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JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Senior Jarrod Penrigtrt goes for the sack on DLL quarterback Jon Van Cleave
in the first quarter of the A&M season opener on Saturday at Kyle Field.
By Gary Livingston
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M football team (1-0)
will try to continue its defensive dominance
bn Saturday when it travels to Pittsburgh
to take on the University of Pittsburgh
Panthers (1-0) in a nationally televised
game beginning at 11 a.m.
The City of Steel, which once boasted
proud defensive players such as Lambert,
Ham and Green, will be the site for a
showdown between the strong defensive
unit of the Panthers and the Aggies’
Wrecking Crew.
The Aggies are coming off a victory
over Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL) in which
they forced 10 turnovers and held the
Cajuns to 7 points.
However, the Panthers will be hosting
A&M with a seven-game winning streak,
the nation’s second longest, next to top-
ranked Miami. They finished last year on a
6-game winning streak with wins over then
12th-ranked Virginia Tech at Heinz Field,
and a bowl victory over N.C. State.
The Panthers have carried their winning
ways over to this season as they beat Ohio
University last week 27-14. Cornerback
Shawntae Spencer earned Big East Co-
Defensive Player of the Week honors by
intercepting three Ohio passes. According
to the Panthers Web site, the Pittsburgh
defense, which had five interceptions, is the
Nation’s No. 1 pass efficiency defense. The
Panthers allowed only 79 passing yards in
the game.
The Aggies, who struggled on offense
for much of the game against ULL, will
look to take advantage of the Panthers’ run
defense on Saturday.
While their pass defense was impressive
last week, the Panthers allowed 204 on the
ground. Aggie runningbacks Derek Fanner
and Dwain Goynes will likely have an
Panthers
opportunity to come up big against Pitt, but
A&M head coach R.C. Slocum knows
their success will rest with the play of the
offensive line.
“We are still not where we want to be.
And we are not blocking like we need to
block,” head coach R.C. Slocum said at
Monday’s press conference.
A&M’s defense, whose 10 turnovers
last week shattered the former Big 12
record of seven turnovers in a game, will
try to take advantage of Panther’s quarter
back Rod Rutherford, who will be making
his second career start on Saturday. While
he did have two touchdown passes in the
Pitt victory last week, he also threw three
interceptions and finished with 97 yards.
“They’ve got seven starters coming back
on defense,” said Pitt head coach Walt
Harris. “They’re huge up front. They’re
See Panthers on page 2B
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Volleyball prepares for weekend in Wisconsin
By True Brown
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M volleyball team
faces its toughest competitors of the
young season this weekend at the
Wisconsin Inn Towner Classic. The
Aggies play three matches in two days
against the University of Montreal,
Illinois State and Wisconsin.
“We haven't really played any of
these teams lately, except for
Wisconsin, so we have a lot of
unknowns,” said A&M head coach
Laurie Corbelli. “1 think that's the
best for us because we really need to
focus on what we're doing.
“We have a lot of young players
that need to focus on their own game
with little information about the
other team.”
No. 16 Wisconsin may have
revenge on its mind. The Aggies
shocked the then-No. 6 Badgers in
December to reach the Elite Eight of
the NCAA tournament. However, the
Aggies are careful not to look past
Saturday's matches with Montreal
and Illinois State for Sunday’s
rematch with Wisconsin.
“We’re not going there specifical
ly to play Wisconsin,” said senior
middle blocker A.D. Achelifu, who
averages 15 kills-per-match. “We're
not going to overlook any other
teams, but we're going to go out and
put everything together that we’ve
learned from two-a-days and the
matches we’ve played.”
No. 17 A&M (4-0) is coming off
a three-game sweep of Southwest
Texas State University in San
Marcos on Tuesday. Corbelli said the
tournament will give the Aggies a
preview of the style of play they will
see when Big 12 play starts Sept. 18.
“From size to power, it will be
similar,” Corbelli said. “I know
Wisconsin is a top-20 team and will
be running plays and doing a lot of
back row attacking like we see in the
Big 12. It will be great prep for us.”
... we're going to go
out and put everything
together that we've
learned from two-a-
days and the matches
we've played.
— A.D. Achelifu
A&M Senior middle blocker
While the Aggies hold a .272-
.097 advantage in hitting percent
age in their four matches this sea
son, Corbelli said blocking has
been a problem for A&M thus far.
“We’ve looked pretty choppy at
times,” Corbelli said. “We’ve found
out that our blocking is something
that really needs some work. We are
learning to find ways to win, though.”
This weekend's tournament -
particularly the match against
Wisconsin - should go a long way
in showing the youthful A&M
squad where it stands as the season
moves on.
“Since we're new there are
always things to learn about weak
nesses,” said senior outside hitter
Julia Rex, one of A&M’s five new
starters. “So far we’ve won every
thing which is good because that’s
our goal. But we still need to find
all our weaknesses while we’re
playing so we can capitalize on
them in practice.”
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
Junior Lexy Beers goes for a kill against LSU Sunday.
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