n? ever a
AP TOP 25
citing ill
Record
FVs
tt. Hies
5 , 1.011(65)
100
1
onclioiti,
I 2. USC
8-1
2
s llie prsi
I 3. LSU
8-1
4
i The tie
L 4. Ohio St.
9-1
7
effects,!,
| 5. Michigan
8-2
8
e desired:
I 6Jexas
8-2
11
onli wat
I 7. Georgia
7-2
9
ween Nee i
1 8. Washington St 8-2
12
described;
I 9. Tennessee
7-2
18
J, super-n
I 10.TCU
90
13
jfetwili
I 11. Purdue
8-2
16
Unfortiuii;
12. Virginia Tech
7-2
5
now more
I 13. Florida St.
8-2
3
ta theirs;
1 14. Miami
7-2
6
I 15. Florida
7-3
17
E 16. Pittsburgh
7-2
25
1 17. Mississippi
8-2
20
SI
18. Nebraska
8-2
19
I 19. Minnesota
0-2
24
-Paul Co:
1 20. Iowa
70
10
I 21.MktiiganSt.
70
14
JU\U„.
I 21. N. Illinois
9-1
23
J®
I 23. Miami (Ohio)
8-1
—
‘m
124. Boise St.
8-1
—
h
I 25. Bowling Green 7-2
15
u
■(First place votes in parentheses)
ESPN COACHES POLL
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Record
Pvs
1.0U(63)
1QO
1
2. USC
8-1
2
3. LSU
8-1
4
4. Ohio State
9-1
6
5. Michigan
8-2
8
6. Georgia
7-2
9
TTexas
8-2
11
8. Wash. State
8-2
13
9.TCU
9-0
12
10. Purdue
8-2
14
11.Rorida State
8-2
3
12. Virginia Tech
7-2
5
13. Tennessee
7-2
17
14. Miami
7-2
7
15. Nebraska
8-2
16
i 16. Pittsburgh
7-2
21
| 17. Minnesota
9-2
18
| 18. Florida
70
19
19. Mississippi
8-2
24
: 20. Iowa
70
10
21. N. Illinois
9-1
23
22. Mich. State
7-3
15
23. Boise State
8-1
—
24. Miami (Ohio)
8-1
—
25. Kansas State 80
—
(te voted on by 63 Division 1-A
coedies.)
*1 BIG 12 STANDINGS
SOUTH
conf
all
OU
60
100
Texas .
5-1
8-2
Texas Tech
4-2
70
;0SU
3-3
70
Texas A&M
24
46
Baylor
1-5
3-7
NORTH
conf
all
Nebraska
4-2
8-2
Kansas State
42
8-3
Missouri
20
6-3
Kansas
24
5-5
' Cdorado
24
46
; lava State
0-5
2-7
itive.l^ Others
id ‘caus:
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OTHER SCORES
iig 12
Texas 55, OSU 16
Colorado 21, Missouri 16
Texas Tech 62, Baylor 14
Nebraska 24, Kansas 3
Kansas St. 45, Iowa St. 0
Minnesota 37, Wisconsin 34
Notre Dame 27, Navy 24
Ohio St. 33, Michigan St. 23
Purdue 27, Iowa 14
Florida 35, Vanderbilt 17
Tennessee 10, Miami 6
Sports
The Battalion Page 5 • Monday, November 10, 2003
Embarrassed
Sooners crush
Aggies, 77-0
Sharqn Aeschbach •THE BATTALION
University of Oklahoma running back Donta Hickson runs past Texas A&M linebacker Scott Stickane for some of his 131 yards Saturday.
The No. 1 Sooners piled up 639 offensive yards and 1 1 touchdowns against the Aggies, including seven in the first half.
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
Whether on the ground or through the
air, the University of Oklahoma Sooners
couldn’t be stopped as they took control
of the game early and never let up in a
77-0 rout of Texas A&M.
The No. 1 Sooners exorcised some
demons by taking care of the team that
knocked them out of national title con
tention a season ago, increasing their
NCAA-leading win streak to 12 games.
“We came in believing that we could
play pretty well,” said Oklahoma coach
Bob Stoops. “We did this against a team
that ripped us up a year ago.”
A&M (4-6, 2-4 Big 12) took a chance
on the first play from scrimmage when
sophomore quarterback Reggie McNeal
decided to go deep on a play-action pass
to junior wide receiver Terence Murphy.
With the Sooner crowd holding its col
lective breath and having nightmares of
A&M’s improbable victory over OU a
year ago, the pass fell out of reach of the
wide-open Murphy.
After an A&M punt, OU senior quar
terback Jason White quickly reassured the
home crowd, orchestrating a touchdown
drive that ended in a 40-yard touchdown
pass to junior receiver Mark Clayton.
The drive proved the Aggies were
overmatched.
“At the time I thought (the Texas Tech
game) would be the worst we’d see all
year,” said senior offensive lineman Alan
Reuber. “I was wrong.”
White went on to complete 16 of 18
passes for 263 yards and set a new
Oklahoma single-game record with five
touchdowns. And that was just in the
first half.
Of all the Heisman contenders the
Aggies have faced, from Pittsburgh’s
Larry Fitzgerald to Virginia Tech’s Kevin
Jones, White showed he may be the best.
He dominated the Aggie defense, com
pleting passes at will.
“1 just know that if we come out and
play like we know how, we’ll be pretty
good,” Clayton said. “(Jason White) was
right on the money. The last couple
weeks we’ve had some drops, making
him look bad. He was just Jason.”
Clayton was White’s favorite target
of the day as he caught seven passes for
166 yards and three touchdowns in the
first half.
Clayton has clearly been overshad
owed this season by White, but he may be
one of the best-receivers in the Big 12,
joining the likes df Oklahoma State’s
Rashaun Woods and Texas’ Roy
Williams.
“Nobody in the country makes more
big plays than Mark Clayton,” Stoops said.
The second half started off just like
the first ended, but with a new Sooner
doing all the damage. Sophomore Paul
Thompson took over for White at the
helm of the Sooner offense and quickly
put more points on the board. He ran 29
yards for a touchdown just 1:13 into the
second half to put Oklahoma (10-0, 6-0)
up, 56-0.
Thompson went on to complete two
of three pass attempts for 34 yards. He
also gained 79 yards on six carries on
the ground, finding the end zone for two
touchdowns.
“(Thompson) gives a different dimen
sion,” Stoops said. “We have a different
set and group of plays that we can go to
(with Thompson). He can execute all the
(plays) Jason does, but he gives you more
to go to when he’s in there.”
If the score doesn’t say it enough, the
Aggies were manhandled in every aspect
of the game. The Aggies gained just 54
yards and converted only three first
downs on the afternoon.
When it seemed like a hole might
See Rout on page 2
Oil's performance dominating
D ominance. It’s the only
word that comes to mind
when talking about
Oklahoma football. This year’s
Sooner team could easily be one of
the best in college football history,
putting them in the same class as
1993 Florida State, the Nebraska
teams under Tom Osbourne, and
Bear Bryant’s Alabama squads.
Not only in their destruction of
Texas A&M on Saturday, but
throughout the entire 2003 season, the
Sooners have been utterly dominant. In six
of their 10 games this season the Sooners
have scored more than 50 points. They’ve
made top 25 opponents look like middle
school teams.
And their schedule isn’t a patsy either.
The Big 12 Conference is arguably the
toughest conference in all of college foot
ball, and the Sooners are eating it up like
Rip Van Winkle waking from his slumber.
They’re simply'the best.
“Right now we have excitement and
momentum behind us,” said
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. “I
like the way these guys play.”
So where does this put the
Aggies?
After suffering their worst
defeat in history — the previous
record deficit was 48 points to
Texas in 1898 — and giving up
the most points ever, the Aggies
are in a world of hurt. They just
received a course in Beatings 101,
and now they know exactly how far behind
they have gotten.
Please don’t blame A&M coach Dennis
Franchione and the new coaching staff
either. There isn’t much for them to do
because the talent of this A&M team is
exactly what was exposed in Norman:
bare.
“I don’t think you ever think it’s going
to be like this,” Franchione said. “You pre
pare to deal with this but you don’t ever
See Sooners on page 2
Sharon Aeschbach • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M defensive back Ronald Jones stays on the ground after a play against the
University of Oklahoma on Saturday. A&M's defense forced OU to punt just once.
business
3Q6 yOli ; '
sys. "ft;
Volleyball holds off Sooners in four
just tf
ame."
at se
-> ugh,” S'
fterthet'
By Jeff Allen
THE BATTALION
At least someone scored on Oklahoma
; r go c-' Saturday.
Just a couple of hours after the regionally
devised humiliation of the Texas A&M
ibotball team was complete, the Aggie vol-
eyball team posted a 3-1 win over the
University of Oklahoma.
-est ^ Before Saturday, OU had never managed
o sneak a single game away from the
Aggies in College Station, and had not won
Tj tgame against the Aggies since the inaugu-
"al year of the Big 12 in 1996.
“(The Sooners) were out for blood
onight,” said A&M coach Laruie Corbelli.
‘They really wanted this win and it
Would’ve been huge for their program, and I
it would have been devastating for
ours, and I think the girls held up their own
: omposure very well.”
ni Fortunately, the No. 21 Aggies (18-6, 10-4
iiOOr % 12) endured a .strong push by the highly
,raM i£ Motivated Sooners (11-15, 3-11), to maintain
their position in the top three in the Big 12.
However, it was not quite as easy as the
Aggies hoped.
zi! Cwft 1 -
-«5“
CORBELLI
A&M held OU to a .107 hitting percent
age and just 17 points in the first game.
Junior Melissa Munsch led the Aggies with
seven kills on seven
attempts. Munsch finished
the match with 17 kills,
leaving her just 15 shy of
1,000 in her Aggie career.
However, OU rallied in
the second game. The
Sooners came out strong
behind the play of
Christina Maynes, who
garnered seven kills in the
game. She was complimented by Joanna
Schmitt, who posted five kills to go with five
digs in the second frame. The combination
of Maynes and Schmitt led the Sooners
throughout the night, and the duo combined
for 114 attempts, more than the rest of the
Sooner club combined.
In that second game, the Sooners were
able to thwart the Aggies’ game point at 29-
28, and score three consecutive points,
breaking the 43-game losing streak to the
Aggies.
“I thought the team really prepared well
for game one, the first 30 minutes we were
in a pretty good rhythm. In game two they
made some adjustments, and we were hav
ing to make a lot of adjustments on defense
that made it hard for us to transition quick,”
Corbelli said.
After a disappointing second game, the
Aggies regrouped for another efficient win in
game three, putting away the Sooners 30-18.
The Sooners were able to push the
Aggies to the brink again in game four,
breaking match point multiple times before
finally succumbing after a hitting error to
give the Aggies the 34-32 win.
“It was a little frustrating to start off a lit
tle slow after a great game one and awesome
game three,” said A&M senior middle
blocker Carol Price. “But we pulled it out
and we knew we had to get out of our funk
and I think the persistence paid off in game
four and it showed how bad we wanted it.”
The win gives the Aggies some breathing
room in the standings, as they push their
lead to one and a half games over Missouri,
which fell to second-place Nebraska on
Friday.
“We are the team everyone is after,”
Corbelli said. “A top three spot in this con
ference is pretty good. Teams are not going
to come in and lay down for us and let us
beat up on them.”
NEWS IN BRIEF
Aggies take six
matches from TCU
Members of Texas A&M’s
men’s tennis team won six of
seven singles matches over
TCU Sunday at the Texas A&M
Invitational at the Mitchell
Tennis Center.
Highlighted by freshman
Brett Joelson’s straight sets
win over TCU’s Jacopo Tezza,
6-4, 7-6 (4), the Aggies
wfapped the weekend team
like tournament with wins over
Arizona and TCU.
A&M won only one of nine
singles and doubles matches
against LSU on Saturday while
playing the event without two
of its top players in Lester
Cook and Ante Matijevic, who
were competing at the ITA
National Intercollegiate Indoor
Championships.
Junior Zack Malmgren got
the Aggies’ day started with a
win over TCU’s Craig Stopa,
6-0, 6-3. Malmgren won the
first eight games of the match.
Doubles matches were not
contested. The event con
cludes the fall portion of the
Aggies’ schedule. The dual
match portion of the season is
slated to begin in January.
Roland, Vieira fall
in ITA Nationals
Texas A&M’s Jessica Roland
and Helga Vieira faced tough
competition this weekend at
the ITA National Indoor
Championships played at the
University of Michigan Varsity
Tennis Center.
The tandem, which became
A&M’s first automatic qualifier
in women’s singles or doubles
in the history of the elite event
by winning the ITA Southwest
Regional in Fort Worth ast
month, was eliminated in the
consolation quarterfinals late
Friday after falling to 29th-
ranked Maria Brito and Julie
Coin of Clemson, 8-5.
Roland and Vieira had fallen
to Sandy Lukowski and Maja
Kovacek of New Mexico, 8-5, in
the first round of the 16-team
field earlier in the day.