The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 20, 2004, Image 5

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    Page 5 • Monday, September 20, 2004
Texas A&M
S soccer loses
to UCLA
By Jonathan Wall
THE BATTALION
Sunday afternoon’s match
■ against 12th ranked UCLA
■ was one the Aggies would
I probably like to have back. In
I a game dominated by defense,
I ! the Aggies couldn’t match the
I lone goal scored by UCLA’s
I Iris Mora, falling 1-0.
“We had three balls off
II the line and missed two open
■ goals,” Guerrieri said. “You
■ don’t deserve to win if you
I don’t finish those balls.”
The Aggies left a lot of of-
I tensive chances on the field in
I a game where they outshot the
■ Bruins, 12-8.
A&M made an offensive
■ push during the final three
■ minutes of the game, yet
■ the team couldn’t figure out
I Bruins goalkeeper Valerie
■ Henderson, who seemed to
■ be in perfect position ev-
lery time the ball was in the
■ UCLA zone.
The game was played well
■ by both squads, but it left
I Guerrieri with mixed feelings
I on a game he felt the team had
I a chance to win.
“We schedule tough
■ games like this because we
■ want to play teams that are
■ going to make us better,"
J|Guerrieri said. “It’s just
hard to lose games we feel
we should’ve won.”
Sports
The Battalion
A&M defense returns to form, quiets critics
Joshua Hobson • THE BATTALION
Sophomore A&M linebacker Justin Warren (left) and senior defensive back Byron Jones sack Clemson quarter
back Charlie Whitehurst during the second quarter of Saturday's game. A&M defeated Clemson 27-6.
By Kyle Davoust
THE BATTALION
A buzz started around campus last week.
The Aggies had shut out an opponent not
named Baylor for the first time since 1998.
“This is huge,” cried the most fer
vent of fans.
“It was only Wyoming,” responded the
pessimists the ones who were most re
cently fooled by last year’s performance
against the lowly Bears.
But now, after Saturday’s defensive
domination of Clemson, the buzz has
reached a feverish pitch. This was not Wy
oming. This was not even Baylor or Kan
sas. In winning the game 27-6, the Aggie
defense had stifled the Clemson Tigers,
one of the nation’s top oftenses.
“I’m pretty sure Clemson hung 500
yards on the last two teams they played,”
said A&M coach Dennis Franchione. “We
held them to 250 and got four turnovers.
You’ve got to give (the defense) some re
spect. They’re playing more like we (as
coaches) thought they would play.”
The Aggies didn’t just stop a top of
fense; they stopped a spread offense. This
is significant because the spread offense
has killed the Aggies for the last two years.
Texas Tech and Oklahoma set all sorts of
records on the Aggies last year using this
same type of system.
Just tw o weeks ago, Utah racked up 41
points by spreading out the Aggies. That’s
what makes Saturday’s performance even
more remarkable.
“(The Utah game) is still in my mind,
but we feel like that team was not us, and
we came out tonight to show everybody
that we are a better team,” said senior cor-
nerback Byron Jones. “The team you saw
against Utah - that wasn’t us. It was fresh
on our mind, but we came out to prove a
point that this is a better
football team.”
The key difference
this time was simple:
The Aggies pressured
the quarterback. Instead
of giving Clemson ju
nior quarterback Char
lie Whitehurst a chance
to survey the field, the
Aggies mixed blitzes
with solid defensive
line plays to keep the
quarterback on his back.
The pressure worked, as
Whitehurst threw three
interceptions, fumbled
in A&M territory and
was held to less than 200
yards passing for the first
time in eight games.
“They delinitelyblitzed
us,” a dismayed Whitehu
rst said. “I think 1 had four
turnovers by myself, and
they didn’t have any. That
was definitely huge.”
The turnover dispar
ity was large, as the Ag
gies turned Clemson’s
four turnovers into 14
points. An opportunis
tic defense makes an of
fense’s job a lot easier.
Perhaps the best sign of what is to come
was the play of the Aggie newcomers. For
the second week in a row, redshirt freshmen
made huge contributions.
Freshmen Jason Jack, Chris Har
rington and Joseph Bryant were keys in
the defensive line rotation that kept con
stant pressure on Whitehurst. Harrington
displayed the speed of the young group in
the third quarter when he rushed around
the Clemson line nearly untouched to
plow Whitehurst into the turf for his sec
ond collegiate sack.
However, the newcomer with the big
gest impact was freshman comerback Erik
Mayes. Getting extended playing time be
cause of Clemson’s spread offense, Mayes
impressed with 10 tackles and an intercep
tion to end the Tiger’s last drive. He even
came up big on a blitz, combining with
Jack for an all-freshmen sack.
The questions of optimism are already
starting to pour in from the fans. Are they
for real? Do they deserve to be called the
Wrecking Crew?
“That’s depending on coach,” said se
nior cornerback Jonte Buhl. “We’ve been
working hard, and we’re really happy
with our success today and last week, so
hopefully we’ll get the name back.”
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