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Friday, September 8,2000
Friday, September 8, 2000
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Aggie running game
ready for Cowboys
By Jason Lincoln
The Battalion
The Texas A&M offensive backfield is loaded. This Sat
urday will give the Aggies a chance to prove that against
the Wyoming Cowboys, whose Achilles' heel appears to be
running.
The Aggie backfield trio — consisting of redshirt-fresh-
man tailback Richard Whitaker, sophomore tailback Joe
Weber and junior fullback Ja’Mar Toombs — is poised to
jiiow the Cowboys what a ground game really is.
Last week in Wyoming’s season opener against Auburn,
the Cowboys allowed 177 yards rushing, in addition to 266
in the air.
But the 177 ground yards could be big for the Aggies,
who have struggled to break open its ground game.
Last week against Notre Dame, the Aggies came away
with 119 yards on the ground. The Irish limited both
Toombs and Weber to a less-than-three yards-per-carry av
erage, a significant drop-off from their norms last season.
In the meantime, Whitaker made up the difference, run
ning for 71 yards on only 13 carries.
The Wyoming defense should allow any one of the Ag
gies’ backs to break out at will. Each member of the trio will
create a different challenge for the Cowboys.
Richard Whitaker
Against the Irish, Whitaker made a successful bid to be
A&M’s top threat in the backfield. In his first performance
on college turf, he succeeded where Toombs and Weber
struggled. His 71 yards against a solid Notre Dame defense
showed his speed and vision. Now, Whitaker gets to per
form at Kyle Field without the first-game stigma.
Joe Weber
In the late part of 1999, Weber came up big, adding an
other threat to the ground game. Saturday, his carries were
limited when A&M began to fall behind later in the game.
A&M went to the air in an effort to close the gap. This week
should be a different story. If A&M stays ahead. Weber will
See Running Backs on Page 3B.
Always
gxeAnd
’t Even
ow it.
, almost like family to
t '66, and his wife, Linda, f
s told me I would gradu-
eday and have an Aggie r bradley atchison/thk battalion
My usual response w* If Texas A&M freshman tailback Richard Whitaker looks
I to continue to lead the A&M running backs as A&M
1 looks to Saturday's showdown with Wyoming.
amily moved to Michigan,
Texas A&M ready to debut in Kyle
A&M looks for offensive success against the Wyoming Cowboys Saturday
BRADLEY ATCHISON/Thi Battalion
Texas A&M sophomore right tackle Michael Mahan looks to clear the way for the Aggie ground game
and give quarterback Mark Farris the time he needs to air the ball against Wyoming on Saturday.
By Blaine Dionne
The Battalion
The Texas A&M football team opens up its four-
game home stand at Kyle Field this Saturday at 6 p.m.
against Wyoming.
This is the first time the schools have met and the
first time A&M has played a member of the Mountain
West Conference since the 1996 Pigskin Classic
against Brigham Young University.
The Aggies, coming off last week's loss to Notre
Dame, are trying to avoid a letdown against a less es
tablished team like Wyoming. A&M coach R.C.
Slocum said he is doing everything in his power to
keep A&M from underestimating the Cowboys, who
gave Auburn a run for their money on national televi
sion on Aug. 31.
“As a coach, 1 know dang good and well that
Wyoming is capable of coming in here and hitting two
or three big plays, and all of a sudden you’re in a dog
fight, with them having a chance to win it,” Slocum
said. “You’ve got to convince your players that can
happen. That’s one of your hardest coaching jobs.”
One of Slocum’s concerns is the Cowboys’ passing-
oriented offense. The Aggies are bringing along a rook
ie defensive backfield and will be without the services
of senior safety Michael Jameson this week, due to his
high-ankle sprain.
Making matters worse for A&M are the mistakes
the defensive backs made last week against the run-
happy Notre Dame offense — the Aggies gave up two
passing touchdowns to the Irish.
“This is about as big a challenge as we can face in
terms of what our concerns are,” Slocum said. “We’ve
got a team (Wyoming) that is good at throwing the
football, and they’re gonna throw it a bunch of times.
They will run a few options in there, just to keep you
honest. But most of their attack is aerial, and they can
be very effective.”
Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz said the
Aggies will be focusing on Wyoming’s quarterback,
Jay Stoner.
“Notre Dame played to their strengths,” Hankwitz
said. “They had a speedy, mobile quarterback that cre
ated opportunities for them. Wyoming will play to
theirs — they have a veteran throwing quarterback, and
they try to spread you out to keep you off balance.”
As far as the A&M offense goes, fans can expect
to see more formation experimentation than in the
Notre Dame game.
Offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe said the
Cowboy defense is not a weak link. He said it is a phys
ical team that can create problems for anyone, as it did
at Auburn last week.
“Wyoming’s a fine football team,” Kragthorpe
said. “We’ve got to play well, I don’t think there’s any
question about that. They’ve got a couple of guys on
their defense that could play anyplace in the country
right now.”
Kragthorpe also said the Aggies have been working
on their red-zone execution all week to avoid settling
for field goals inside the 20-yard line, as they did last
week in South Bend.
A&M volleyball travels
to Longhorn Classic
By Jason Lincoln
The Battalion
The No. 18 Texas A&M volleyball
team will travel to Austin this weekend to
participate in a demonstration of the Big
12 South’s ability against a pair of Wash
ington opponents.
The Aggies will represent the Big 12
South along with the Texas Longhorns as
each team faces off against Washington
and Eastern Washington in the two-day
event.
However, A&M and Texas will have
to be content to watch their rivals. The
two will'not meet on the court until the
middle of October.
A&M is currently 2-2 on the season
with its only losses coming from No. 1
UCLA and No. 5 Hawaii last weekend in
the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic in
Honolulu.
The Aggies’ two wins have been con
vincing shows of power in defeats of Iowa
and Houston in straight sets.
The Aggies are led offensively by their
top two middle blockers, senior Heather
Marshall and redshirt freshman Tara Pu
laski, who are both hitting above .300.
Marshall most recently led A&M’s
defeat of the Cougars in their home open
er Wednesday night with 12 kills and no
errors.
A&M’s three junior outside hitters,
Brandi Mount, Michelle Cole and Erin
Gibson, round out A&M’s scoring threat
with hitting percentages of .294, .241 and
.220, respectively.
See Volleyball on Page 10.
PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion
Texas A&M senior Heather Mar
shall leads the Aggies to Austin.
Texas A&M/Wyoming
SUN. 6 P.M
TV: FOX SPORTS NIT (NATIONAL)
Players to Watch:
Previous game statistics
Robert Ferguson - WR
fTr
l H
L,/.
; t # TWPg? 1
-5 Catches
-79 Yards
-Drew 2 pass
interference
calls against
Notre Dame
Jay Stoner - QB
1
-19 for 35
-158 yards
-Threw to 8
different
receivers
against Auburn
j
BRANDON HENDERSON/Thf. Battalion
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ER STUDENTS
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