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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2004)
Sports The Battalion Page IB • Thursday, September 16, 2004 SIDE LINES COMING FRIDAY Parity now! Recent upsets in collegiate football have leveled playing field T After shutting out Wyo- ling 31-0, the A&M football earn prepares to face off gainst the Clemson Tigers m Saturday. The A&M soccer team ;icks off the sports-filled i/eekend with games against IC-Irvine and UCLA. Look or a complete glance at all hree teams. BRIEFLY The No. 12 Texas A&M omen's golf team finished he Dick McGuire Invitational n seventh place. No. 2 Geor- pa won the tournament title. The Texas A&M volleyball earn got off to a good start a conference play, defeating owa State 3-1. The Aggies ilay host to Kansas on Friday itG. Rollie White Coliseum. The National Hockey [.eague is locking out its play- rs starting today, threaten ing to keep the sport off the ke for the entire 2004-05 eason in an effort to gain assive change in the sport's iconomic structure. JON GILBERT SPORTS WRITER I he University of Nebras ka football team had to endure a humbling 21-17 home loss Saturday to Southern Mississippi Univer sity. Nebraska fans probably never imagined that a day would come when their j beloved team would lose a home opener to South- > ern Mississippi. College football has been a sport known for huge upsets. Yet, they are becoming so prevalent nowadays that people actually expect them to happen. Last week, Notre Dame had to listen to media and fans berate them after Brigham Young University beat the Fighting Irish 20-17 to open the season. Yet, the Irish put it behind them and went on to shock No. 7 University of Michigan the following weekend. Notre Dame was ready to play and as a result, taught Michigan a little lesson in execution. Even more surprising was Fresno State’s 45-21 pounding of No. 14 Kansas State. Fresno State demonstrated superior speed and skill at key positions and routed a team that some predicted to win the Big 12 North. After the game, Fresno State head coach Pat Hill threw more coal on the fire by saying that his team’s win should come as no surprise that his team was better and knew it. These games highlight a couple of themes in college football. Under dogs believe they can win and they set out to do it. Furthermore, there is now greater parity in college football. These upsets prove that. College football, like any other sport, requires a certain mentality in order to succeed. Southern Mississippi head coach Jeff Bowers said his players ap proached their game against Nebraska believing they could win. That’s exactly what happened. Perhaps the biggest shocker of all came Thursday night when No. 17 Missouri traveled to little-known Troy, Alabama for what was supposed to be an easy non-conference win. What happened? Troy State beat Missouri 24-14, severely hurting the Tigers’ hopes for a breakout season. “We thought we could, we thought we would and then we did,” said Troy State head coach Larry Blakeney. “A man told me that we didn’t have to beat them 365 days out of the year, we only had to beat them for 60 minutes tonight.” Blakeney’s team approached the game with the right mindset and it got the job done. It once again shows that anything can happen in college football. In Notre Dame’s 28-20 upset of Michigan, Wol verines’ head coach Lloyd Carr admitted that the only difference was that the Fighting Irish executed and made the plays it needed to get the win. If Carr’s Wolverines had executed, they would have come out on top. Thus, despite the fact that Michigan was No. 7 and Notre Dame unranked, the two teams were on even ground. The parity between the University of Arkansas and the University of Texas was evident last weekend as the two long-time rivals battled to a close finish in Fayette ville. Either team could have won the game. Yet Texas played virtually mistake-free and won. Throw out the rank ings - both teams are very close in ability. College football is always changing. Trends come and go, as do success and ap proaches to success. What is consistent right now is that when two teams meet, the favored team better come ready to play. Because more often than not, the underdog Wiu Lloyd • THE BATTALION believes it will win. ooe Saucf A Total of 104 OFF Any Grade Fuel Visit www.kroger.com for Fuel Center Locations Forever/ $100 you spend in grocery purchases with your Kroger Plus Card. Discount au tomatically loaded on your Plus Card. LIMITED TIME OFFER! The $100 purchase require- nentmay be met in one single transaction or accumulated in several transactions. 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