The dallas morning news

Over the last decade or so, Texas A&M's football program has been guilty of more false starts than Flozell Adams. A big win here; a big win there. Fireworks, then mostly smoke. Frankly, it could make you give up on proclamations.

The Aggies are not so jaded. They came up with a motto this season. Or linebacker Von Miller did, anyway.

We ain't going back.

If it's not exactly Shakespeare, or Lombardi, at least it embodied the notion that these aren't the same old Aggies, passed up by Texas Tech and TCU, and maybe even Baylor.
Since defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter found the patent for the Wrecking Crew and Mike Sherman benched Jerrod Johnson for Ryan Tannehill at quarterback, the Aggies have played well, earning polite applause.

But the problem with success is that wins have a short shelf life with critics and fans alike. Let's see you win a bigger one. Like today.

A&M has a chance to make a statement against LSU in the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic at JerryWorld. The 17th-ranked Aggies probably can't make one as big as TCU did in the Rose Bowl, but that's why this game is so important for A&M. The stakes are being raised by Texas schools other than UT. With TCU drawing so much national love, and the recruits that naturally follow, A&M needs a signature win of its own.

Fortunately for the Aggies, LSU represents a credible potential victim.

Or as Sherman described the 11th-ranked Tigers this week, "They're a team that was maybe two or three wins away from playing in a national championship."

And I'm only two or three books away from a best-seller. Just as soon as I start.

Still, Sherman's point is well-taken. The Tigers are a very good team from the big, bad SEC, the league that even Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany called "a step ahead of everybody else."

You may remember that the SEC is also the league that A&M flirted with last summer, when it looked like the Big 12 was breaking up.

Gene Stallings was the unofficial leader of that little insurrection, and it's easy to see why. He's Aggie to the core. But he also has strong Alabama ties because of his mentor, Bear Bryant, and the national title Stallings won in Tuscaloosa. He's seen the SEC up close and lived to tell about it.

For my money, he remembered it too much from Alabama's point of view and failed to project the prospects for A&M. For most of the Big 12's existence, the Aggies have had a hard enough time keeping up with their peers in a league that is decidedly not the SEC. Even the Aggies' success this season is tainted somewhat by the Big 12's dismal showing overall.

But that's what makes the Cotton Bowl good for something other than a big pile of cash for Jerry Jones to play in.

"This," Sherman said, "is our Super Bowl."

They'll get no arguments from the Cowboys. A win might prove convincing on other fronts as well.

Critics doubted TCU because of its affiliation with the Mountain West. A fair point. But when the little ol' Horned Frogs beat massive Wisconsin, some of those same critics suddenly argued that they deserved a title shot.

Beat LSU, and the Aggies will find unfamiliar company in their corner, too.

Of course, it won't be easy. History isn't on their side. The Aggies are 0-for-2 against SEC teams in JerryWorld. LSU didn't beat Arkansas this season, either, but playing in those games, week in and week out, prepares the Tigers for a "Super Bowl"-type environment.

"The experience can sometimes be overwhelming," Les Miles said, "but I think the SEC is used to this."

As for the Aggies, most are plowing new ground. Some have an idea.

"If we win, it will definitely project a ranking for next year," wide receiver Ryan Swope said. "That's why it's such an important game. It carries over to next season."

Might even call for a proclamation. Pardon all the talk about possibilities. Just got back from Pasadena. The place was swimming in them.

agree ghost
gotta believe there is a motivational edge to the aggies
i hope it translates into points as well!

best of luck tonight!

i'm on lsu ..... one of us will win ...... good article sir