Scroll down to the bold...something tells me the editors missed a big one (no pun intended!!) A&M faithful mope, while UT fans hope By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle JACK Brown won a game he had to win, and his team made a nice leap back toward the top of the polls, keeping alive its hopes of rejoining the national championship chase. Dana Dimel won a game he had to win, and his team stayed alive in its pursuit of a bowl berth -- a quantum leap by any measure for a program coming off an 0-11 season. Ken Hatfield won a game he didn't have to win, but it certainly didn't hurt after the week his team had had ... thanks to him. R.C. Slocum? His team lost a game it had a chance to win, leaving him with three more he now desperately needs to win. Yes, it is a pity two of those are against Oklahoma and Texas. Of the aforementioned coaches, at least neither Brown nor Hatfield is facing "firing" squads, although the latter's honest -- if terribly unwise -- remarks about gay players not being welcome in his locker room didn't go down so well at Rice. It's the first time in the laudable Hatfield's tenure that the most successful Owls coach since Jess Neely has been viewed in the slightest negative light by the university family; his job always has been as secure as any in the country. So even a victory ground out at the expense of woeful host Tulsa before a shivering handful of fans provided a welcome distraction from Hatfield's self-inflicted controversy. Dimel, for his part, was -- and still is -- hanging by a thread. Had the Cougars crashed at Memphis, he would have needed to win out to survive athletic director Dave Maggard's wrath. Defeating the 2-7 Tigers aided and abetted his cause, but be assured he's on notice. The first-year AD, stuck with a budget that can't be balanced no matter what piddling bowl UH might conceivably participate in, won't patiently tolerate many more shenanigans. Meanwhile, up in Aggieland they don't know which way they're headed in the search for a new athletic director, but it's clear where Slocum's program is going. And it's not a direction most Aggies find palatable. Despite tremendous infrastructure investment and the A&M community's unbridled passion for football, the Maroon have slipped from being a peer of Texas and Oklahoma to being marooned deep in the second division of the Big 12 South. After stumbling against Oklahoma State, , the Ags are looking down at only Baylor, and this does not bode well for R.C. Slocum has long been untouchable because he's such a right fine fellow and, with his folksy, unpretentious manner, a perfect fit for A&M. Besides, former AD Wally Groff had his back covered. But Groff's gone, and R.C.'s Teflon is being chipped away. His most heinous offense is being unable to compete for the upper-crust Texas recruits with Brown or Bob Stoops, and there's no reason to assume that's going to change in the near future with the Sooners and Horns playing for big stakes with the big boys. So change appears inevitable and, frankly, quite necessary. Top-ranked OU remains unbeaten and 8-1 Texas has rejoined the top five after three eye-catching wins in a row, but the Aggies are left to start pondering whether they should accept a Humanitarian Bowl bid -- assuming they can sufficiently regroup to qualify for same. Slocum needn't apologize for his work ethic or how he has maintained control over his program, keeping the Aggies squeaky clean after Jackie Sherrill's freewheeling outlaw days in the 1980s. But they have skidded to the Texas Tech-Oklahoma State realm competitively -- losing to both for the first time in the same Big 12 season -- and that's not acceptable. The next AD needs to set a fresh course. After four consecutive seasons with four or more losses, plus a first-ever fourth Slocum defeat at Kyle Field looming when the Sooners visit Saturday, change is in order. But in Austin, the smiles have returned, and the Burnt Orange legions are beginning to forgive Brown for the sting of the Oklahoma defeat. With only pitiful Baylor, unpredictable Tech and the slumping Aggies remaining, the Longhorns can see their way clear to 11-1 and another lucrative BCS bowl payday. For now, that Sooners boner has cost them realistic aspirations for the real prize -- an invite to the national championship game -- as well as the secondary plum of competing for the Big 12 title at Reliant Stadium. But Miami has shown enough fleeting vulnerability for the Horns to think the Hurricanes could get knocked off by Tennessee or Virginia Tech. And Ohio State, also unbeaten and lurking in the No. 3 spot, must tiptoe past Michigan before it's home free. Because the Horns refused to lose to Kansas State, Iowa State and Nebraska on their murderers-row redemption tour, and because the unbeaten ranks were conveniently trimmed by four Saturday, Brown needn't be thought crazy for dreaming about a rematch against his nemesis Stoops for all of college football's marbles. It's not to be assumed Mack would fare particularly well in same, but he'll gladly take his chances.
