By Matt Welnack staff reporter Before junior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson came off of the field with 1:46 left in the game Saturday against Texas-El Paso, he turned around to his offensive line and hugged them. Congratulations were in order after Tomlinson broke the NCAA Division 1-A record for rushing yards in a single game with 406, breaking Kansas running back Tony Sands' mark of 396 yards set Nov. 23, 1991. Tomlinson also scored six touchdowns to lead the Frogs past the Miners' 52-24 and improved TCU's record to 6-4. The Frogs are now eligible for a bowl game and also have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 1994-1995 seasons. "I have never seen anything quite like that," head coach Dennis Franchione said. "I've seen a lot of great teams, but not many days like that. It was the best ever. No one has ever done what he did today." Tomlinson also set a TCU single-season rushing record with 1,725 yards, formerly held by Kenneth Davis, who had 1,611 yards. His six touchdowns also represented a TCU single-game record. In usual style, Tomlinson gave the credit to his offensive line. "I believe all the credit goes to the offensive line," Tomlinson said. "They've done a great job creating holes all season. I need to buy them a couple of steaks now."
Junior guard Jeff Millican said the offensive line takes pride in knowing they played a part in Tomlinson's record-setting day. "We took it upon ourselves to get it for him," Millican said. "When we see his name anywhere, we know we are related to it." TCU started the game strong, scoring 17 points in the first quarter. Sophomore linebacker Chad Bayer set up Tomlinson's first score, a 13-yard run, with an interception off a UTEP quarterback Jay Stuckey pass. On UTEP's ensuing drive, running back Paul Smith fumbled the ball and junior linebacker Shannon Brazzell recovered the ball at the 9-yard line, and three plays later, Tomlinson had his second touchdown of the day. In the second quarter, the Miners gave the Frogs a dose of their own medicine as they countered with 14 points off of a fumble by Tomlinson and an interception thrown by freshman quarterback Casey Printers. A field goal by kicker Ricky Bishop tied the game at 17 going into halftime. "I told them (at halftime) the offense had to quit turning the ball over and that we had to play a four-quarter ball game," Franchione said. "I have a lot of respect for UTEP. Their offense has been able to score quickly." The Frogs defense stepped up in the second half, holding Smith to one yard and Stuckey to 149 yards passing. Bayer came up with another interception in the fourth quarter, setting up a 63-yard touchdown run. Tomlinson was not the only Frog to have a record-setting day. Junior defensive end Aaron Schobel set the all-time TCU record for career sacks with 22.5, breaking the record of 22 held by Royal West. Senior quarterback Patrick Batteaux, who played much of the second half because of Franchione's decision to run the ball more, said Tomlinson's rush to the record books made the game interesting. "He made my job a whole lot easier," Batteaux said. "All I had to do was hand off the ball to him. I still had to carry out my fakes, but it was hard because I wanted to watch him and see what he's doing because he's very exciting to watch. "We never expected that out of him, but we knew he was capable of (rushing for over 400 yards)." Tomlinson gained 289 yards in the second half, despite playing with several nagging injuries. Tomlinson said his ankle was still sore from a past injury, and he took a hit to his wrist that plagued him throughout the second half. "I knew I had to play," Tomlinson said. "All the second half came from my heart for (the offensive line). No little, minor injury was going to stop me from getting out there with them."
Matt Welnack
By Steven Baker staff reporter Running against the nation's best at the NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday only one of the two TCU men's runners finished in the top 100. Senior David Lagat finished the 10,000 meter race in 67th place (31:43), while senior Adrian Martinez completed the race in 223rd (33:56). Martinez was among the top 50 of 255 runners through the first 4,000 meters, but said he exhausted himself too early by trying to run the turns too fast. "It was like a sea of runners," Martinez said. "You look up at the beginning and all you could see were heads bouncing up and down." This was Martinez's first time to run the race, while Lagat had competed in three previous championship races. Lagat finished 59th in 1998 with a time of 31:36. Lagat was among the top 10 runners through the first 5,000 meters of the race, when runners began to pass him. "There was a lot of pushing and shoving in the race that caused me to lose my concentration," Lagat said. "But that is part of the race. I expected that. I am OK with what I accomplished in the race, because I ran hard." Instead of marking the race in miles on the course, NCAA officials decided to measure reference points for the runners in kilometers. "I have no idea why the NCAA would measure the race in this fashion," Martinez said. "It was a real slap in the face to the American runners." Lagat, who is from Kenya, said he was not bothered by the measuring system. "Kilometers is the universal way to measure the races," he Head cross country coach Dan Waters said running in this race is totally different, because the team aspect for TCU was taken out of the race. "When you are running individually and you are not having a good race, then there is really nothing else to work for," he said. "But no matter how they finished, we were extremely proud of them. They had a great season."
Steven Baker |
The Frogs, as a team, rushed for 475 yards against the Miners
and are 4-0 in games this season when they rush for over 240 yards.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |