Sept. 23, 2009

I am so thrilled we are 2-0 in football. Last year, after two games, we were not. I am excited with the number of athletes who are getting to play and contribute. I learned early on as an athletic director, to schedule games early which will allow more players to play and compete in game situations. The way we've played during these first two games has allowed many of our athletes to see the field.

In the fourth quarter against Utah State, we had a chance to go up by 28 points. At that point, our goal was to play as many guys as possible to give them live game experience.

But an unfortunate pass interference call reversed our momentum. I give all the credit in the world to Utah State. They did a great job. Their quarterback can shake and bake with the best of them. They did a good job exposing the seams in our zone coverage, and I thought they had a terrific scheme. I was thinking in the first quarter, I could not recall seeing that many offensive looks from a team that early in the game. The only thing I did not see was the Notre Dame-box and the Flying Wedge. For our younger readers, those were popular plays when Theodore Roosevelt was President.

Overall, I was pleased with our performance. I think that game will help us further down the road this season. I thought our coaching staff made good adjustments in the second quarter to counter their triple option and their unbalanced lines. Utah State ran those plays well.

I especially like our young guys, but one of the things when you play young people is they don't slow down and let the play come to them. We were so excited that we overran our coverage a few times.

There are clearly some things we need to improve on. We had way too many penalties. We successfully made some adjustments in the second half in that area too, but we still have work to do there.

Our team speed has impressed me the first two games. We are faster on both sides of the ball. This is something we've talked about since day one. I believe to be successful you must have speed on offense and defense, and we do.

Do we have enough? No. But we have more coming.

***
Last week I mentioned a special guest might lead the team out of the locker room to start the game. The timing did not work out for one invited guest; unfortunately, the timing did work out for some uninvited guests in the second half. I've never seen so many crickets and moths in one place. When I went into the locker room after the game, Dr. J.P. Bramhall brushed insects out of my hair, and I found more inside my shirt. Yuck.

Some of you asked me why our bats did not eat the crickets. The simple answer is, because the stadium lights were on. It's Mother Nature at her best. Experts have told us the crickets use the lights for warmth, while the bats stay in their nooks and crannies with the lights on. Recent rain in Aggieland caused the crickets to emerge, and unfortunately we could see more crickets this week. It's something we can't control. Our staff is working tirelessly all week to clean up the mess the crickets left, all the while knowing there is a chance more insects will return for this week's game against UAB.

Maybe we should look into a special flyover this week by crop dusters.

***
Speaking of flyovers, our staff again has made the best out of a challenging situation for this week. Our flyovers are booked months in advance, and sometimes circumstances in the military arise which cause a cancellation. Such is the case this week.

Thanks to Aggie Larry Gregory '89, who is the President of the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, we will have a B-25 Mitchell aircraft performing the flyover for the UAB game, and we are looking for four fans to ride-along. We are auctioning four passenger seats at AggieAthletics.com. The winners will be picked up at Easterwood Airport and ride along for the flyover. The plane will land at Easterwood and the fans will be joined by the pilots for a on-field recognition during the game. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

For details, click here.

***
We learned Monday the Southwest Classic game against Arkansas at Cowboys Stadium next week will be televised by ESPN2. It will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. We have about 1,500 club level seats remaining and less than 400 student standing room only tickets left. To purchase your seat, click here or contact the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-888-99-AGGIE.

A reminder, you can get official Southwest Classic gear by clicking here.

***
One of the topics we get a lot of email on is television. With alumni located literally around the world, and sometimes in space, too, Aggies want to watch us play on television. Whether it's football, basketball, track, baseball, softball or any sport, Aggies want to tune in.

In the Big 12, the selection process for televising football games can be cumbersome to understand. Monday was the beginning of the 12-day and 6-day television notification process for 2009. Games played on October 3 were the focus of this week's selection.

All home games played by Big 12 members fall under our league's television contract. In the case of neutral site games like our Southwest Classic next week, the television rights are given to the home team. This year, Arkansas is the home team so the television selection was part of the Southeastern Conference contract.
The first selection in the Big 12 contract is made by ABC. Typically, our conference office receives notice from ABC around 9 a.m. each Monday. League officials then notify our second selecting network FSN of ABC's selection. Since FSN's office is on the West Coast, it sometimes takes them a couple hours to finalize the picks. Once ABC and FSN (as well as ESPN and VERSUS through sublicenses) have selected games, the Big 12 makes an official announcement. On those dates when there is a 6-day notification, the league sends notices on Sunday morning of game week.

***
Occasionally, I receive emails from folks informing us about possible copyright infringements on our University marks and phrases like 12th Man. Our University licensing office aggressively looks into each tip it receives, along with our licensing partner Collegiate Licensing Corporation. Recently, we were notified of the unauthorized use of the 12th Man mark by retailer Lids in connection with its 2009 NFL Sideline Cap collection. I am pleased to report that our licensing office worked with our legal team and CLC to address this issue, and I am happy to say the promotion in connection with the 12th Man has now ended.

***
This week our football team will host UAB at Kyle Field on Saturday at 6 p.m. We have a variety of ticket options for this game and for all remaining games. Tickets for the south end bleachers are half-priced at $25. Tickets in other areas of the stadium are $50.

Also, as part of a promotion for student sports card holders, we are offering their families half-priced admission in several areas of Kyle Field by clicking here.

In addition, all members of the Junior Aggie Club will receive free admission to the UAB game, and their family members get half-price admission to the UAB game, too. 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. Click here for more information about joining the Junior Aggie Club.

We've also pro-rated the cost for season tickets and for the discount season tickets. Our discount season tickets are now available for $200. It's one of the best values out there. For an average of $40 a game, you get the same seat for the remaining five home games, including the game against our friends from the state capital.

Speaking of the Thanksgiving night game, the only way to get a ticket to the game against our friends from the state capital right now is via a season ticket, discount season ticket, or via our Texas Three-step promotion. The Texas Three-step promotion allows you to buy a ticket to any two of the first six home games of the season, and you can pick up an equal number of tickets to the Thanksgiving Day game.

***
Don't forget our popular Kids Yell Practice will start about 3:15 p.m. at the corner of Joe Routt and Houston Streets just prior to the football team Spirit Walk. The number of kids participating in the Yell Practice grows each week with this new tradition.

***
In our continuing effort to improve the already terrific game day experience at Kyle Field, we have added a special texting system to assist our fans. We call it AgAssist. Guests who wish to report issues and concerns, or call for assistance in a fast, easy and convenient way can do so by texting our AgASSIST text message service. Send your text to 97178 with the word AgASSIST followed by your issue and location. Stadium personnel will respond quickly and accordingly. Standard text messaging rates apply.

***
We received some positive feedback last week after listing some specific radio broadcast information here. This week, folks in Houston can hear the game via the Texas A&M Sports Network on KODA 99.1 FM. Our friends in San Antonio will hear the game LIVE on KTKR 760 AM. Those of you with satellite radio can tune into Sirius channel 91. Usually Sirius airs ESPN Deportes programming on channel 91, but our broadcast will be utilizing that channel beginning at 5 p.m. for the pregame show.

In addition to traditional radio stations, satellite radio, and the internet, there is another way to hear our broadcasts. Go to RadioAggieland.com and you can listen free with your iPhone, Windows Mobile phone, and BlackBerry.

***
Our volleyball team started Big 12 play with a victory in Lubbock last Saturday. We are 1-0 and will host No. 6 Nebraska tonight at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena. The match will be televised nationally by ESPNU. I hope we have a large crowd in attendance to support Coach Laurie Corbelli and our team. If you have not seen a volleyball game in our new digs at Reed Arena, this will be a great opportunity.

It will be good to see some old friends from Lincoln. Coach John Cook and his staff have done an incredible job over the years with their volleyball program.

Congratulations to Coach G and our soccer team on the terrific 3-1 win over No. 2 Portland last Friday on our field. We capped the weekend with a 4-0 win over Sam Houston. We start Big 12 play this weekend ranked 10th with a match Friday night at Baylor at 7 p.m. On Sunday, our team will be at Oklahoma for a 1 p.m. start.

A tip of the hat to junior Whitney Hooper who was named the NSCAA National Player of the Week, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Performer of the Week and the TopDrawerSoccer.com Women's Player of the Week. She was also named to the Soccer America Team of the Week. Whitney had two goals, including the game-winner, against Portland.

***
We received some great news from our ticket office this week regarding sales for basketball season tickets. Sales for women's basketball tickets have already surpassed last year's record number. Five of our six courtside floor seating areas are sold out, and all of our lower level seats between the baselines behind the benches are gone. Season tickets for women's basketball start at $85. We open the season by hosting Duke on Nov. 15 at Reed Arena. We are accepting group ticket requests for the season opener vs. Duke by clicking here. http://www.12thmanfoundation.com/tickets/group_event.asp

Season tickets for men's basketball start at $200. Now is the time to select your seat before the best seats are gone. Our men will open the regular season against Angelo State on Nov. 13 at Reed Arena.

You can use our new interactive ticketing website and select your specific season ticket location. It's very easy to use. Click here to Experience the Spirit of Aggie Basketball with season tickets.

***
Several of you have told me you enjoy our "bat news." We've come across this video from The Onion website, which I think you will like, showing bat relocation is gaining congressional interest.

See you tonight at Reed Arena for volleyball and Saturday at Kyle Field.