Alamo Bowl Notes
by
Brent Zwerneman
Express-News Staff Writer
December 28, 1999

Slocum amused, amazed by picks:  Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum said the Aggies’ season started with unrealistic expectations. He said he almost found it "amusing" that the same people (reporters) who tabbed the Aggies as a Top 5 or Top 10 pick also didn’t select anyone but their punter to the preseason All-Big 12 teams. To anyone who thought A&M could contend for a national title, "I’d like to talk to them," Slocum said.

Nothing personal:  Penn State senior quarterback Kevin Thompson, who’s been hampered by injuries, probably could have played against the Aggies. But Coach Joe Paterno gave junior Rashard Casey his first start of the season and Casey was named the game’s most outstanding offensive player in PSU’s 24-0 win.

"I was really tempted to start him even though he hadn’t practiced," Paterno said of Thompson, who along with linebacker Brandon Short captained the 1999 Nittany Lions. "He’s one of the best kids we’ve ever had around here."

Strange sounds:   That was definitely booing at the end of the first half when A&M trailed 14-0. It certainly wasn’t the Aggies fans’ standard "Toooooombs" for tailback Ja’Mar Toombs, since quarterback Randy McCown just took a knee on the half’s final play.

Aggies take a lot of pride in the belief that they don’t boo their teams. Some A&M fans later argued those booing were outsiders with no affiliation to either school, who just wanted to see a bomb thrown to close out the half.

That was an awful lot of booing from supposedly neutral observers, if that’s the case.

Watching at home:   ESPN announced Wednesday that the Alamo Bowl drew a 5.15 rating, the highest for a bowl game on the network this season. Tuesday’s game was the fifth of 13 that will be shown on ESPN or ESPN2.

The rating also is the second highest in the AlamoBowl’s seven-year history, surpassed only by the 6.3 rating for the 1995 game between Texas A&M and Michigan.

Replacing a legend:   Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he chose not to speculate during the season about a replacement for retiring defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky out of respect. Now, he said, he’ll return to State College, Pa., and sit down with his staff and decide the best route for hiring a new coordinator. Paterno said the hire could come from within his staff.

With a really big food court:    And finally, this overheard observation from a Penn State family approaching the River Walk for the first time a few days ago.

"Mommy, look! A river runs through the mall."