inside sports | 3 Victorious in Reed Reed Arena was the site of the A&M Classic as tournament MVP Kelsey Bone fueled the Aggies to wins over Southern on Friday and Marquette on Sunday, each by more than 20 points.
thebattalion ● monday,
november 26, 2012
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Burning desire
Josh McKenna — THE BATTALION
Student Bonfire burns Friday night before the Missouri game near Old San Antonio Road. This year's bonfire was 45 feet tall, a height that has remained consistent over the past few years due to the design. Regardless of the absence of the annual University of Texas game, Bonfire still burns strong.
football
Historic season sealed with 59-29 blowout James Solano The Battalion The expectations entering A&M’s inaugural season with the Southeastern Conference were never high. For months, critics from around the country guaranteed failure or, at best, mediocrity for a program matching wits against the premier college football league in the nation. At the SEC Media Days, vicious reporters bombarded first-year head coach Kevin Sumlin with questions regarding his unproven offense, a thin defensive front and an unsolved quarterback controversy. Hope was a rare commodity in College Station everywhere except the Bright football complex, where young athletes found themselves buying into an unknown system. One regular season later, that hope was rewarded as the Aggies, in front of 87,222, downed former Big 12 foe Missouri, 59-29. The victory capped the program’s first tenwin season since 1998 — the year of its lone
Big 12 Championship — and further propelled A&M toward national prominence. “I think that beforehand, it was really just guys having faith — belief without proof,” Sumlin said. “Now, if you’re a young player in the program, you understand the process and that makes sense because of your rewards and, if you’re a young prospect out there, you understand that we’ve got a great University, we’ve got a great game day experience and we’re in probably the best league in the country and you can come to Texas A&M and win.” Johnny Manziel continued his quest to impress Heisman voters Saturday evening, racking up 372 yards and three touchdowns through the air while adding 67 yards on 12 carries with two scores on the ground. Statistically, Manziel finished the regular season with 4,600 yards of total offense through only 12 games, surpassing the SEC record set by Heisman winner and former See Blowout on page 4
Chase Krumholz — THE BATTALION
Johnny Manziel stiff-arms a Missouri defender on a scramble. Manziel’s two rushing touchdowns brought him to 19 for the season, which matches the school record.
sports column
b-cs
New school, old school Mark Doré: Seniors ground underclassmen It’s hard not to love the dichotomy of the A&M football team between the new and the old. The new pieces and conference stomping grounds of this program have been discussed at length. The Aggies have an all-new coaching staff and their leading passer, rusher, kicker, receiver and kick returner are true redshirt freshmen. This is the new A&M, right? Out with the old, as they say? Not so fast. If not for the wholesale buy-in from this crop of seniors, the Manziel-KingsburySumlin show would never have made it off the ground. These players are Sumlin’s because he has made them his, but remember this roster was recruited by a different staff. Ryan Swope and Christine Michael may be the faces of this class, at least on the offensive side of the ball, and they had a
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great deal of success in former head coach Mike Sherman’s offenses. The modified air-raid offense Kingsbury adopted sits on the other side of the spectrum from Sherman’s pro-style offense. That’s not an easy transition for a player to make and there isn’t a perfect success rate. Michael serves as a useful case study in this conversation because he didn’t seem to transition as smoothly as his counterparts. Swope, Sean Porter and Jonathon Stewart haven’t experienced a drop-off in production. Spencer Nealy has thrived in his new role. Had Michael stayed healthy the past two seasons, he would have seen playing time nearly equal to that of Cyrus Gray. So with Gray gone, this was Michael’s backfield, right? Wrong. Sumlin began stretching the field with five-wide sets and an See Seniors on page 4
Stats show similar crime rates in twin cities Elise Brunsvold
Aaron Cranford — THE BATTALION
Senior Ryan Swope celebrates his seventh touchdown of the season on Saturday. Swope became the second Aggie ever to break 3,000 career receiving yards.
The Battalion While stereotypes and false perceptions lead some to believe Bryan is more prone to criminal activity than its sister city, College Station, officers of both cities’ police departments refute the claim and warn students of the real dangers in both areas. Kelley McKethan, Bryan Police Department public information officer, said the two cities are fairly equivalent when it comes to criminal activity. For example, both cities have witnessed a decline in overall crime in the past year, with a 14 percent decrease in College Station and a 21 percent decrease in Bryan. Both cities have also seen an increase in crimes such as aggravated assault and rape, with similar numbers to show. McKethan said perceptions of Bryan being more dangerous and
A lot of our violators who are committing the crimes are coming from out of town” — Rhonda Seaton, College Station Police Department
prone to crime are false, stating trends and statistics are analogous for the two areas. “We’re basically sister cities with no border or wall,” McKethan said. “People from Bryan come to do criminal activity in College Station and people from College Station come to do criminal activity in Bryan. It’s pretty fair across the board with the crimes that we have.” McKethan said because Bryan is an older community with older homes and communities, people coSee Crime on page 2
11/25/12 10:15 PM