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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3B
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2002
Texas A&M fires Slocum after suffering 6-6 season
The Associated Press
COLLEGE STATION, Texas
Texas A&M fired R.C. Slocum yesterday, ending his 14-year tenure as football coach of the Aggies.
Despite a victory over then No.1 Oklahoma, the Aggies finished a disappointing 6-6 in the regular season, capped by a 50-20 loss to Texas last Friday.
Slocum's 123 career wins were the most in school history, and he never had a losing season. But A&M fans were disgruntled that the Aggies have become less competitive in the Big 12 South their 3-5 finish was their first losing record in league play since 1984.
"It was with great sadness and disappointment that I learned today that I was being fired as the head football coach at Texas A&M," Slocum said in a prepared statement.
Slocum is 123-47-2 overall at Texas A&M. But he was just 29-23 over the last four years and has lost three straight to Texas.
Slocum won four conference championships, including the Big 12 title in 1998. This 6-6 mark matched his worst with the Aggies. 4.8 Mist went 6-6 in 1996
-A & M last went 6-6 in 1996.
Slocum, 58, is in the fourth year of a seven-year deal he signed in 1999 worth $1 million annually.
While at A&M,Slocum helped clean up a program that had landed on probation twice since the late 1980s and won a Big 12 title in 1998.
Slocum's stay also was tinged with tragedy.
Four days before the final loss to Texas, Aggies freshman defensive lineman Brandon Fails died after collapsing in his dorm.
Preliminary autopsy reports showed Fails died from a blood clot that formed as a result of a leg injury and eventually traveled to his lungs.
And in 1999, before A&M's big game against rival Texas, the log stack for the university's traditional bonfire collapsed, killing 12 people and injuring 27.
The Trojans (10-2) moved up two spots to No. 4 in the latest BCS standings, released yesterday. Miami (11-0) and Ohio State (13-0) remained the top two teams, and Georgia (11-1) moved up one spot to No. 3.
USC to play in BCS bowl
A big win against Notre Dame has all but guaranteed Southern California a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game. And the loss left the Irish needing a little luck to make it that far.
Miami has 3.53 points, and a win against Virginia Tech (9-3) at home Saturday gives it a berth in the Fiesta Bowl to play Ohio State for the national championship on Jan. 3.
The Associated Press
Ohio State has 4.01 points and Georgia has 9.03 points. Oklahoma (10-2) dropped four spots to No.7 after losing 38-28 to Oklahoma State. If Miami
BCS Standings
<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>AP</th><th>ESPN</th><th>Computer Avg.</th><th>Strength of schedule</th><th>Total</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. Miami</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1.33</td><td>30</td><td>3.53</td></tr><tr><td>2. Ohio St.</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>1.67</td><td>21</td><td>4.01</td></tr><tr><td>3. Georgia</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>3.67</td><td>9</td><td>9.03</td></tr><tr><td>4. Southern Cal</td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>3.00</td><td>1</td><td>9.84</td></tr><tr><td>5. Iowa</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>4.67</td><td>47</td><td>10.55</td></tr><tr><td>6. Washington St.</td><td>7</td><td>7</td><td>8.33</td><td>26</td><td>17.67</td></tr><tr><td>7. Oklahoma</td><td>8</td><td>9</td><td>7.67</td><td>25</td><td>18.87</td></tr><tr><td>8. Kansas St.</td><td>6</td><td>6</td><td>10.67</td><td>52</td><td>20.09</td></tr><tr><td>9. Texas</td><td>9</td><td>8</td><td>9.00</td><td>22</td><td>20.28</td></tr><tr><td>10. Notre Dame</td><td>11</td><td>13</td><td>6.17</td><td>14</td><td>20.73</td></tr><tr><td>11. Michigan</td><td>13</td><td>11</td><td>9.00</td><td>2</td><td>24.06</td></tr><tr><td>12. Colorado</td><td>12</td><td>12</td><td>10.67</td><td>10</td><td>25.97</td></tr><tr><td>13. Penn St.</td><td>10</td><td>10</td><td>14.17</td><td>13</td><td>27.69</td></tr><tr><td>14. Florida St.</td><td>16</td><td>18</td><td>15.00</td><td>3</td><td>36.12</td></tr><tr><td>15. West Virginia</td><td>15</td><td>16</td><td>18.33</td><td>40</td><td>38.43</td></tr></tbody></table>
loses and Georgia beats Arkansas (9-3) in the SEC Championship game Saturday, the Bulldogs would play the Buckeyes for the national title.
The final BCS standings will be released Sunday.
The Trojans beat Notre Dame 44-13 and moved up for several
reasons. USC also has the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country and received a 0.2 bonuspoint deduction for the win over Notre Dame.
USC looks like it will make a BCS bowl in any situation. The top three BCS teams automatically receive a BCS berth.
Duke women rank first in AP
The Associated Press
Duke had two new teams right behind it yesterday in the AP women's basketball Top 25.
Louisiana State University is already the third team to be ranked No. 2 in the young season—the highest it's been since 1978—while defending NCAA champion Connecticut also moved up a spot to third after beating Oklahoma in a rematch of last season's title game.
LSU (5-0) had 1,018 points and one first-place vote. The last time the Lady Tigers were second was March 8, 1978. They won three times in the past week, with their closest game a 14-point victory over Florida International
No. 1 Duke (5-0) received 42 of 44 first-place votes from a national media panel and had 1,098 points after winning three games in the Virgin Islands. The last was a 74-72 overtime victory over Arkansas, which jumped from 17th to 13th.
No. 21 Arizona and No. 23 South Carolina made the Top 25 for the first time this season, while Iowa State dropped out to end a run of 82 consecutive appearances in the poll.
Tennessee remained fourth, just four points behind Connecticut. Stanford moved up two spots to fifth.Purdue held at No.6,and Kansas State to No.7.
Connecticut (5-0) climbed two spots after winning three times in Hawaii, capping the trip with a 73-60 victory over Oklahoma. UConn had one first-state vote and 963 points.
Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and TexasTech completed the Top 10.
Kansas State was No. 2 for one week. Tennessee was second in the first two polls.
Penn State was 11th, followed by Minnesota, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana Tech, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Brigham Young University and Mississippi State.
Arizona, Boston College, South Carolina, George Washington and Cincinnati held the final five places.
Oklahoma (5-2) beat then No. 11 North Carolina before losing to UConn and jumped five spots to 18th.
Georgia had the biggest drop within the poll, going from eighth to 14th.
APT0P25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 1, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week's ranking:
rank team rec pts pvs 1
1. Duke (42) 5-0 1,098 1
2. LSU (1) 5-0 1,018 3
3. Connecticut (1) 5-0 963 5
4. Tennessee 5-1 959 4
5. Stanford 4-0 932 7
6. Purdue 5-0 884 6
7. Kansas St. 5-1 840 2
8. Vanderbilt 4-0 789 9
9. Notre Dame 2-0 753 10
10. Texas Tech 2-1 635 12
11. Penn St. 4-1 599 13
12. Minnesota 5-0 576 14
13. Arkansas 4-1 544 17
14. Georgia 2-1 490 8
15. Louisiana Tech 2-1 482 15
16. N. Carolina 4-1 407 11
17. Texas 1-1 359 16
18. Oklahoma 5-2 340 23
19. BYU 3-0 280 22
20. Mississippi St. 4-1 269 19
21. Arizona 2-1 213 —
22. Boston College 3-1 170 18
23. S. Carolina 4-0 167 —
24. George Washington 2-1 109 21
25. Cincinnati 2-1 81 25
Other receiving votes: Iowa St. 51, Villanova 58, Virginia 45, UC Santa Barbara 43, Michigan 26, Colorado St. 17, TCU 16, Tulane 15, Arizona St. 9, Southern Cal. 9, Temple 8, Colorado 7, New Mexico 5, Pittsburgh 5, DePaul 4, Amherst 3, Florida 3, Drake 2, W Kentucky 2, Wisconsin Green Bay 2, Wyoming 2, Harvard 1, Liberty 1, Ohio St. 1, Washington 1,
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