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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2003)
NE« ATIAUi id attic ntained ok ihen closed lent befofi ‘H'm ^ 'b any of tie :ause it was ie said. I the ba; vis Countj s office in it invest^ arate sack ifant.Acal ami net on nmediatel) wrapped it was in a >y we orie- "appedins per sack. saw' was i not believe miscarried 1 believe it term baby ng.” s and gen- ,vn due to ) missinj eported in worked it suspec jred a U.S i he tried It citizen, bil jes of mur ed assault ; arrested r-old mae ing a Jure tradition lo by boT ;man Di? trend. -dov. ^ -dov. 9 3 v. H r6'30 'M7 4^21 ' 0 do -ado 5 hoe s jS3 uced ctiofl pjS- Sports The Battalion Page 7 • Monday, October 27, 2003 AP TOP 25 1.0U (62) Record 80 FVs 1 2. Miami (3) 7-0 2 3. USC 7-1 5 4. Georgia 7-1 4 5. Florida St. 7-1 6 6. Washington St 7-1 6 7.LSU 7-1 9 8. Ohio St. 7-1 8 9. Michigan St 7-1 11 10. Virginia Tech 6-1 3 11. Michigan 7-2 13 12 Nebraska 7-1 14 13. Iowa 6-2 16 14. OWa. St 7-1 18 15. TCU 80 15 16.Texas 6-2 19 17. Bowling Gneen7-1 23 18. Purdue 6-2 10 19. Tennessee 5-2 22 20. Mississippi 6-2 — 21. Missouri 6-2 — 21. N. Illinois 7-1 12 23. Florida 5-3 25 24. Minnesota 7-2 — 25. F’ittsbungh 5-2 — (First place votes in parentheses) ESPN COACHES POLL Record Pvs 1.0U (58) 8-0 1 2 Miami (5) 7-0 2 3. USC 7-1 4 4. Georgia 7-1 5 5. Florida State 7-1 7 6. Wash. State 7-1 6 7. Ohio State 7-1 8 8.LSU 7-1 9 9. Nebraska 7-1 11 10. Mich. State 7-1 12 11. Virginia Tech 6-1 3 12. Michigan 7-2 15 13.TCU 8-0 13 14. Iowa 6-2 16 15. OWa. State 7-1 19 16.Texas 6-2 18 17. Purdue 6-2 10 18. Tennessee 5-2 22 19. Minnesota 7-2 24 20. Bowling Green7-1 — 21.Florida 5-3 25 22. N. Illinois 7-1 14 23. Pittsburgh 5-2 — 24. Missouri 6-2 — 25. Louisville 7-1 — (As voted on by 63 Division 1-A coaches.) OTHER SCORES Big 12 Nebraska 28, Iowa St. 0 Missouri 62, Texas Tech 31 Kansas St. 42, Kansas 6 Oklahoma 34, Colorado 20 Texas 56, Baylor 0 Others SFA 44, Texas State 27 TCU 62, Houston 55 Texas College 21, Prairie View 10 Tulsa 35, SMU 16 Ball St. 38, Toledo 14 Bowling Green 34, N. Illinois 18 Cincinnati 33, Army 29 Iowa 26, Penn St. 14 Kansas St. 42, Kansas 6 Marshall 41, W. Michigan 21 Miami (Ohio) 38, Kent St. 30 Michigan 31, Purdue 3 Minnesota 36, Illinois 10 Nebraska 28, Iowa St. 0 Northwestern 16, Wisconsin 7 Ohio St. 35, Indiana 6 Georgia 16, UAB 13 Cowboys dominate Aggies JP Beato III • THE BATTALION Oklahoma State running back Tatum Bell runs past fallen A&M defensive back Byron Jones on Saturday. Bell fin ished Saturday's 38-10 OSD win with 196 yards and three touchdowns to hand A&M its second straight loss. By Jeff Allen THE BATTALION Not many Aggies remember a loss at Kyle Field as bad as Saturday afternoon’s 38-10 drubbing at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The last time students witnessed an Aggie team lose on its native soil in such a one-sided fashion was in 1983, while most of the current student body was in diapers. That day, the Aggies lost 45- 13 to the University of Texas Longhorns on the last day of the season. Ironically, it was that same year the Cowboys last pulled off a win in College Station. “We’ve got work to do and we’re struggling right now,” said Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione. “This team can improve, and we’ve just got to keep working, too. We have plenty of areas to do that in, and we’ll stay determined and stay the course. I’ve been in situa tions like this before, and we know what we have to do.” A good place for the Aggies to start looking for improve ment is on the defensive side of the ball. For the fifth time this year, the Aggie defense allowed an offense to score at least 35 points — all in Aggie losses — and the 443 yards allowed marks the fourth time this year a team has garnered more than 400 yards. “They played to their strength and executed well,” said A&M safety Jaxson Appel. “We knew what they were going to do coming in, and they did it and we didn’t stop them.” The Cowboys were playing to their strength from the open ing kick, looking squarely in the direction the much acclaimed duo of running back Tatum Bell and receiver Rashaun Woods. Bell carried the ball six times for 35 yards in the first drive, setting up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Oklahoma State quarter back Josh Fields to Woods, giv ing the Cowboys a quick lead, as well as setting the tone for the rest of the game. “(Woods is) a great receiver,” said A&M defensive back Byron Jones. “He made some big plays and part of that was us being out of position, but we’ve got to make the play.” The Aggies were out of posi tion again a few minutes later, but this time it was Bell who got into the open. Bell broke away on a fourth down play near mid field and sprinted 40 yards for the Cowboys’ second touch down of the quarter. The run was part of Bell’s game-high 196 yards, and made him one of three OSU players in history to break the 1,000-yard mark. “Tatum Bell is having a great year,” said Oklahoma State coach Les Miles. “If he continues to play like this, he will distinguish himself with the other great tailbacks from Oklahoma State.” Bell, however, wasn’t the only standout running back. A&M redshirt freshman Courtney Lewis continued to solidify his place in the hearts of the Aggie faithful by putting up an effort nearly matching Bell’s, with 171 yards on 26 carries. Both were career highs for Lewis, and it was Lewis’ fourth quarter touchdown that erased fears of the first Aggie shutout at Kyle Field since 1971. “It was a bright spot,” Franchione said. “He’s making good hard-nosed runs, for a red- shirt freshman he’s doing a lot of good things.” The second-half script was not much different from the first. After leaving the locker room trailing by 21, the Aggies could n’t sustain anything on their first drive and gave the ball back to the Cowboys. OSU quickly went back to Woods for another long touchdown. The Cowboys’ final touchdown came on Bell’s last touch of the game, a 26-yard touchdown scamper through the rain with a little more than one minute left on the clock. A&M quarterback Reggie McNeal threw for 183 yards See Cowboys on page 9 Patience a must-have virtue for Aggie fans I t now seems appropriate that A&M’s yell leaders decided to bring back the Skyrocket yell at the beginning of the season. They saw something in this year’s A&M team that most fans didn’t want to see. They realized the team was going to tem porarily return to the pre-Jackie Sherrill style of football, and that the Twelfth Man should follow suit. Pretty soon, Aggie fans will start hav ing to kiss their dates after first downs and bus in co-eds from Texas Women’s University again. Gone — for now at least — are the days when opposing offensive coordinators lose sleep over the prospect of facing the Aggies at Kyle Field. The only difficult choice these offensive coaches have to make now is deciding which part of A&M’s defense to attack: the injury-riddled front seven or the often-exploited secondary. To cover the odds, Oklahoma State University coach Les Miles decided to attack both areas en route to a 38-10 victory Saturday at Kyle Field. “They can run the ball pretty well, and every one knows they can pass the ball good,” said A&M defensive back Byron Jones. “It’s just hard to prepare for a team like that.” This hardly sounds like a defense that believes it can stop or even slow down an opponent. Tatum Bell highlighted Oklahoma State’s dismantling of A&M’s defense with 196 rushing yards and three touch downs. His ability to shred through the Aggie front seven enabled quarterback Josh Fields to toss for 208 yards and two touchdowns. “Josh Fields made some tremendous plays today. He’s a darn good quarterback,” Miles said. The defense not only looked outmanned but also undisciplined. It was flagged for five off sides penalties and two damaging pass-interfer ence calls. It is obviously not living up to the wrecking crew label of the past. One of the few positives for A&M Saturday was its ability to run the football. Running back Courtney Lewis continued to emerge as a future star by rushing for 171 yards on 26 carries. Both were career highs. “Courtney Lewis was a bright spot for us,” said A&M coach Dennis Franchione. “He’s gaining See Patience on page 9 JP Beato III • THE BATTALION OSU receiver Roshoun Woods tries to escape the grasp of A&M defensive back Jonte Buhl. Woods finished with 1 09 yards on four catches. Munsch helps Aggies sweep past Longhorns The Longhorns were not at the top of their game when they strode into G. Rollie White Coliseum Friday night to take on the No. 21 Aggies. The women from Austin were dealing with a lot more than just a rivalry and an important Big 12 match. Last week the team faced one of life’s most unpleasant realities when freshman middle blocker Brandy Magee lost her father, compelling her to return home and leaving a hole in the middle of the Longhorn lineup. “It was obviously a very emotional week for us off the court,” said University of Texas coach Jerritt Elliott. “The focus of our staff wasn’t so much on volleyball as taking care of our play ers. This is a hard lesson to learn about life, and it is very important volleyball takes a back seat.” Texas scored the first point of the match, to go up 1-0 on the Aggies (16-5, 8-3), but that was the Longhorn’s (10-10, 5-6) only lead of the night. A&M domi nated almost all aspects of the game from that point, putting together one of its most complete matches of the year to sweep the Longhorns 30-15, 30-17 and 30-23. “That’s what we strive for every day in practice,” said Texas A&M coach Laurie Corbelli. “I had a feeling the team was ready. We’ve been through some adversity with injuries and I just have a feeling that this is the time of the season (when) the people who need to step up are stepping up.” The Longhorns’ most glaring difficul ty in the match was returning serves from A&M junior Melissa Munsch, who by the end of the second game had already tied the school record with nine service aces. “That’s one of the best matches we played,” Munsch said. “We were all pret ty much on the same page with what we wanted to do and everyone wanted to play and go all out and give the best effort we could give.” The Aggies also raised the bar for themselves throughout the match, hitting at a season high .357 clip, led by sopho more Laura Jones, who is showing strong signs of leaving her midseason funk after putting up a game-high .560 hitting per centage and a game-high 15 kills. After dropping the first game, the Longhorns tried to fight back in the final two, but never kept up with the energized Aggies. Each game was marked by long Aggie runs: one nine-point run lead by Munsch’s serve in game two and another initial run in game three that gave the Aggies an 8-3 cushion early on. ’’(The team) really wanted to win for Brandy ... but (the coaching staff) kind of had a feeling and had a lot of things to tell that they are a little scatterbrained ... (plus) A&M played one of their best matches of the year, they made very few mistakes,” Elliott said. Adding to the difficulties for the Longhorns was a boisterous home crowd of 3,778, the largest ever to witness a vol leyball game at G. Rollie White Coliseum. SPORTS IN BRIEF A&M shuts out Colorado, 2-0 Texas A&M’s Emma Smith and Linda Pierson scored sec ond-half goals Sunday to lead No. 9 A&M past No. 7 Colorado in front of 2,222 fans at the Aggies’ regular-season home finale at the Aggie Soccer Complex. With the win, the Aggies improved to 12-3-2 overall and to 5-2-2 in Big 12 Conference play. Colorado dropped to 14-2-1 overall and to 7-1-1 in league action, but because of a 3-2 overtime win by Texas over Nebraska today in Austin, Colorado clinched its first Big 12 regular-season Championship. The Buffs had not been beaten in 15 straight matches. “I felt really relieved for the players because I thought we played well on Friday night but did not get the result,” said A&M head coach G. Guerrieri. “I thought today was a com plete victory. It has been frus trating because we have played well and had chances all season but have not been able to finish.”