I jumped out of bed Sunday morning and ran out to get the paper. There's nothing better than "reading all about it" after a nice win. Back at work Monday, people had a bounce in their step. No matter where I've been since Saturday night, people are having fun talking Aggie football again.

Last week, I mentioned here we would be better this year. Saturday, we showed three things clearly with our win over New Mexico. One, we have more team speed. On defense, speed put us in a position to tackle better. And, third we are more athletic at every position.

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You know from my previous columns how hard we work on staging our home games. One of the concerns we had this week was the flyover by the World War II aircraft we scheduled. These planes don't have computers or GPS. So, the pilots use the ol' stopwatch for guidance when they need to be over Kyle Field at the end of the National Anthem. Penny King, our Deputy Athletic Director, was standing with me on the sidelines and noted how the planes were in position at the exact time we asked. Kudos! And some of you think all we do is make sure the popcorn is popped and pump up the footballs on game day.

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Let's talk about bats. It used to be the Mexican Free Tailed Bats at Kyle Field utilized a seasonal migration. Now, many have taken year round residence in various nooks, crannies, and ledges around the stadium. Some of you reported spotting live bats during the game in some areas. Our staff works extremely hard each week cleaning up after the bats. It's an endless task. We'd love for the bats to find a new home, but we are limited in how much relocation assistance we can provide, because the bats are a protected species in Texas. Since the bats won't leave, my alter-ego "Dollar Bill" is working on a plan to charge the bats for admission to the football games. Everyone must have a ticket to enter Kyle Field.

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Another of the items our staff was monitoring last Saturday was pedestrian patterns around the stadium. With the MSC closed for three years, we were unsure if folks would change the path and time frame traditionally used to access the Aggie Fan Zone, and the stadium gates.

Our ticket office compiled some interesting statistics on the number of fans using each gate. More than 75 percent of ticket holders last Saturday entered Kyle Field via the Aggie Fan Zone and our gates nine through 14 in the north.

For example, 19,175 fans used Gate 14, while 11,146 entered at Gate 11.

We have a few suggestions for those of you seeking a quicker entry to Kyle Field. First, utilize the Express Entry points. Those fans without bags are admitted much quicker than those fans that bring along a purse or backpack.

Secondly, use a gate with less traffic. Last week, Gates 1 and 2 in the southeast corner of the stadium were used by 5,100 fans, while 4,000 fans entered at Gates 4 and 5 in the southwest corner. Remember, a few more steps to a less-crowded gate will save you valuable time in entering the stadium.

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September football games always present us with a concern for the health of our fans. Each week we prepare for a sellout crowd, especially when it comes to medical personnel, and fan safety and security. Our TAMU Emergency Care Team treated 18 persons with heat related symptoms. We're told none of those individuals were transported to the hospital. There have been many September football games at Kyle Field where many, many more fans were treated for heat related symptoms and even transported to the hospital. The weather, combined with a 6 p.m. kickoff, was beneficial for all.

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Let's talk about the Bullhorn guy. We continue to get lots of emails about this individual. As I've mentioned before, it is simply an issue of freedom of speech. He has the right to be on campus. He also has the right to use amplified equipment, because we use it in and around Kyle with our Aggie Fan Zone radio and television broadcasts, and in conjunction with other Fan Zone activities. You may not agree with the forum and or the message he has chosen, but many have agreed he has the right to say what he wants to say. Many Aggies have given their lives in military service to provide all of us the freedoms we enjoy daily. Freedom of speech is one of those.

Some of you have considered physically confronting the gentleman. University Police have told us anyone who assaults an individual over 75 years old would be arrested and charged with an automatic felony. Our advice to fans is to just keep walking, go about the business of supporting the Aggies and enjoying game day in Aggieland.

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Thank you to our outstanding 12th Man Productions staff for the new look of the ribbon boards at Kyle Field. I loved the easy-to-read design and enjoyed the expanded statistics the ribbons offer. We are lucky to have such an experienced and dedicated staff running our big screens.

You may have noticed one of our former track and field student-athletes hosting a segment on the 12th Man TV. I thought Yasmine Regis did a great job during the Aggie Fan Zone update. She has a bright future in television.

Another of our student-athletes Juila Wilkinson, a swimmer, serves as a co-host of our Fan Zone radio show with Dave South.

I'm pleased we are able to offer these unique broadcasting opportunities. The majority of our staff in 12th Man Productions is made up of Texas A&M students. Several athletes have told us over the last few years they've chosen Texas A&M because they want to get involved in television. They recognize the type of work being done by 12th Man Productions and want to learn in our production facility.

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We debuted the 1st & 10 Nachos I told you about last week at two concessions stands at Kyle Field for the New Mexico game. It's fair to say our new nachos were well received. Sales for nachos doubled at our test location in The Zone, while sales at our test location on the west side more than tripled. Meanwhile, folks also enjoyed the new Slovacek Jalapeno Sausage wrap as we sold nearly 700.

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We've heard from several of you saying the audio level in the lower level of The Zone was too quiet. Our sound engineers will be looking at the levels and working to improve the sound quality in that area. We've spent over $800,000 on the sound system at Kyle Field, and we are with you, we want it to work like it's supposed to.

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Several of you emailed us about the difficulty in listening to our football game in Houston. First, I wish you would have been in Kyle Field with me.

In the scheme of things in Houston, we are not the priority for radio stations when it comes to conflicts with the Astros. We fall behind them on the pecking order. This week, our game was on a pretty good FM station (KODA 99.1), but we will work hard to let you know which station in Houston will carry the game each week. Click here for the weekly schedule.

Speaking of big-city radio coverage, since the day I stepped on campus, one of the big concerns raised by our fans was quality of radio coverage in the Metroplex, especially for our night games. I heard from several of you in the Metroplex about the great coverage on the radio we have this season. Many times, I receive emails during the game from fans offering their opinion about different things. This game, the only email I received during the game was thanking me for our radio coverage in Dallas. You can listen to the Texas A&M Sports Network in Dallas-Fort Worth on 105.3 FM The Fan.

A big tip of the hat to our friends at Learfield Sports who worked hard to improve our radio coverage in Dallas. They stepped up financially to make this happen.

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It was an interesting weekend in college football. Starting with a late punch on Thursday night, some significant injuries on Saturday, and wrapping with a fantastic finish on Monday night. There were Division I-AA schools beating BCS-type programs, and mid-major conferences beating top conferences.

With the NCAA's rule on 85 scholarships, almost everyone has quality football players. With each passing year, we are seeing more and more parity in college football. People are no longer able to stockpile players. Kids want to go where they can play sooner than later. We are hearing this a lot from our 2010 and 2011 recruits. The landscape of college football is not making a complete change. However, there are new faces in the mix each year.

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Despite what you read in the local newspaper, ticket sales for the Southwest Classic are going great. Our football game against Arkansas on Oct. 3 at the new Cowboys Stadium has a limited number of seats remaining. Only club seating remains, but with the unique design of the stadium, these seats are the best in the house. Click here to purchase. The Cowboys have also allocated a couple more luxury suites to us, so if you'd like to enjoy the game with 20 to 30 of your best friends or clients, click here for more information.

Our original student ticket allotment sold out last week, but we've placed an additional 1,100 standing room only tickets on sale for students. You can contact the ticket office at 1-888-99-AGGIE for more information or click here. These $25 Spirit Passes are only available to Texas A&M students with sports cards.

We've also placed a variety of Southwest Classic themed merchandise on sale via AggieLocker.com.

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I hope you are making plans to be at Kyle Field in 10 days for our next home game. We will welcome Utah State to Aggieland. We have individual game tickets on sale by clicking here. Plus, we've reduced the cost of the discounted season ticket option to $225. Buy your discounted season ticket now, and get the same seat for the six remaining home games.

The Utah State game will also be Texas A&M Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day. We are offering half-priced tickets in a variety of sections to all TAMU faculty and staff members. You can click here for more information.

At the New Mexico game, we had over 2,000 Aggies take advantage of our Recent Grad half-priced ticket option.

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Our soccer and volleyball teams were in California last weekend. Both won a match and both lost a match. I was glad to see volleyball coach Laurie Corbelli return to San Francisco, the site of her first coaching job, and get a win.

Last night, we hosted the Italy National A2 Team in an exhibition match at Reed Arena. We won in three straight games before agreeing to play a fourth game which the Italians won.

This weekend, our volleyball team will be participating in the Texas State CenturyTel Premier tournament in San Marcos. We will face Hofstra on Friday at 10 a.m. followed by Texas Southern at 5 p.m. On Saturday, we wrap the tournament with a match against Texas State at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, Coach G and our No. 13-ranked soccer team will be in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a match against defending national champion and top-ranked North Carolina. You can listen to the match free at AggieAthletics.com.

Congratulations to sophomore Bri Young who was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.

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Beginning Friday, our women's golf team will host the 16th "Mo"Morial Golf Tournament at Traditions Golf Club. The 11-team field will tee off at 9 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Admission is free. This is the only time our women's golf team will be playing in Aggieland this year. The tournament had been played annually in the spring since 1992 before skipping last season so it could be moved to the fall schedule.

Saturday is the annual Texas A&M Invitational at Penberthy Fields. It's the only home meet of the season for our cross country runners. The college races start at 7:45 a.m. so get up and have an early breakfast. Then, watch the meet, and you will be home by 9:30 a.m. Admission is free.

There will be 20 men's teams and 19 women's teams in the college division. Many of them are from Texas and the South Central Region, in which our men are defending region champions.

In the high school divisions, there will be 66 boys' teams and 65 girls' teams.

In total, there will be 2,300 athletes competing between high school and college divisions.

Our 12th Man Team Rewards Program will be scanning and stamping at both golf and cross country events.

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Our Junior Aggie Club is one of the best entertainment values in town. For $25, a child receives free admission to many Aggie athletic events and to the football game against UAB. And family members of Junior Aggie Club members get half-price admission to the UAB game, too! This year we will have about 160 athletic events available for members of the Junior Aggie Club to attend for free. Click here for more information about joining the Junior Aggie Club.

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Periodically, I get emails from fans wondering why we aren't recruiting a particular youngster. There are times when I will call the coach of the sport, and usually the coach tells me several things immediately about the kid. Our coaches know about a multitude of athletes across the country.

At the same time, our coaches target recruits. There has to be a reason to contact an athlete. If they are not an elite athlete from our coaches' perspective, and one capable of handling the academic rigors of Texas A&M, then the athlete is not on our priority list.

When I speak to recruits, I tell them they are lucky to be on campus for a visit, because we recruit elite athletes who are good students, and who we think can succeed competitively in their sport and in the classroom at Texas A&M.

Allow me to share a recent response to an inquiry from baseball coach Rob Childress about this process. The original email concerned an athlete who was a late recruit to Texas A&M. Rob's response offers great insight into college baseball recruiting and his philosophy on Building Champions.

Here is an excerpt:

"I really appreciate your email to Bill as he forwarded it on to me.  I appreciate your concern about Aggie Baseball and our recruiting.  We work very hard each and every day in recruiting and we work to recruit our kind of player and our kind of pitcher.  Our goals are really simple and that is to be the last team standing in Omaha each and every year.  Anything less than that is going to be a disappointment in our staff, our coaches and our players.

Our recruiting is pretty simple.  We are going to identify position players that bring two things to the field every day, and those are strength and speed.  Pitching-wise we are looking for sinker/slider guys and left-handed pitching.  Tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar approach to the game is what we are looking for, along with the physical attributes that I described above.

Also to help educate you on our rules, we are allowed to have 27 guys on athletic aid with not less than 25% of a full scholarship given to anyone.  We get 11.7 total scholarships to break up among 27 guys.  We are dealing with underclassmen who have the potential of being drafted as well as guys already committed that have the potential of being drafted- all the while trying to stay within the 11.7 and the 27 man scholarship roster as well.

We do not spend our time sending out weekly bulk mailings to players we have heard about.  We identify our kind of player or pitcher and we recruit them.  We do not have the time or want to just cold-call potential suspects with bulk mailouts.  It is what I call false hustle.  We are going to be out seeing them with our own eyes."

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I hope to see you at the golf course or at the cross country meet this weekend.