Oct. 11, 2000
Editor's Note: Dave Campbell's column appears in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here. For an archive of his other columns, click here.
The Texas Aggies are coming to town this weekend -- those people who wear maroon and white and make much of a Twelfth Man tradition and sing a song that begins "Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!" -- and in some Baylor ranks there is a certain wringing of hands and long faces and a feeling that bad news is just around the corner.
Former Baylor standout Walter Abercrombie must wonder why. And likewise Vann McElroy.
And a number of other Bruins that one could name must wonder why such pessimism -- such former Bruin stars as Raymond Cockrell and Mike Fisher and Frank Ditta, Dennis Gentry and Radar Holt and Eddy Gregory, Andrew Melontree and Jay Jeffrey and Tommy Tabor. And there are still other old Bears that belong on that list but those will do for openers.
You see, those Bears met the Aggies on the field of battle two, three, even four times in the cases of Abercrombe, McElroy and Tabor, and never lost to them. Not once.
In 1978, in a ringing upset that shocked Baylor fans and shocked A&M partisans even more, the Bears went to A&M's Kyle Field and beat the Aggies, 24-6. Back in Waco the following season the Bears prevailed again, 17-7. In 1980, in a monsoon that left Aggies, Bears and spectators soaked, Baylor won in a flashflood of points, 46-7. And in Waco in '81 it was Baylor 19, A&M 17.
Four games, four Baylor victories. And only one of them was even close.
BEARS OF MORE recent vintage must look back on those 1978-81 Baylor accomplishments and wonder how Grant Teaff's guys did it.
Because since 1985, and with the one exception of 1990 when the two teams tied, 20-20, at Kyle Field, the Bears have not been able to master the men from College Station by even one point. That 14-game string without so much as a single victory is the longest stretch of Baylor frustration in a rivalry that goes back to 1899.
As a matter of fact, the first non-Waco team that Baylor played in football was Texas A&M. After defeating Toby's Business College of Waco in Baylor's inaugural football game in history, the Bears took on a more experienced A&M team (the Aggies had taken up the pigskin game in 1894) and lost, 33-0. But two years later the Bears won, 47-0, and the rivalry was established.
It has only grown over the years, interrupted only by a tragedy in 1926 (an A&M student was killed when a fight broke out between Baylor and A&M partisans at a game being played at the old Cotton Palace field, resulting in a suspension of the Baylor-A&M series for four years) and the manpower problems brought on by World War II when Baylor dropped football for two seasons.
THIS IS A RIVALRY that introduced A&M's Hall of Fame fullback Jarrin' John Kimbrough to the Southwest Conference (at old Muny Stadium in 1938 when the two teams tied, 6-6, as Kimbrough first established himself as a great power back), that produced one of the greatest punting exhibitions in SWC history (1947 when the Aggies won at Kyle Field, 24-0, as Stan Hollmig kept the Bears locked inside their 10-yard line with a series of stupendous punts), that produced what was later voted the greatest game played in the SWC in the 1980s (A&M 31, Baylor 30 in the game that decided the conference crown in 1986), a clash that left fans breathless in what coach Bear Bryant later called the "meanest, dirtiest, toughest, bloodiest game he ever coached" (1956 at Baylor Stadium, before an overflow crowd of 50,000) and a game that A&M won, 19-13, and a 1950 game that still lingers in this memory as a classic. Much has already been written about this being the 50th anniversary of Floyd Casey Stadium. The Iowa State game on the final day of September was actually played 50 years to the day from that Saturday when Baylor Stadium was first opened and the Bears defeated Houston, 34-7.
The Bears had opened their season the week before on the road, losing to Wyoming, 7-0. Three weeks after beating Houston, after defeating Mississippi State in Shreveport (14-7) and losing to Arkansas in Fayetteville (27-6), the Bears returned home and defeated Texas Tech, 26-12.
Even so, the Baylor victory over Tech that day left the Bears with a 2-2-1 record, just so-so compared to the record of the Texas A&M team the Bears were to face in their own den.
THE AGGIES HAD ONE of the great running back threesomes of that era (halfbacks Glenn Lippman and Billy Tidwell and fullback Bob Smith) and they were coached by former Waco High mentor Harry Stiteler, who apparently had his team ranked in the nation's top 10 at kickoff time. A&M came to Waco having lost only one game, a 34-28 thriller to eventual national champion Oklahoma in Norman.
Bob Smith that season would wind up rushing for 1,302 yards, a new SWC record. Glenn Lippman would leave the league in rushing the next season. Baylor's equalizer was one of the greatest athletes in the university's history, quarterback Larry Isbell.
And then a few days before game time one other interesting element was added to the equation. Several A&M students kidnapped Baylor's two bear cub mascots, prompting Baylor students and fans to work themselves into a frenzy of rage. As Tribune-Herald sports editor Jinx Tucker wrote after the game, "Seldom has a Baylor team been keyed to a higher pitch than was the Baylor team of yesterday afternoon."
THE BEARS WON that game, after falling behind by 13 points in the first few minutes of play. Reporting on the game, Tucker wrote: "With a smashing, crashing ground offense and a dazzling air game, the Baylor Bears shattered precedent at the new Baylor Stadium Saturday afternoon. They defeated and upset the brilliant Texas Aggies, rating among the first ten in the nation, by a score of 27 to 20. The game was played before a crowd of 34,000 screaming fans, the largest crowd that has ever attended an athletic event in Waco.
"That was one precedent, but the new stadium was responsible for that. The Bears of 1950 were responsible for smashing the other precedent. It was the first time in 52 years of football relations with the Aggies that the Bears have made it three in a row over that team, and no one gave the Bears a chance this time."
As Tucker went on to note, "Smith was great for the Aggies, and so was Lippman, but the sensational star of the sunny afternoon was Larry Isbell. His ball handling, his faking, and his super endurance finally turned the tide. He was magnificent in fighting off tacklers when he was rushed, throwing with remarkable accuracy when it seemed that he had no room to pass."
Isbell threw four touchdown passes that afternoon, two to end Harold Riley and two to halfback Buddy Parker. Baylor finished with 244 yards rushing and 200 yards passing. The Aggies fumbled five times and lost all five.
That upset victory proved to be the making of that Baylor team. It won three of its remaining four games, losing only to a powerful Texas team, 27-20, and Texas finished No. 3 in the nation that year. The Bears had that clash with the Longhorns tied at 20-20 until Bobby Dillon returned one of Isbell's long punts for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Then the next season the Bears posted an 8-2-1 record, winning their way to the Orange Bowl and a Jan. 1 date with Georgia Tech.
I BRING UP ALL THAT at this time to set the stage for the upcoming Baylor-A&M showdown that, once again, finds no one giving the Bears a chance.
And there are good reasons, of course. Not only have the Bears not defeated their old Brazos Bottom rivals in 14 seasons, either in Waco or College Station, they have not defeated any Big 12 Conference rival in their last 16 tries. That's a string of futility that goes back to Oct. 10, 1998 when the Bears beat Kansas in Waco, 31-24.
A&M, meanwhile, has developed a winner's sure touch. In the 1990s the Aggies ranked No. 6 nationally, posting a 94-28-2 record. Only Florida State, Nebraska, Florida, Tennessee and Penn State did better. Their home record for that decade (55-4-1) was the fourth best nationally.
With the victories have come the crowds. A&M averaged 73,126 fans per home game last season, a school season record turnout climaxed by the largest crowd in Kyle Field history ? 86,128 for the 20-16 victory over Texas. But the second largest crowd ever to see a game at Kyle Field (83,644) turned out earlier this season for A&M's "revenge" game against Texas Tech. And the Aggies opened their season playing before 80,232 at Notre Dame.
They lost that game played in the shadow of the Golden Dome, 24-10, but it was a tight and tense contest until late in the fourth quarter, and the Aggies that day were breaking in a new quarterback. His name is Mark Farris, he is a refugee from the pro baseball diamond (Pittsburgh Pirate farm system), he is 25 years old and has a child of kindergarten age. No ordinary greenhorn is Mark Farris.
A SOPHOMORE in eligibility, the 6-2, 206-pound Farris has progressed at a rapid rate since his trial by fire at South Bend. After seeing his team lose to Notre Dame, he has directed the Aggies to four consecutive victories ? 51-3 over Wyoming, 45-17 over Texas-El Paso, 33-15 over Texas Tech, and xxxxxx last Saturday over Colorado.
Before he's through, A&M insiders are saying, the Angleton native has a chance to become one of the most productive A&M quarterbacks in years. He went into the Colorado game having completed 64 of his 99 passes for 801 yards and three TDs, and he had also run for 60 yards while showing good mobility to go with his strong arm.
Farris went into two-a-days in a three-way battle with two former blue-chippers, Colby Freeman (6-2, 214) of Brownwood and Vance Smith (6-4, 226) of Fort Worth Christian, for starting rights. But now the No. 1 job is his, and his rate of improvement suggests he is in the jockey's seat to stay.
Farris directs an upstairs-overland attack that features freshman Richard Whitaker and soph Joe Weber at the tailback spot and powerful, improved blocker Ja'Mar Toombs (6-0, 275) at fullback. Whitaker (5-10, 197) is the quick, nimble slasher and Weber (6-0, 228) the more powerful runner. But Toombs is the most powerful of the lot. Whitaker, a largely unheralded redshirt from Jacksonville, went into the Colorado game averaging 5.6 yards per carry and Weber, a California import, 5.0.
But Toombs is leading the team in scoring with 7 TDs through the first four games.
THAT'S A GOOD backfield without question but where the Aggies really get lethal is at wide receiver. In juco transfer Robert Ferguson (from Tyler JC) they have a "natural," a fleet, glue-fingered catcher who already had snared 21 balls for 354 yards and three scores. "He's our new Albert Connell," declares one A&M insider, comparing the 6-2, 210-pound Ferguson to the former Aggie who now stars for the Washington Redskins. Still, A&M's "other receiver," senior Chris Taylor, is a game-breaking speedster, and junior Bethel Johnson is high regarded as well.
Those three probably give the Aggies the best and most dangerous trio of receivers they've had in years.
Senior RoDerrick Broughton, 6-1, 258, a Louisiana import, is a tight end valued more for his blocking than catching. In the offensive line, junior center Seth McKinney (6-3, 290) and junior tackle Tango McCauley (6-3, 288) are highly regarded, but the Aggies are hoping for more improvement up front.
DEFENSIVELY, THEY miss senior end Rocky Bernard, out for the season with a torn ACL. But the threesome of junior end Evan Perroni (6-5, 265), senior nose tackle Ron Edwards (6-3, 284) and senior end Ronald Flemons (6-5, 249) is seldom pushed around, and soph Ty Warren, a 6-4, 294-pound homegrown (Bryan High) lineman, provides formidable depth. So does senior Stephen Young.
As usual, the Aggies are loaded at linebacker. The backbone of A&M's famed "Wrecking Crew" puts four seasoned, aggressive, mobile backers in the lineup and dares opponents to run against them. Those four are outside backers Jason Glenn and Roylin Bradley and inside backers Brian Gamble and Cornelius Anthony. They're all seniors except Gamble, who is a 6-2, 223-pound former all-stater from Alto and the son of a former Baylor footballer who currently leads the team in tackles.
If the Aggie defense has a weakness, it would be on pass defense. Free safety Michael Jameson, a former Killeen schoolboy standout, is the key man there, and Humble product Sammy Davis is well liked. But redshirt freshman Sean Weston at left cornerback and true freshman Terrence Kiel at strong safety are still working on their resumes.
TRUE FRESHMAN Cody Scates, a Tyler product who is averaging 41.5 yards per kick, handles the punting chores, and returning starter Terence Kitchens, a senior, the field goals and extra points. Kitchens is 5 for 6 on his field goal attempts, and 16 for 17 on extra points.
Having lost to A&M by scores of 45-13, 35-14, 38-10 and 24-7 in four years of Big 12 Conference competition, the Bears are sure to be extreme underdogs Saturday at Baylor Stadium.
But perhaps they will keep in mind that they also were big underdogs in 1950, and play accordingly.
Editor's Note: Dave Campbell's column appears in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here. For an archive of his other columns, click here.
