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Sports
Page 7 • Monday, October 18, 1999
“I feel good any time
we can win.”
—R.C. Slocum
on coming out of the game
with a win
‘From here on out, we
have dogfights for the
st of the season. It’s a
at challenge and we’re
looking forward to it.”
—Chris Valletta
on A&M’s remaining schedule
The receivers made me
good and once again
the offensive line gave
ne enough time to make
the plays.”
—Randy IVIcCown
(setting his career high in passing
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—Shane Lechler
on the roughing the kicker call
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just kicking us around I
guess.”
—R.C. Siocum
the team’s performance in the
first quarter
Notes
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The Battalion
Top 25 Poll
|| Team
Record
T! Florida State
(7-0)
I Penn State
(7-0)
1 Virginia Tech
(6-0)
4 Nebraska
(6-0)
I Florida
(6-1)
if>. Tennessee
(4-1)
'll Kansas State
(6-0)
jiGeorgia Tech
(5-1)
jpabama
(5-1)
.Michigan
(5-1)
[.Michigan State
(6-1)
!, Texas A&M
(5-1)
1. Mississippi State
(6-0)
.Marshall
(6-0)
.Purdue
(5-2)
1. Georgia
(5-1)
1. Texas
(5-2)
■.Wisconsin
(5-2)
1. East Carolina
(5-1)
i. Ohio State
(4-3)
. BYU
(4-1)
!. So. Mississippi
(4-2)
i. Minnesota
(5-1)
1. Notre Dame
(4-3)
5. Kentucky
(5-2)
Associated Press
Top 25 Poll
Team
Record
Florida State
(7-0)
Penn State
(7-0)
1. Nebraska
(6-0)
1. Virginia Tech
(6-0)
j. Tennessee
(4-1)
1. Florida
(6-1)
lKansas State
(6-0)
i, Georgia Tech
(5-1)
Michigan
(5-1)
J. Alabama
(5-1)
11. Michigan State
(6-1)
12. Mississippi State
(6-0)
p. Texas A&M
(5-1)
|4. Georgia
(5-1)
5. Marshall
(6-0)
6. Purdue
(5-2)
7. Wisconsin
(5-2)
8. Texas
(5-2)
9. BYU
(5-1)
0. East Carolina
(5-1)
1. So. Mississippi
(4-2)
2. Ohio State
(4-3)
3. Miami Fla
(2-3)
4. Minnesota
(5-1)
5. Mississippi
(5-2)
Big 12 Standings
North
W L
PF PA
(ansas St. 6 0
240 61
lebraska 6 0
234 58
iolorado 3 3
208 194
owa St. 4 2
140 122
Missouri 3 3
176 189
(ansas 2 5
167 247
South
Texas A&M 5 1
220 87
fexas 5 2
262 137
fexas Tech 3 3
138 139
3klahoma 3 2
190 103
Okla.St. 3 2
136 104
Baylor 1 5
99 215
Pass Happy
GUY ROGERS/Tiii; Battalion
A&M sophomore wide receiver Bethel Johnson eludes University of Kansas defenders in Saturday’s 34-17 win over the Jayhawks at Kyle Field. Johnson finished with 62 yards receiving.
Aggie 5 turn to aerial attack to down Jayhawks, 34-17
BY REECE FLOOD
The Battalion
In what was supposed to be a chance to
establish a strong running game, the Texas
A&M Football Team turned to the air in its
34-17 victory over the University of Kansas
Saturday at Kyle Field.
On A&M’s first offensive play of the game,
senior quarterback Randy McCown faked a
handoff to senior running back Eric Bernard
and launched a 44-yard pass to senior re
ceiver Chris Cole, moving the Aggies to the
Kansas 36-yard line.
McCown had three passes longer than 40
yards, including a touchdown pass to junior
receiver Chris Taylor for 78 yards.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum said he was
pleased with his quarterback’s ability to
throw the ball deep.
“One of the things that I am pleased with
is that I think we are getting better in being
able to make some of those plays,” he said.
“I’m pleased that we are making some
progress in showing that we have some bal
ance, which has been an objective of ours.”
McCown completed 21-of-30 passes for
362 yards — the third-highest individual
passing-yardage total in A&M history. He
also had the second-most yards of total of
fense in school history with 380 yards.
McCown said he owes his success to his
fellow teammates.
“It’s a blessing that the [offensive line] did
a great job and to have receivers like I do,”
he said. “They did a great job of making me
look good.”
McCown finished the game with two
touchdown passes, one interception and a
15-yard rushing touchdown.
Despite the impressive numbers from Mc
Cown, A&M struggled early in the game.
The Aggies’ first scoring opportunity was
thwarted when a 34-yard field goal attempt
was blocked by Kansas’ Justin Sands.
Kansas monopolized the football in the
first quarter by limiting the Aggies to only
eight offensive snaps.
The Jayhawks held two long drives and
had possession of the ball for nearly 12 of
the first 15 minutes but were unable to get
any points on the board, and the first quar
ter ended with both teams scoreless.
Less than a minute into the second quar
ter, Joe Garcia kicked a 36-yard field goal for
the Jayhawks, giving them a 3-0 lead.
On A&M’s next drive, McCown fumbled
on an option play, and Kansas’ Nate Dwyer
recovered the ball at the A&M 46-yard line.
Seven plays later, Moran Norris rushed for a
one-yard touchdown run to increased the
Kansas lead to ten points.
Although the Aggies were were behind
10-0, junior offensive lineman Chris Valletta
said the team was not overly concerned.
“We learned a lesson in Texas Tech to stay
calm,” he said. “We knew the things that
were going wrong and we knew exactly how
to make up for it, so we didn’t panic.”
A&M cut the lead to 10-3 on a 40-yard
field goal by junior kicker Terence Kitchens
with 5:04 on the clock.
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
Junior wide receiver Chris Taylor heads for the end zone on his 78-yard touchdown recep
tion in the third quarter of Saturday’s game.
The Aggies managed to hold the Kansas of
fense and got the ball back, but with less than
two minutes left in the half, A&M was backed
up on its own 17 and ready to punt.
Senior punter Shane Lechler sent off a 17-
yard punt, but a Kansas defender was
see Aggies on Page 8.
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion
A&M senior quarterback Randy IVIcCown celebrates after
scoring a touchdown late in the first half on Saturday.
Ags need to regroup for future opponents
O ne mind, one
heartbeat. Ac
cording to ju
nior offensive line
man Chris Valletta, it
is the motto of the
Texas A&M Football
Team. Lately, howev
er, the mind and the
heartbeat haven’t
looked like they’re on the same page.
Despite posting their second
straight win since losing to Texas Tech,
a 34-17 win over the Kansas Jayhawks
Saturday, the Aggies looked sluggish
for the second straight week.
A sluggish performance might get
the job done against teams like Baylor
and Kansas, but the Aggies are moving
to the point in their schedule where a
sluggish performance could spell
doom for them. Three of their next five
games are on the road and the oppo
nents are winning nearly 70 percent of
the games they play.
While Kansas was supposed to be a
game in which the Aggies worked out
their kinks before this stretch of
games, it just posed more questions.
Despite the 522 yards of total of
fense, the running attack still remains
suspect.
The Aggies had 160 yards rushing
on 38 carries Saturday, an average of
4.2 per carry. For the season, A&M is
averaging 168 yards a game, with an
un-Aggie like 3.9 yards per carry.
Sophomore running back Ja’Mar
Toombs said he is not pleased with
how the running game is performing
at this stage in the season.
“I’m not satisfied at all,” Toombs
said. “I know how hard our line works
and how hard our running backs
work. They (offensive line) did a great
job, so I would put most of the blame
on us as a running back crew. If we
can only run for 100 yards with the
blocking we have, there’s something
wrong with us.”
Another area that raised a flag in
Saturday’s game was the way the
Wrecking Crew came out flat against
the Jayhawks.
Although it regrouped to only give
up 249 yards of total offense, the Crew
was dominated in the first quarter by
the Kansas offense.
Kansas held the ball for nearly 12
minutes of the first quarter and
moved the ball almost at will. If not
for a missed field goal, the Aggies
would have been down going into the
second quarter.
A start like that in the next five
games for the Aggies would mean a
hole they more than likely could, not
dig out of.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum said the de
fense must step up and work on its fun
damentals to improve.
“There are little things here and
there, plays on defense that I wish we
had made,” Slocum said. “Little things
I see from a defensive standpoint. Cov
erage, pass rush, just a bunch of things
that you have in every ball game. I do
think we’re about to get into a part of
our schedule that will be more chal
lenging, so I think we’ll have to step it
up as a team.”
For the Aggies to be successful over
see Regroup on Page 8.