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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1999)
Sports Page 11 • Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Ags prepare for Kansas BRADLEY ATCHISON /The Battalion I sophomore running back Ja’Mar Toombs heads for the end zone on his 26-yard touchdown reception in Irday’s 45-13 victory over Baylor University at Kyle Field. ig 12 makes claim as best defensive conference in nation The Texas A&M Football Team (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) will take on the Kansas Jayhawks (2-4, 0-2 Big 12) Saturday at Kyle Field. The game is set to begin at 11:50 a.m. and will be regionally tele vised as the Big 12 Game of the Week. Kansas Facts The Aggies are 3-1 against the Jayhawks in the teams’ all-time series. Last season, A&M trailed KU, 21-17, late in the game and marched 75 yards for a touch down to pull out the win, 24-21. Much like last season, the Ag gies have a big game awaiting them the week after they play Kansas. In 1998, it was a matchup against Nebraska. This season, A&M has to go on the road to face an upstart Okla homa team that has lost two in a row and will have two weeks to prepare for the Aggies. A&M coach R.C. Slocum said the Aggies are focused on only one team right now — Kansas. “You are never good enough where you can look at a game like this and say we’ll be okay this week, and then it’s going to get tough after that,” he said. “It would be very foolish for us to do that. Everybody’s All-American Preseason All-America punter Shane Lechler continued his tor rid pace Saturday against the Bears. His three punts against BU averaged 52.3 yards, giving him his ninth 50-plus yard punt ing game of his career. Lechler has punted 23 times this season for 1,107 yards — an average of 48.1 yards per punt — placing him second in the na tion. Equally impressive is Lech- ler’s net punt average of 43.4, which is No. 1 in the nation. Improved Offense Despite struggling against Southern Mississippi and Texas Tech, the Aggie offense boasts vastly improved numbers from last year’s squad. Through five games this season, the Aggies have amassed 2,118 yards on of fense, 721 more than last year’s five-game total of 1,397. 1998’s total worked out to 279.4 yards see Ags on Page 12. NOTEBOOK liter a full weekend of conference |es, five of the 12 teams in the Big 12 itakingthe weekend off. Nebraska, Tia State, Texas, Oklahoma and Okla- Ina State have byes this weekend. ■ee of the four games involving Big 12 earns will be televised, with the Kansas- fexasA&M game at 11:30 a.m. and the Cctato-Texas Tech game at 2:30 p.m. |ngregtona\Vy televised, while the Iowa State-Missouri game at 6:30 p.m. will be nationally televised. Defensive Conference At this stage of the season, the Big 12 Conference can lay claim to being the best defensive conference in the nation. Six of the top 11 defenses in the nation reside in the Big 12. Nebraska leads the way, giving up an average of 230.8 yards per game to rank third in the nation. Oklahoma State comes in fifth at an average 244.4 yards per game. The Ag gies are seventh, giving up 259.8 yards per game. Kansas State is eighth with an average of 265.2 yards game. Texas comes in 10th with an average of 273.3 yards and Iowa State is 11th with 277 yards per game. Only one other conference, the SEC, can boast two in the top 10 with top-rat ed Mississippi State and ninth-ranked Arkansas. Wild, Wild South As has been the case since the Big 12’s inception in 1996, the South Divi sion is once again wide open. After last weekend’s games, every team in the South has at least one conference loss. Oklahoma and Texas Tech both entered last weekend undefeated in conference play, but left the weekend with a loss. OU was defeated 38-28 by Texas, while Tech was manhandled at Oklahoma State, 41-21. Texas leads the South with two wins and a loss. There is a four-way tie for sec ond as A&M, OU, Oklahoma State and Tech have 1-1 records in the conference. Every year since the Big 12 began, the South representative in the Big 12 Championship game has been blem ished in conference play. Last year, A&M had the best conference record by a Big 12 South team with a mark of 7-1 in conference. Kings of the State After last Saturday, Texas A&M can now say they are the best team in the state of Texas. With the 45-13 win over Baylor, the Aggies notched their 90th win of the 1990s, the most by any Texas school in any decade. The previous record was 88 wins by the Darrell Royal and Fred Akers’ Longhorn teams of the 1970s. The previous record for wins by an Aggie team in a decade was 71 during the 1980s. The Aggies also boast a .778 winning percentage in the 90s, second all-time in a decade in school history. Odds and Ends Oklahoma’s 15-yard rushing perfor mance against Texas last weekend was the Sooners’ lowest single-game total since gaining three yards against Tulsa in 1937...Texas’ 553 yards of total offense was the most by any Longhorn team against Oklahoma in the 95-year history of the rivalry. The crowd of 75,476 at Kyle Field last Saturday was the largest ever to witness a Baylor-A&M game...Colorado is 99-0 all-time when scoring 43 or more points...Kansas State’s defense has not allowed a touchdown in the second half of a game this season. Doug Shilling is a junior agricultural journalism major. Why drive to Houston, Austin, or Dallas? It’s here! 701 University Drive, East , Across from the Hilton in the Chimney Hill Shopping Center Where the Party People Go For A Good Time!!!! 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