By ROBERT CESSNATexas A&M defensive end/linebacker Von Miller had a blast at the Alamo Bowl two years ago and wants to return to the postseason.
Mike Sherman coached 14 years ago in the Alamo Bowl, one of six bowls he went to as A&M's offensive line coach. He knows a bowl game would be another step forward for the program in his second year as head coach. A&M (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) will be bowl-eligible if it beats Colorado this week.
"It's something that obviously is hanging out there, but at the same time we'll worry about that once that happens, or if that happens," Sherman said. "If we take care of business I think we'll have a chance. I haven't thought that far ahead, actually, what the implications may be."
Miller has.
"I didn't really know what was going on," Miller said of ending his freshman year in San Antonio. "We were winning. I enjoyed the bowl game."
Miller didn't like watching bowls last year while his team was sitting at home.
"Everybody on the team was hoping for the Alamo Bowl or better," Miller said. "We didn't quite get that."
Miller has two chances left for postseason, or one should he declare early for the NFL draft.
"I'm already a junior," Miller said. "This late in my collegiate career, I'm going to enjoy everything."
A bowl game would be treat for more than half the team. A&M has used 76 players, 36 which hadn't played before this year. That includes 18 true freshmen, whom Miller said don't play like newcomers.
"Everybody wants to go to a bowl," Miller said. "We just got to take it play by play, game by game. If we just keep on working, the character that we have on this team it will all show itself at the end of the season, and hopefully, we'll have a bowl game."
The Big 12 is tied into eight bowls. The league champ will be part of the BCS. The pecking order after that is Cotton, Holiday, Alamo, Sun, Insight, Independence and Texas.
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A&M senior assistant coach/quarterbacks coach Tom Rossley didn't accompany the team to Kansas State and Texas Tech because of complications from having a tumor removed from his jaw.
Rossley returned to the press box for the Iowa State game and plans to travel with team to Colorado this week. He has his jaw wired shut and is on antibiotics, but was at meetings Monday morning.
Rossley had the surgery in summer, but doctors went back in to reconstruct the jaw and make it stronger Oct. 20 after finding an infection -- but no tumor -- during a follow-up appointment.
"The kids saw him on the field for the first time in quite some time [against ISU]," Sherman said. "He's slowly getting his strength back."
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Sherman isn't planning anything different because of the thin air in Boulder, Colo., which has an elevation of 5,430 feet. He said his NFL experiences were you arrive early in the week and get acclimated to the climate or stay less than 24 hours, which is what A&M will do.
Sherman managed to get a shot in on Texas Tech in the process of discussing the subject.
"Well, Lubbock is a pretty good altitude up there," he said. "There's a lot of hot air up there too, that affects that. So we had to deal with that. I know Boulder is a high city. But I've never had a problem with that before, no."
The media had a good laugh, but deadpanned Sherman never cracked a smile.
Tech head coach Mike Leach and Sherman exchanged barbs through the media in April and May, started by Leach's comments that the Dallas Cowboys thought more of former A&M quarterback Stephen McGee, whom they picked in the fourth round of the NFL draft. Record-setting Tech quarterback Graham Harrell wasn't drafted.
Before the Tech game two weeks ago, Sherman said "That's like 10 years ago to me."
Leach, meanwhile, said that it was an honor to play a traditional program like A&M that has a team loaded with NFL players.
A&M won at Lubbock for the first time since 1993.
To Sherman's credit, he was using facts when talking about Lubbock's elevation. It is 3,256 feet above sea level, while College Station is only 300.
Sherman did say practices would be shorter this week to make sure the team is fresh if conditioning would become an issue. The weather forecast right now is for sunny and 53 degrees at kickoff in Boulder.
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Sherman was so sure that A&M would bounce back from the 62-14 loss at Kansas State that he rewarded the team before the Tech game.
"I said, 'I might as well give it to you now because we're going to go play and we're going to go win this football game,' and we did," he said. "We had these little carabiners that we pass out when we win a game, and they did, they did a great job."
Sherman believes carabiners illustrate a ladder of success best.
"You hitch up to your teammate, and you get so many ... every time we do something I pass them out, and they have them on their lockers," Sherman said. "It's a little thing to remind them that we're climbing a mountain, this analogy I use in the preseason about climbing a mountain, and so forth."
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A&M's game at Oklahoma on Nov. 14 will be televised by FSN at 6 p.m. Other TV games that day will be Texas at Baylor, 11 or 11:30 a.m. on FSN; Missouri at Kansas State at 11:30 a.m. on Versus; Nebraska at Kansas at 2:30 p.m. on ABC; and Texas Tech at Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. on ABC. TV passed on Colorado at Iowa State.
A&M's game at Colorado at 12:40 a.m. Saturday will be on Fox College Sports. Other TV games will be Central Florida at Texas at 11:30 a.m. on FSN; Kansas at Kansas State at 11:30 a.m. on Versus; Oklahoma State at Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. on ABC; and Oklahoma at Nebraska at 7 p.m. on ABC. TV passed on Baylor at Missouri.
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Sherman talked to Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre late Sunday night after Favre beat the Packers in Green Bay. Sherman, who was Favre's head coach for six years, watched some of the game.
"I was surprised [at the boos]," Sherman said. "I thought he would be applauded, and he will be when this is all done.
"It's still Packers vs. Vikings. There's a tremendous rivalry between the two organizations and states. It's just part of living up there. It makes it neat in many ways. But trust me, when it's all said and done, and the dust settles and he does retire -- if he does -- if we're still alive -- then I think bygones will be bygones, all will be forgotten and the prodigal son will come home. That's just a fact. That will happen."
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During his radio show, Sherman got a round of applause from the fans gathered at Wings-N-More on Monday night for opting to take three knees inside the Iowa State's 5-yard line with time running out.
Sherman said the outcome had already been decided and the players on the other side had worked just as hard as his players had and there was no need to tack on another score.
Aggie players, many of them on the short end of lopsided scores last season, agree.
"It shows class," senior tackle Michael Shumard said. "I would hate to be a player for a team that would try and score with 10 or seconds or 20 seconds left in a game, or call timeout and try to score. I appreciate Coach Sherman doing that."
Leach and Tech took a time out last year with 24 seconds left, which allowed Harrell to score from the 1 to make the final 43-25.
Maybe it was the low elevation.
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A&M plans to redshirt sophomore linebacker Ricky Cavanaugh (left MCI knee sprain). Cavanaugh played in the first two games, getting six tackles. ... Junior offensive lineman Craig Rashke, who was used early in the season as a reserve tackle, has played some tight end in the last two games. The 268-pounder has helped the running game with his blocking. ... Freshman linebacker Sean Porter was A&M's special teams player of the week for being in on three tackles against ISU. ... Freshman offensive guard Patrick Lewis had his best game of the season, Sherman said, adding that senior offensive tackle Lee Grimes had the unit's best game. ... Freshman wide receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu might be limited in practice but is expected to play Saturday. Nwachukwu received a helmet-to-helmet hit after making a catch against ISU.
Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.
TEXAS A&M FOOTBALL
* Saturday's game: Texas A&M (5-3, 2-2 in Big12) at Colorado (2-6, 1-3), 12:40 p.m.
* TV/radio: Fox College Sports/WTAW, 1620 AM and Sirius Ch. 154
* On the Web: How much of a difference-maker is Jerrod Johnson? See Robert Cessna's blog at AggieSports.com.
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The blame game
