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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1999)
uc ty of nine 'eland and archers foum). lalf of the peoJ ,he organs oh ! d to do so. lie Battalion 11 soonumbei <We ’ re not losers; we’re °f deathsp || champions around here, these hospital; | We don’t just give up.” 740we!ej medical!, suitable:: | be orgr donofs — Randy McCown on A&M bouncing back from a 51-6 loss to OU Oct. 23 “I 589 families were aske: | to donate 272 Offer agreed:: donate think today was a posi- ive note. We can look at this game and really see hat we can really do this if we put our minds to it.” — Ja’Mar Toombs on A&M’s 21-3 win over OSU Saturday otl. Case Wear “It’s fitting that the 100th m. which! J win was an enjoyable, aphy. propriate time to have a win. Still, to me, the . significance is that overall r(l GK ' n t* 1 ' 5 d ecade > we have I won a bunch of games.” lias never bw n County And in the proseq — R.C. Slocum on his 100th coaching win at A&M ized the gay-p : ic evidence tc “Just like Coach said, we’re not used to what i to ruletoda L, . . . . be allowed: happened to us last week. 7, It kind of shocked us as a team, as a whole.” ird out of a La::'; rea near f red him to an: into a coma. 1 — Matt Bumgardner on A&M’s 51-6 loss to OU Oct. 23 ntences after pieij ng- isecutorsofterecj night Shepards The Battalion Top 25 Poll sten Price, test raid’s beats 1 1 r Team Record if Florida St. (9-0) 2| Penn St. (9-0) Bf Virginia Tech (7-0) 4, Florida (7-1) 5f Tennessee (6-1) ^ Kansas St. (8-0) 7. Georgia Tech (6-1) 3[ Mississippi St. (7-0) Marshall (8-0) 10. Nebraska (7-1) 11.Texas (7-2) 12. Wisconsin (7-2) L3. Alabama (6-2) L4. BYU (7-1) 15. Georgia (6-2) 16. Michigan (6-2) L7. East Carolina (7-1) L8. Purdue (6-3) 19. Michigan St. (6-2) >0. Ohio St. (6-3) !1. Miami Fla (4-3) !2. Texas A&M (6-2) !3. Arkansas (5-2) !4i Southern Miss. (5-3) !5 Boston College (6-2) lAssociated Press Top 25 Poll ;ement of ast year 5 ,lus tax in h, checks, (Team Record . Florida St. (9-0) . Penn St. (9-0) . Virginia Tech (7-0) .Tennessee (6-1) . Florida (7-1) . Kansas St. (8-0) . Georgia Tech (6-1) . Mississippi St. (7-0) .Nebraska (7-1) o| Wisconsin (7-2) 1. Texas (7-2) 2. Alabama (6-2) 3. Marshall (8-0) 4. Georgia (6-2) 5. BYU (7-1) 5. Michigan (6-2) 7. Purdue (6-3) 3. East Carolina (7-1) 9. Michigan St. (6-2) D. Ohio St. (6-3) L. Texas A&M (6-2) 2. Miami Fla (4-3) 3. Mississippi (6-2) 4. Notre Dame (5-3) 5. Southern Miss. (5-3) ig 12 Standings North arking W L PF ansas St. 8 0 332 sbraska 7 1 278 alorado 5 3 262 wa St. 4 4 193 issouri 4 4 210 ansas 3 6 205 South xas 7 2 330 xas A&M 6 2 247 xas Tech 4 4 180 dahoma 4 3 265 da St. 3 4 160 ay lor 1 7 113 PA 89 99 Sports Page 7 • Monday, November 1, 1999 A&M answers critics in 21 victory over Oklahoma State BY BLAINE DIONNE The Battalion After last Saturday’s debacle at the Uni versity of Oklahoma, the Texas A&M Foot ball Team was given no time off. The Aggies came back to College Station and had to practice Sunday evening, begin ning their search for answers to the many questions about them found smattered across newspapers Sunday morning. Evidently, those answers were found. The Aggies (6-2, 3-2 Big 12) returned to Kyle Field Saturday and handed the Okla homa State University Cowboys (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) their third defeat in their last four games, 21-3. The Aggie offense hit on all cylinders, with senior quarterback Randy McCown leading the way with one of the most effec tive throwing days of his career, completing 20-29 passes for 242 yards and two touch downs. Senior wide receiver Matt Bumgardner had a big day as well, hauling in seven catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns. The oft-injured Bumgardner said he was glad to be given an opportu nity to score, but was quick to point out he is not the only A&M receiver capable of making big plays. “It’s funny how it works out sometimes,” he said. “It almost seems like every week guys take turns having big games. I don’t think I’ve had a catch the last two games, but I guess it was my turn [today], and next week it’ll be somebody else.” 'To finally come together this year, and to play a game like we're capable of playing, it really means a lot to me: “Last week, we were embarrassed,” he said. “51 points — that’s not Wrecking Crew football. We feel like we need to keep up the tradition of those old Wrecking Crews, so we just came out and worked as hard as we could.” In addition to being important to this sea son, the win was an historic one for the Texas A&M Football Program and for A&M coach R.C. Slocum. It was the 600th victo ry in the history of Texas A&M football and the 100th for Slocum in his coaching career. Since 1960, only two coaches have reached the milestone faster, Barry Switzer of Oklahoma and Steve Spurrier of Florida. Slocum, however, said he was not as concerned with the milestone as he was with his team’s ability to rebound from last week’s loss. “1 was very proud of the team,” he said. “They came back, went to work and I think their effort showed today. 1 thought we had good intensity and was pleased with the ef fort of the team.” Apparently still stinging from the past m—m—mmm—m week’s questions about his team’s character, McCown reacted emotionally after the game. “This team is all heart,” he said. “To finally come to gether this year, and to play a game like we’re capable of playing, it really means a lot to me. “You may not see it from the outside, but from the in side, we pulled together like never before. 1 think now it’s just going to get better each week.” Junior offensive lineman — Randy McCown A&M quarterback The Aggies began their scoring with 8:17 left in the first half, as McCown hooked up with Bumgardner on an 11-yard pass to go up on the Cowboys, 7-0. The offense scored twice more, in the third quarter with a D’Andre “Tiki” Harde man one-yard run and another McCown- Bumgardner connection in the fourth — this one for 14 yards — to put OSU in hole it could not dig itself out of. The two second-half touchdowns turned out to be moot, as the Wrecking Crew was its dominating self again after a one-week hiatus, holding Oklahoma State scoreless until a 36-yard field goal in the fourth quar ter let the Cowboys avoid a shutout. After last week’s torching by the Soon- ers, the A&M defense had something to prove. Junior linebacker Roylin Bradley said he wanted to make sure his side of the ball lived up to the standards of past A&M de fenses. Chris Valletta agreed. “Personally, I think this is when you find out about your team — how you bounce back from a loss like that, like we had against Oklahoma,” Valletta said. “We knew in our hearts that today had to be a breakout game and 1 think we showed that.” As satisfying as their effort may have been to them, the Aggies don’t have much time to enjoy the win. In just five days, they will travel to the University of Nebraska to face the Cornhuskers in a rematch of the Aggies’ momentous upset last season. Sophomore running back Ja’Mar Toombs said he thinks the Aggies will be up for the challenge. “Next week, you can expect to see more intensity, more emotion and more enthusi asm,” he said. “Because we’re playing a big school at their home that we beat last year, so we know they’re excited for us, but we’ll be excited for them.” m JR BEATO/Thk Battalion Aggies pull together in victory A s the Texas A&M Football Team entered its game against Oklahoma State Saturday, it arrived as a team at a crossroads. Fresh off a 51-6 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma, the Aggies faced a tough Cowboy team with a trip to Lincoln staring them in the face. Not only were the Aggies having to bounce back from that loss, but numerous questions were hovering over the team. What was wrong with the DOUG SHILLING JR BEATO/Thl Battalion Oklahoma State quarterback BJ. Tiger loses his helmet after being sacked by junior defensive lineman Rocky Bernard and senior cornerback Jason Webster. Wrecking Crew? What was wrong with the offen sive line? Who would step up and lead the team? Faced with such questions and adversity, the Aggies took a bold step forward Saturday that should help them for the remainder of their season. Instead of blowing off the rest of the season and feeling sorry for themselves after the stun ning defeat, the team came out and did some thing it had not done all year — played with the intensity and emotion that made A&M Big 12 Champions last year. Sure, the Aggies got a rain-soaked 21-3 win over Oklahoma State and kept their slim Big 12 Championship hopes alive, but as the team looks back on this game, the final score will be of little consequence. The Aggies will remember at this one as the game where they finally came together and played as a team. The much-maligned offensive line answered its critics and had its best performance of the year. Re peatedly, the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and blew the defenders off the ball. The Aggies have gained more yards in a game this year but not with the attitude as they did Saturday. Junior offensive lineman Chris Valletta said Sat urday was an important opportunity for the offen sive line to prove itself. “We knew in our hearts that today had to be our breakout game, and I think we showed that,” he said. “We know we can run the ball. This offen sive line prides itself on that and that’s something you have to have as an offensive line.” The Wrecking Crew came out and showed that last week was the exception, not the rule. The Crew gave up only 260 yards of total offense and sacked Cowboy quarterback BJ. Tiger eight times. In its six times in A&M territory, OSU could muster only a fourth-quarter field goal. But of all the positive things coming out of Sat urday’s game, the best was the emergence of se nior quarterback Randy McCown as the team’s leader. His numbers were impressive — 20-of-29 pass ing for 242 yards and two touchdowns — but what was important was the leadership he gave the team. Playing with a slightly separated left shoulder, McCown shrugged off the pain and rallied the see Victory on Page 9.