COLUMN: Don't buy Fiesta Bowl tickets (yet)

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by Ben Glassman

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A winning season?

Another Southwest Conference championship?

Another SWC championship and a winning season?

A bowl bid?!

The Houston Chronicle has its ideas, the Thresher has others and the student body has even more.

But the resourceful writer must probe all avenues to find the true story, and there remains one source that no one has yet considered: what the football players themselves say to pick up freshman girls.

Word is that the basketball team has been realistic while hitting on the freshmen, i.e. "We'll be pretty good this year."

But the football team, or at least several of its members, haven't been so modest -- saying things along the lines of, "We're @#!$% awesome this year!" or "We're gonna kick [Texas] A&M's ass!"

Either this is some skanking strategy unique to the football team, or perhaps there is some real confidence behind such statements. Why the exuberance?

Before we all (or at least the freshmen women) head out to buy Fiesta Bowl tickets, somebody ought to remind these guys that the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, despite being in a bowl game last year -- the Las Vegas Bowl -- is a school that used to field a good basketball team when they were coached by somebody called "the Shark."

In other words, they're not a national contender with the leading Heisman Trophy candidate in the backfield.

Texas A&M, however, is just such a team.

That's not to say that our season-opening trouncing of the Runnin' Rebels wasn't encouraging. It was. We basically ran wherever and whenever we wanted, and they demonstrated that they are one of the sloppiest teams in Division I-A.

Heck, we even moved up in the USA Today Coaches' Poll (from 57th to 54th). But it's not time to start clamoring about a lack of respect.

Yet.

After all, how many yards did Josh LaRocca throw for? 210? Nope. Actually the number is 21. Twenty-one.

Now here's a story you might not believe. Two years ago, when we needed to throw the Hail Mary, then-Head Coach Fred Goldsmith would actually remove then-starting quarterback Bert Emmanuel and insert LaRocca because LaRocca had a better arm .

Maybe LaRocca should actually be given the opportunity to throw.

I know of very few good teams that have as unbalanced an offensive attack as ours.

Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if one day we run up against a team with a superior defensive line (like, say, A&M) which decides to concentrate all its efforts on shutting down our running game.

Woe to the Owls on that day, because from the looks of the opener, that would completely scuttle any chance we have of moving the ball.

And even if no opponent ever comes up with that bright idea, an offense without a passing game is a boring one to watch.

Tony Tran thinks that we need a grass field to compete in the WAC; I think a passing game would be more appropriate. Here's what I'm getting at: throw the ball.

If we can do that, then theoretically the sky's the limit.

I'm not going to give a prediction for this year because I always irrationally favor my team and would probably say something like: we could go 10-1, including a victory in a mid-level bowl game and finish number nine in the country.

ACK! I've said it!

But seriously, folks, why not? A&M is really the only SWC team that's head and shoulders above us, and even then, miracles can happen.

There really are no excuses this year. We're no longer rebuilding a moribund program, few key players graduated, we had an excellent recruiting class and Coach Hatfield has had a year to implement his system.

We've been saying carpe diem for a year now, so let's actually do it. The win over the University of Texas last year was phenomenal, and the SWC Championship was sweet (even if it was tinged with the bitterness of a losing season), but this year we can -- and should -- do better.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the September 15, 1995 issue.

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