The Battalion
t behind ti
could get
strange
what it
talking to
fThe snap was perfect. I
jss I took my eyes off of
t. I’ll probably be sore to
ld indeed::
■feningio'l
i T! tt> rrow frorn that one hit.”
?s of saviiB
—Shane Lechler
on his 22-yard run after a muffed
punt in the 1st quarter
izableear.*
nsomed j“| was just trying to hit
aipei >' the ball real solid, and it
ittmatedJj came off my foot really
well ”
reople, irM wtJM -
in (he rut®
—Terence Kitchens
on his 62-yard field goal, longest
'torcvdebM ln ^b 00 ’ histor y without a tee
home at B
n in the || “If they ever get an
offense as good as their
andm defense, they’ll be a real,
real good team.”
I ■ —Dante Hall
raSH» n Southern Mississippi's team
an
irplanei
ashed h
dauna h
no suni
s totally!
>lane wo
;s atahiy
)oug I
iheHawa:
■eadw/ttel
“We’re never satisfied
I with just good defense;
we want a great defense.
We want that tradition to
go on for a long time.”
—Jason Glenn
on the performance of the
Wrecking Crew
The Battalion
Top 25 Poll
tom®?
otLfyfe
DtifiedKf
-t at /i
lane wai
id ninep
luce Butts ti
J\ilDefense ‘ Team
iti&tdon 1. Florida State
2. Penn State
3. Florida
4. Texas 4&M
5. Nebraska
6|M/chigan
■Tennessee
SlGeorgia Tech
B/irginia Tech
, a spoB. Purdue
Depart* 11 Ohio State
id. I. Georgia
taken c:: 13 Kansas State
p.m. s-'i4 Marshall
dand’skfs Michigan State
oa volcanis. Texas
:k to tip. Miami
dr’sdte'ig. Alabama
Arkansas
-I0. East Carolina
■ A- Oklahoma
| priSf Mississippi State
. . 23. Syracuse
flOt 24. Virginia
ates balls. Maryland
jst seve^i
ad and si
Record
(4-0)
(5-0)
(4-0)
(3-0)
(4-0)
(4-0)
(2-1)
(2-1)
(3-0)
(4-0)
(3-1)
(3-0)
(3-0)
(4-0)
(4-0)
(4-1)
(2-2)
(3-1)
(3-1)
(4-0)
(3-0)
(3-0)
(3-1)
(3-1)
(3-0)
inginH
Associated Press
Top 25 Poll
ter beirfifTearn Record
cape bDiij Florida State (4-0)
2] Penn State (5-0)
•ricaded 3 Florida (4-0)
ch, fited 4 Michigan (4_0)
, the rriii 1 ]^ Texas A&M (3-0)
6 Nebraska (4-0)
3 counm 7] Tennessee (2-1)
i forVirginia Tech (3-0)
9. Georgia Tech (2-1)
;fore stcpo. Georgia . (3-0)
11. Purdue (4-0)
§2. Ohio State (3-1)
IS. Kansas State (3-0)
14. Michigan State (4-0)
|5. Texas (4-1)
' jp. Miss State (4-0)
'flu. Marshall (4-0)
18. Miami (2-2)
|L9. East Carolina (4-0)
t>0. Arkansas (2-1)
•I21. Alabama (3-1)
|>2. Syracuse (3-1)
;E3. Oklahoma (3-0)
,.24. Virginia (3-1)
^5. Oregon (3-1)
,1
Big 12 Standings
ebraska
ansas St.
^I'Colorado
lowa st -
V* Missouri
iKansas
North
W
4
3
2
3
2
1
L PF PA
0 147 30
0 115 35
2 152 124
1 102 52
1 89 102
3 114 154
3 ok. (Oklahoma
|Texas
Texas A&M
• ti01 ' Oklahoma St.
k Texas Tech
iBaylor
South
3
4
3
2
1
0
0 132 31
1 207 74
0 122 36
1 81
2 65
45
69
63 160
Sports
Clipped
Page 7 • Monday, September 27, 1999
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
Senior linebacker Sean Coryatt (left), senior cornerback Jason Webster (middle) and junior safety Michael Jameson converge on a University of Southern Mississippi receiver Saturday.
Defense provides offense in 23-6 win over Southern Miss
BY AL LAZARUS
The Battalion
In the days leading up to its game
against the University of Southern
Mississippi, it seemed the only thing
the Texas A&M Football Team heard
about was USM’s performance
against the University of Nebraska
on Sept. 18, when the Golden Ea
gles held the Cornhuskers to 185
yards and no offensive touchdowns
in a 20-13 USM loss.
In fact, A&M heard so much
about the Golden Eagles’ defensive
prowess, it decided to remind
everyone of the one thing that
seemed to get lost in the shuffle:
The Aggies have a pretty good de
fense of their own.
The Wrecking Crew’s hands-on
refresher course included six sacks,
four interceptions and two defen
sive touchdowns as the Aggies
rolled to a 23-7 victory Saturday af
ternoon in front of a raucous Kyle
Field crowd of 65,264.
A&M (3-0) held the Golden Eagles
(2-2) to 18 rushing yards and 129 to
tal yards of offense, while posting a
respectable 299-yard total against a
USM defense dubbed by many as on
par with the Big 12’s best.
“We’re never satisfied with just
good defense,” A&M junior line
backer Jason Glenn said. “We want
a great defense. We want that tra
dition to go on for a long time.”
That “tradition” came in handy
for the Aggies as, for the second
week in a row, USM’s defense al
lowed no offensive touchdowns.
Also aiding the A&M cause was
junior place-kicker Terence
Kitchens, who responded to being
placed on scholarship just two
days earlier with first-half field
goals of 62, 28 and 20 yards. The
62-yarder was the second-longest
field goal in NCAA history without
the use of a tee.
“1 was just trying to hit the ball
real solid,” Kitchens said. “And it
came off of my foot really well.”
It became apparent early on in
Saturday’s contest the Golden Ea
gles’ run defense planned to carry
over its stinginess from USM’s
game against Nebraska. Although
the Aggies would eventually get a
field goal out of their first drive,
halfback Dante Hall and fullbacks
D’Andre “Tiki” Hardeman and Ja’-
Mar Toombs were limited to 16
yards on 10 attempts.
Forced to air the ball out, A&M
again found limited success. Senior
quarterback Randy McCown fin
ished the first half 10-for-l7-pass
ing for 116 yards, but with their
running game stalled, it was clear
the Aggies would need to do better
than that.
So the stage was set for the
Wrecking Crew to help A&M’s of
fense by giving it good field posi
tion and maybe even putting
some points on the board. Con
sider the mission accomplished.
Halfway through the third quar
ter, with the Aggies clinging to a 9-
0 lead, sophomore cornerback Jay
Brooks intercepted a USM pass and
returned it 41 yards down the side
line — hurdling a defender along
the way — for a touchdown.
The Golden Eagles responded,
though, and Todd Pinkston’s 54-
yard touchdown reception cut
A&M’s lead to 16-6 with almost an
entire quarter of play remaining.
Again the Aggies needed a sav
ior, and it would be a former high
school teammate of Brooks, junior
safety Michael Jameson, who pro
vided the heroics.
Jameson stepped in front of a
USM pass and returned it 26 yards,
giving the Aggies their second de
fensive touchdown of the half and
staking A&M to a 23-6 lead with
8:32 remaining in the game.
“Something we’ve emphasized
and talked about is trying to create
some turnovers,” A&M coach R.C.
Slocum said. “We said going into
the season that we wanted to be
more reckless and create more
short-field opportunities for the of
fense, and I’m pleased that it is
working out for us.”
Hall, who finished with 23
yards on 16 carries, said the
A&M offense was pleased to ben
efit from the Wrecking Crew’s
exploits.
“They put us in great field posi-
BRADLEY ATCHISON/The Battalion
Sophomore fullback Ja’Mar Toombs carries the ball into the heart of
the USM defense. Toombs rushed for 94 yards Saturday.
tion a lot of times today, and they fense and offense for us, and today
scored two touchdowns,” he said, we really needed that, because on
“So they were almost playing de- offense, we had trouble.”
BRADLEY ATCHISON/The Battalion
Junior linebacker Roylin Bradley hits Southern Miss quarterback Cable
Davis as he releases the ball during the fourth quarter.
Wrecking Crew returns to days of old
M emo to the Big 12: The
Wrecking Crew is back. As
funny as it seems, one of
the big question marks going into
the season for the Texas A&M Foot
ball Team concerned the defense.
The mighty Wrecking Crew was
supposed to be in a state of transi
tion this year. And who would
question such a statement? With
the loss of Rich Coady, Warrick Holdman and
Lombardi Award winner Dat Nguyen, players who
had never had a starring role on the team were go
ing to have to step up and fill in as team leaders.
But after the defense’s performance Saturday
against Southern Miss, there should be no doubt
the Wrecking Crew is back, if not better than ever.
The jury was out on the Crew going into Satur
day’s game as it had yet to be really tested. After
playing a game against a gimmicky offense
(Louisiana Tech) and an overmatched opponent
(Tulsa), there was no way to judge what type of
defense the Aggies had.
Saturday was supposed to be an acid test fur A&M’s
defense, as Southern Miss brought a conventional of
fense to College Station, the type of offense the Aggies
will see from most of their Big 12 opponents.
The Aggies passed the test with flying colors.
They allowed the Golden Eagles just 129 yards
of total offense and only 18 on the ground. Take
away the 54-yard touchdown pass from Cable
Davis to Todd Pinkston and Southern Miss only
averaged around 1.5 yards per play.
But the impressive stats do not tell the whole
story, though. The biggest thing on Saturday was
the way the defense performed. The all-out blitzes,
the stifling run defense and the tremendous sec
ondary play brought back memories of the old
Wrecking Crew.
Memories of players like John Roper, Aaron
Wallace and Marcus Buckley, all non-stop ha
rasses of the quarterback. Players like Kevin
Smith, Aaron Glenn and Ray Mickens patrolling
the secondary and making life miserable for wide
receivers.
Now the players invoking those memories are
Jason Glenn, Roylin Bradley, Brian Gamble, Jason
Webster and Sedrick Curry, among others.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum, a man who knows a
thing or two about the Wrecking Crew, said the de
fense’s performance brought back fond memories.
“1 thought that was vintage Wrecking Crew out
there today,” Slocum said. “It’s really enjoyable to
watch them. I was really pleased that our defen
sive staff did a great job with the game plan and
our guys flew around. It was a great team effort on
defense.)’
One of the biggest changes for this year’s ver
sion of the Wrecking Crew is its increased pressure
on the quarterback.
Last year in 13 games, the defense recorded
only 29 sacks. With six sacks Saturday, the Crew
has 12 sacks on the year, a number which would
work out to 44 over a full season.
see Crew on Page 8.
DOUG
SHILLING