on the Aggies.
But more importantly, it was not exactly easy
on the Ohio State University Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes defeated Texas A&M 24-14,
but the Aggies proved to themselves they can
play with any team.
“We’re not going to be intimidated by any
body,” senior tight end Dan Campbell said.
“We’re on Ohio State’s and Florida State’s lev
el. We can hang with people like that.
“That’s what we learned this year, and we
passed it along to the younger guys.”
OSU was playing with a large chip on its shoul
der, looking for a blowout victory over A&M and
a sluggish Florida State win in the Fiesta Bowl to
vault itself into the national title hunt.
Ohio State did not get the victory it wanted,
but for awhile it looked like they might. A nine-
minute span in the first quarter during which
the Buckeyes scored 21 unanswered points cost
the Aggies dearly.
But after that stretch, A&M relaxed and held
the Buckeyes to a single field goal.
“I felt coming out in the second half our team
settled down on both sides of the ball and
played much better,” coach R. C. Slocum said,
“but it took us too long to get going.”
Campbell said, “The best thing about tonight
was we never quit. We never quit all year. We
don’t have any quitters on this team. You can
only hang your head to a certain extent.”
The Wrecking Crew shut down the high-
powered Buckeye offense in the second half and
the A&M offense put together an 11-play, 68-
yard drive — helped by three Buckeye penalties
— ending in a touchdown by junior wide re
ceiver Leroy Hodge that closed out the scoring.
Despite the loss, junior running back Dante
Hall predicts big things for the Aggies.
“We should be right there in the mix [next
year],” he said. “We’ll come back next year
gunning for the national title. If we come back
with a higher goal in mind, I think we can ac
complish it.”
STflT line
â–  The Sugar Bowl marked the
30th time linebacker Dat
Nguyen recorded 10 or more
sacks in a game.
â–  In 15 career games against
Top 25 teams, Nguyen averaged
12.8 sacks per contest.
â–  The first-quarter punt block
by OSU’s Derrick Ross was the
first block of an A&M punt since
1993.
â–  Aggie QB Branndon Stewart
completed 22 of 39 passes, both
A&M bowl records.
â–  The second-half shutout of
OSU was their first of the year.
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