le Battalion
“It’s not like we’re
picking on a bunch of
patsies.”
— R.C. Slocum
|n his team’s schedule after
Southern Mississippi’s and
jisiana Tech's performances
Saturday
“It was a whole lot
eredatiia|o re than I expected. I
6 or24‘kl was shocked when I
west long ! first walked out.”
oving
> expected
ist a day.
le week, (
3 to 145 ni|
the fount
— Joe Weber
on his first college game at
Kyle Field
the Atiar;..;|here’s no telling what
eason r § can c *°- We have
Novembf along way to go to see
where we are at.”
— Chris Taylor
on the team's offensive
, § performance Saturday
k on its «■; k
ally shut*
*1 thought our fans were
ere used g re at. The ‘Maroon Out’
■was very obvious with
edtosev all the maroon jerseys.”
systems n
•ts of Inter*
,,, : ■ — R.C. Slocum
?d dead, ini
ied toes*
ri.n
The Battalion
iH’opleSJ
Top 25 Poll
Team
Record
o.isaT-:4
'Florida State
(3-0)
phW'-i
Penn State
(4-0)
»erso 3. Florida
(3-0)
l. Texas A&M
(2-0)
the esTNebraska
area J - : , i Tf ' , nessee
(3-0)
(1-D
. Michigan
(3-0)
Georgia Tech
(2-1)
_J
Georgia
(2-0)
1
IMiami
(2-1)
pOhio State
(2-1)
N
Arkansas
(2-0)
l/irginia Tech
(2-0)
Purdue
Kansas State
(3-0)
(2-0)
Marshall
(3-0)
Wisconsin
(2-1)
UCLA
(2-1)
school in
Michigan State
(3-0)
IBYU
(2-0)
OOK Y01
Texas
(3-1)
Air Force
(2-0)
Mississippi State
(3-0)
N.C. State
(3-1)
2:00 p.U'
Alabama
(2-1)
10:00 a.®
12:00 no
4:30 p.»
ssociated Press
Top 25 Poll
e app’ tem
0 f theii florida State
fenn State
Florida
. Michigan
,r coin Texas A&M
ill rece* 1 jg^ras^a
;o don! ennessee
Virginia Tech
|Miami
Georgia Tech
3 Georgia
Ohio State
Purdue
4. Arkansas
5. Kansas State
6. USC
7. BYU
8. UCLA
9. Michigan State
0. Wisconsin
iur$f 1 Marshall
2. Texas
llprjs. Miss State
Air Force
■ N.C. State
Record
(3-0)
(4-0)
(3-0)
(3-0)
(2-0)
(3-0)
(1-D
(2-0)
(2-1)
(2-1)
(2-0)
(2-1)
(3-0)
(2-0)
(2-0)
(2-0)
(2-0)
(2-1)
(3-0)
(2-1)
(3-0)
(3-1)
(3-0)
(2-0)
(3-1)
iig 12 Standings
North
W
L
PF
PA
ilorado
2
1
128
93
la St.
3
0
74
17
ebraska
3
0
107
20
ansas St.
2
0
80
7
lissouri
2
0
79
62
insas
1
2
101
113
South
klahonna
2
0
90
10
Bxas A&M
2
0
99
30
has
3
1
145
74
ikla. St.
2
1
81
45
6xas Tech
1
2
65
69
feylor
0
3
63
98
S PORTS
In The Zone
Page 11 • Monday, September 20, 1999
GUY ROGERS/Tiik Battalion
Junior linebacker Jason Glenn sacks Tulsa University quarterback Jo Blankenship during Saturday night’s game. Glenn finished the game with team highs in tackles with seven and sacks with three.
Wrecking Crew sets up offense in 62-13 blowout of Tulsa
GUY ROGERS/Thk Battalion
Freshman running back Joe Weber tries to break a tackle during Saturday
night’s game against Tulsa University
BY DOUG SHILLING
The Battalion
The more things change, the
more they stay the same.
With the debut of The Zone and
an improved passing offense, it was
an old standby that set the tone for
the Texas A&M Football Team Sat
urday night.
The Wrecking Crew turned six
Tulsa University turnovers into a
short field for the offense as the Ags
shrugged off a slow start to cruise
to a 62-13 victory over the Golden
Hurricane.
Despite 606 yards of total of
fense, including a school-record
389 yards passing, the offense was
helped out by the field position the
defense provided them all night.
Of their 10 scoring drives, the
A&M offense had to go more than
50 yards on just two drives.
“I thought the defense did well
all night,” A&M football coach R.C.
Slocum said. “I was pleased we
were able to force turnovers and
the offense capitalized on those op
portunities.”
The defense capitalized from
the beginning of the game for the
Aggies.
After a three-and-out on their
first possession, the Aggies got the
ball right back when senior cor-
nerback Brandon Jennings inter
cepted Thlsa quarterback Michael
Wall and returned it to the Thlsa 20-
yard line.
After the ensuing Aggie drive
stalled at the 7-yard line, a 23-yard
field goal by junior place kicker Ter
ence Kitchens gave the Aggies the
lead, 3-0.
Tulsa returned the favor later in
the first as they took possession af
ter a Randy McCown interception
and drove 25 yards to the north end
zone for a 7-3 lead at the end of the
first quarter.
After the Tulsa drive into The
Zone, the Aggie offense turned it on
in the second quarter. With an aver
age starting field position on the Tul
sa 48-yard line, the Aggies ran off
four straight touchdowns to take the
lead 31-7 going into halftime. All four
of the touchdowns the Aggies scored
in the quarter were into The Zone.
Junior linebacker Jason Glenn,
who finished the game with seven
tackles and three sacks, said the
Aggies felt the team needed to
make up for letting Tulsa score in
The Zone.
“We felt really bad that we let
them score down there,” Glenn
said. “But then the offense went
and scored four straight times
there, so we made up for it.”
Coming out of halftime, the Ag
gies had their only defensive lapse.
On its first drive of the half, Tulsa
backup quarterback Jo Blanken
ship hit wide receiver Corey Brown
for a 73-yard pass to set up running
back Ken Bohanon for a 7-yard
touchdown run to make it a 31-13
game.
After senior cornerback Jason
Webster intercepted another Tulsa
pass at the'end of the third quarter,
McCown started off the fourth with
a bang.
McCown hooked up with junior
wide receiver Chris Taylor on a 96-
yard touchdown pass, the longest
in school history, to make the score
45-13.
The previous long was a 92-
yarder from Gary Kubiak to Don
Jones in 1981 versus Louisiana
Tech University.
The pass gave both Taylor and
McCown career games. One game
after setting a career best against
Louisiana Tech, McCown reestab
lished his career high with 320
yards on 13-of-30 passing. Taylor
finished with six catches for 177
yards, the fourth-best game total in
Aggie history.
With the game in hand after
Taylor’s long touchdown, Slocum
had the chance to get some of the
team’s younger players some play
ing time.
Freshman quarterbacks Vance
Smith and Mark Farris and running
back Joe Weber all saw their first
playing time in college. Weber fin
ished with a team-high 54 yards on
13 rushes, while Farris and Smith
quarterbacked the last three scor
ing drives for the Aggies.
Farris led the Aggies to a field
goal while Smith threw for a touch
down to sophomore wide receiver
Mickey Jones and handed off to
freshman walk-on fullback Stacy
Jones for the Aggies’ final score.
After putting out its highest
point total in two years, Slocum
said he was pleased with the
team’s effort.
“I was pleased with our overall
performance,” Slocum said. “I
thought we started off rough, but
then got into a good tempo. I was
pleased we were able to force
turnovers and the offense capital
ized on those opportunities.”
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
Junior safety Michael Jameson returns a third quarter inter
ception 24 yards to Tulsa University’s 18-yard line.
Tech, USM performances help Aggies
I t’s September, and we all know
what that means. As surely as the
leaves will fall from the trees (at
least in places that
get cold), the Texas
A&M Football Team
will parade through
a group of hapless
non-conference foes.
What’s the latest
damage, 62-13 over
Tulsa? And how
about two weeks
ago, 37-17 over Louisiana Tech? Pretty
impressive stuff.
It’s time for the Aggies to schedule a
formidable non-conference opponent,
someone who will actually put up a
fight. And the boys in maroon and
white need look no further than Lub
bock to find a team that follows this
scheduling philosophy.
Determined to challenge themselves
before conference play begins, the
Texas Tech Red Raiders decided to
bring in a team that inspires fear in Di
vision III teams across the country, a
team so fearsome, so brutal, the nick
name “Eagles” isn’t enough. That’s
right, this rugged squad of warriors
from the University of North Texas likes
to be referred to as the “Mean Green
Eagles.”
UNT traveled to Lubbock this week
end and for the second time in three
years, left with a victory, 21-14. Not
only did Tech decide to schedule this
non-conference cupcake, but it didn’t
even win the game.
So before you start complaining
about A&M’s non-conference schedule,
keep a couple of things in mind. First,
the Aggies’ non-conference schedule
this season is actually pretty respectable,
especially when compared to the sched
ules of other Big 12 teams.
And second, as we know from
Tech’s implosion in Lubbock, noth
ing is guaranteed. There’s something
to be said for winning big when
you’re supposed to, like the Aggies
did on Saturday.
Don’t think I’m here trying to con
vince you that Tulsa was a strong team,
because as the Golden Hurricane
demonstrated this weekend, it wasn’t.
But A&M’s other non-conference oppo
nents, Louisiana Tech and Southern
Mississippi, have proven themselves to
be capable teams this season.
All Louisiana Tech did on Saturday
was win on the road against No. 18 Al
abama, 29-28. In their season-opener,
the Bulldogs were five yards away from
leading No. 1 Florida State at the half
before eventually succumbing to the
Seminoles.
After opening its season with a
blowout win over Tulane, which went
undefeated last season. Southern Miss
went into Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday
and almost stole one from the fourth-
ranked Cornhuskers.
USM lost 20-13, but not before turn
ing heads around the nation, especially
those in College Station.
“Southern Miss is always good and I
think our team will have respect for
them,” A&M coach R.C. Slocum said.
“We played over there last week in a
game that was a hard-fought contest.
“Southern Miss played Nebraska
within seven points at Nebraska, so it’s
not like we’re picking on a bunch of
patsies.”
There are probably a lot of Texas
Tech fans who wanted to play someone
tougher and more well-known than
UNT. Now they would just be happy
with a victory.
AL Lazarus is a senior
journalism major.