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■ 3A ■ THE BATTALION
Friday, August 31, 2001
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hope to set season tone against McNeese
&M welcomes Cowboys for opener
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
^hen Texas A&M football
focus er 'P 6 ^ 8 it8 se ' ds °n against
■said the
, " dcNeese State on Saturday, it
vill be a night of firsts,
several lei,® will be the f irst time the
le * actors [t. wo teams have locked horns,
~le not to lie first time A&M head coach
l.C. Slocum has competed
*-10 percent against his alma mater and,
to attend rnore importantly to Aggie fans,
attended t hepirst time A&M will take the
ig, and onh ' ,e T without the offensive fire-
<d to a sune■■ er Ja’Mar Toombs and
.. Robert Ferguson.
oritiesrm®^ 180 missin S tVon1 the A 88 ies
linebackers Cornelius
Hhony. Roylin Bradley and
aid whenQi enn a || 0 f whom have
onducted mo [, ec j on t o NFL rosters,
ients in the . wphe Aggies, coming off Fast
tin reasonr.gBson’s 7-5 disappointment,
>t attend^have something to prove when
of a lack of My take the field, even if it is
against a Division l-AA school,
survey also ■ ‘AVe finished on a down note
-jty of stude;h sl year,” Slocum said. “This is
attend A4.r UI ^ irst c * ian ee to play another
■mic scQKtff Same, so it is important for
. as to come out, regardless of
° Lt l: who we are playing, and have a
i moM i: | ot o ^- i ntens j ( y anc j se t the tone
found inf.ftJ the rest of the season.”
that am;*McNeese probably will pro-
ents who vide a decent test for the Aggies,
nd chose(e.IWe Cowboys finished the 2000
school,tksseason with an 8-4 record, good
ler academ enough to secure a top-20 rank-
those all; ing in the l-AA polls. McNeese
■e said, figures to have another strong
he results this season, beginning the
c until the at No. 9 in two l-AA pre-
:a rly OctoK Season P olls -
II in the pi •
l out
esu/ts,”Ml
: have puli
, we’ll pL
utive com®
the next s
The fact that McNeese is a
Division l-AA school is some
thing the Aggies cannot overlook.
“A lot of people don’t realize
that a bunch of l -AA teams have
more talent than some of the
smaller I-A teams,” said A&M
quarterback Mark Farris. “They
have a lot of good players and if
we come out and aren’t focused,
they can beat us.”
Farris, back for his second
season at the helm of the Aggie
offense, is the school’s first
It is important
for us to come out,
regardless of who
we are playing, and
have a lot of
intensity and set
the tone for the rest
of the season..
— R.C. Slocum
A&M head coach
returning 2,500-yard passer in
school history.
Farris’ counter, McNeese
quarterback Slade Nagle, will
start for the Cowboys. Nagle led
the Southland Conference in
total passing yards in 2000 and
ranks fifth all-time on the
McNeese career passing list.
Nagle’s favorite target, wide
receiver Jermaine Martin, aver
ages 17.0 yards per reception
during his three year career.
This year will mark the sec
ond year the Cowboys have
opened their season against a
major Division 1-A school. Last
season, McNeese started against
the University of Miami, a team
that finished the year ranked No.
2 in the nation. The Cowboys
put up a stronger performance
than many people expected,
falling 61-14. However,
McNeese did pile up more than
440 yards of offense.
The Cowboys used the open
er to set the tone for the rest of
their season, capturing wins in
seven of their next eight games.
A&M would like to follow
the example of McNeese and
use the opener as a springboard
for the rest of the season.
“They have guys who can
make plays,” said junior Brian
Gamble, the only returning
starting linebacker the Aggies
have this season. “The point of
this game is for us to go out and
set a tempo for the season. It
doesn’t matter if we are playing
McNeese or Notre Dame or
Oklahoma. We are going to go
out and play against McNeese
the same way we would play
against anyone.”
This weekend will be dou
bly important to the Aggies,
who will play again Thursday
night against Wyoming.
“The key is going to be get
ting out of this game with a
‘W,’ ” Farris said. “At the
same time, we can’t get any
one hurt because we basically
r
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American
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M quarterback Mark Farris and the Aggies will open the 2001 season Saturday night at 6 p.m. against
McNeese State. A&M is looking to rebound after dropping three straight games to close out last season.
just have three days to rest in
between games.”
With most experts predicting
A&M to finish third in the Big
12 South, the Aggies are
chomping at the bit to begin the
2001 season.
“We want to go out and
show our stuff,” said senior
A&M free safety Jay Brooks.
“People are already counting
us out and we are ready to go
out there and prove that Texas
A&M is something to be reck
oned with.”
If YOU are Parked in a Parking Area Designated
I for the 12th Man on HOME Football Game Days,
PLEASE Move Your Vehicle BEFORE 6:30 p.m. the
lEvening BEFORE the Game. For More Information,
Call 862-PARK or Visit Our Web Site at
www.ptts.tamu.edu.
RED AND BLUE HANG TAGS WILL BE ENFORCED
^MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 3!...
PARKING
FOR
FOOTBALL
GAMES!
$10 ALL DAY PARKING!
College Main Parking Oarage
309 College Main
or
Promenade Parking Lot
on Church Street
Fee for either location in Northgate
0:00 ci.m - 2:00 a.m.
Walk to tli«2d
For more information call 704^3505,