The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 13, 1999, Image 11

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    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.
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