Baseball
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Division series playoffs
The Atlanta Braves staged a late game comeback to up-end the Chicago Cubs. The next two games will be played at Wrigley Field.
Division series playoffs
Atlanta Braves defeat Chicago Cubs, 2-1
**Atlanta leads series, 2-0**
Houston Astros defeat San Diego Padres, 5-4
The series is tied, 1-1
Friday
October 2,1998
Section:
B
Page 1
Basketball
lowa prep star Kirk Hinrich will make an official visit to KU this weekend.
SEE PAGE 3B
Soccer
The KU women's soccer team will battle the Baylor Bears and the weather this weekend.
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
SEE PAGE 3B
Contact the Kansan
Sports Desk:
Sports Fax:
Sports e-mail:
(785) 864-4810
(785) 864-0391
mattt@ukans.edu
Texas A&M wants to extend winning streak to four games
By Brandon Krisztal
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas offensive guard Justin Glasgow blocks nose tackle Nate Dwyer in a team scrimmage. Kansas will play Texas A&M at 11:37 a.m. tomorrow at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Dan Elvarsky/KANSAN
Texas A&M comes to Lawrence tomorrow hoping to extend its winning streak to four games and looking to pick up a Big 12 win in its first conference game.
The Aggies boast the nation's 13th best defense, but their offense is not as impressive.
Last week against North Texas, Aggies head coach R.C. Slocum pulled senior starting quarterback Brandon Stewart, who was 4-of-10 for 80 yards at the time. Junior backup Randy McCown stepped in and went 11-of-13 for a career high 167 yards and two touchdowns in the Aggies 28-9 win.
Slocum said. "The backup quarterback is always
the guy that everyone wants to put in there. A lot of times when they come in there, there's not the pressure that's been on the starter. So it's not unusual for that guy to come in and make good things happen."
Heading into last week's game Texas A&M's offense
was ranked 108th in the country, but improved to 98th after the win against North Texas.
Despite the offense's lack of production, the Aggies defense does a good job of picking up the slack when the offense struggles. The "Wrecking Crew" the nickname for the Aggies defense, is anchored up front by senior middle linebacker Dat Neuvien who leads the team in tackles with 36.
Coady, who has helped Texas A&M to a 3-1 record, knows that the Aggies have a job to do in Lawrence.
The secondary is led by senior strong safety Rich Coady who is second on the team in tackles with 30 and leads the team in interceptions with two.
"We've been looking forward to this game all summer," he said. "It's important that we get off on the right foot in conference."
Both Nguyen and Coady said they were aware of Kansas' improved offense and that they knew they would have to limit their mistakes to beat the Jayhawks.
"They're a balanced team, maybe the most balanced team we've played this year," Nguyen said. "They have a good, fast little running back in Winbush, and good backups. Their quarterback is very experienced and capable of making good plays."
Coady echoed Nguyen's sentiments.
"I think they're a very dangerous team," he said. "They've already played two conference ball games. Their offense is good. Their not a Florida State, their more ball control, west-coast style. It's gonna be a tough physical ball game."
Nguyen, who is on pace to be the first Texas A&M player to lead the team in tackles for all four years and only 49 tackles away from becoming the Aggie's all-time leader, is excited about coming to Lawrence.
LAWRENCE
"I can't wait to get away from here where it's so hot," Nguyen said. "In order to go up there and win we're gonna have to play our best."
Conference clash
'Hawks plan to use momentum from win
Coach says team needs confidence against Aggies
By Jodi M. Smith
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas football team is riding a high into this weekend's game against Texas A&M. Or at least it is going to try.
After an emotional four-overtime win Saturday against Alabama-Birmingham, the Jayhawks would like nothing more than to take that enthusiasm and use it on the Aggies.
"I think, obviously, that we'd like to take the momentum from the victory there," coach Terry Allen said. "Sure, we'd like to take some of the confidence and success that we had in the fourth quarter and the overtimes into this football game. We'll need it."
But it's going to take more than emotion to beat the 18th-ranked Aggies.
"We could be a really good team if we could eliminate a lot of the mistakes that we've been making and play on the same page," said offensive guard Justin Glasgow. "As far as that, I think we could be an exceptional team, it's just more or less coming together and playing smart football."
And a mistake, of any kind, cannot be afforded when playing a top-25 team.
"I think if we just play a solid game, we'll be all right," Glasgow said. "We're just going to have to do
everything kind of perfect."
Last weekend's victory is something they would like to repeat this
weekend when the Aggies travel to Memorial Stadium for an 11:37 a.m. kickoff. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Network.
"There's a lot of optimism, and it wasn't just from last game, it's been building ever since the last three or four games of last year," said receiver Michael Chandler. "There's more confidence in the fact that we know that even coming out
so flat, we finished so strong and that we pulled together as an offense to do it."
Texas A&M coach R. C. Slocum also recognized that Kansas was a different team from last year.
"They're a dangerous team," he said. "They're 2-2, but after looking at the tape, you can see that they could easily be 4-0 overall and 2-0 against the league. There's no question that this team is good enough to beat us."
"Any given team can beat any great team on any given day," he said. "I think we're on the verge of being a great team. I think we saw some good things in the game against UAB. We're very close to popping out and being a successful team."
There's no doubt in Glasgow's mind, either.
Chandler said that the team
"There's a lot of optimism, and it wasn't just from last game, it's been building ever since the last three or four games of last year."
Michael Chandler Kansas receiver
needed to focus on this week's game
needed to focus on this week's game.
"You kind of have to come back down to earth a little bit," Chandler said. "You still want to ride that emotional high into the next game, but there's a point where you can't get too involved in what happened last week, and you have to concentrate that this is a new team — it's a better team. We've got to ride that high, but not use it too much."
NCAA
1. Texas A&M vs. Kansas
2. Colorado vs. Oklahoma
3. Texas vs. Iowa St.
4. Baylor vs. Texas Tech
5. Oklahoma St. vs. Nebraska
6. Northwestern St. vs. Missouri
7. Georgia vs. LSU
8. Arizona vs. Washington
9. Arizona St. vs. USC
10. Kentucky vs. Arkansas
11. Tennessee vs. Auburn
12. Ohio St. vs. Penn St.
Matt Friedrichs sports editor Kevin Wilson associate sports editor Jodi Smith football reporter Spencer Duncan columnist Brandon Kristzal sports staff Randy Witthers sports staff Jason Train student Robert Hemenway chancellor
Kansas Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Texas A&M Kansas Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Colorado Oklahoma Iowa St. Iowa St. Texas Iowa St. Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Baylor Texas Tech Baylor Baylor Nebraska Nebraska
Columnist longs for days of old; looks to future
Are you old school?
Well, I am, and I want the Classic Sports Network. No doubt you've seen the commercial on ESPN by now, the one where various athletes and fans recall the glory days of sports past. All, Dr. J, Pistol Pete,
Commentary
Kevin C.
Wilson
mattf@ukans.edu
Jackie Robinson, knee-high socks and the Afro are all referred to as old school. Now that sounds like some real "Must See TV"
I yearn for the day when I can turn on my television and relive the nostalgic history of sports. I beg of you, please call. Together we can make it happen. Speaking of, old
Speaking of old school, my heart goes
out Darryl Strawberry, who was diagnosed with colon cancer yesterday. A year after his close friend Eric Davis overcame the same disease, the Straw must do the same. It's a shame that after years of battling drug and alcohol abuse, Strawberry finds himself at the beginning of another treacherous trial. Good luck.
Speaking of baseball, how do explain
the Phillies and re-entered the draft.
Best baseball name: Homer Bush. The Yankees reserve outfielder was made to play game.
St. Drew. The Cardinals outfielder hit over 400 after being promoted and was hitting home runs at the same pace as Mark McGwire at the end of the season.
St. Louis sure must be happy that Drew stood
the emergence of Yankees outfielder Shane Spencer? After spending eight full seasons in the minors, Spencer finally got an invite to the big show and, boy, did he arrive.
buy, and he has done it.
Eight home runs in September, including six in the last week of the season, three grand slams and a solo shot in his first post season at-bat have made Spencer an instant star in the Bronx.
The NFL has a plethora of teams that are still undefeated heading into Sunday. Traditional powers Denver, Green Bay
- Another rising star to watch next year is
and San Francisco are joined at the top by talented teams from Jacksonville, Minnesota and Miami. And then there's New Orleans. Yeah, the Saints. Maybe Mike Ditka's new-found faith has something to do with the 3-0 start.
■ Personally, I can't wait for the college basketball season to start. And I'm not just talking about the men. Marian Washington has all five starters back from last year's 23-9 team that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Lym Pride will be an All-American, Kansas will win the Big 12, and Washington will lead the Jayhawks to their first Final Four in the program's history.
move over Roy Williams, it's time to share the spotlight.
Wilson is an Des Moines, Iowa, senior in journalism.
Corrections:
In Thursday's Kanson, it was reported that the series between the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs was tied at one game a piece. It should have said that the Braves lead the series 1-0.
In the soccer story about freshman forward Lindsay Kennedy, it was reported that Kennedy was the team leader in assists and goals with eight. It should have said that Kennedy leads the team in points. She has four goals and no assists, with goals counting for two points each.
1.