Cotton Bowl : Texas A&M; Seeks a Way to Stop Brown and Irish

So now there are apparently two ways to stop Notre Dame’s Tim Brown. Either play him against Miami or get him when he’s in his car.

Brown played poorly in Notre Dame’s last game, a 24-0 defeat at Miami, where he was more no-purpose than all-purpose, but that didn’t hurt his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy.

Brown wasn’t hurt either this week when a 17-year-old driver went through a red light and ran into his car. Not on purpose, of course. But Brown said that the accident, which happened as Brown was on his way home from a basketball game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings, made him realize something.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve been hit hard all year,” Brown said.

Because he wasn’t hurt, though, the Cotton Bowl avoided what could have been a crippling injury. Is this what they mean by a game of inches?

The Cotton might have lost the one reason anybody would watch the game because the windows of a car driven by a junior in high school were fogged up and she couldn’t see the traffic light.

But before an expected sellout crowd of 73,000 fans, who will sit shivering in temperatures in the 30s, the Cotton Bowl will go on today as advertised, with Brown, its No. 1 attraction.

Notre Dame, 8-3, is playing Texas A&M;, 9-2, in a game that doesn’t seem to mean a heck of a lot. Besides Brown’s car wreck, there has been precious little news here this week, which the Cotton Bowl people are hoping means that the game itself is going to be exciting.

Actually, it may be a pretty good one. Texas A&M;, champion of the Southwest Conference, is playing in its third consecutive Cotton Bowl for Coach Jackie Sherrill, who apparently has done a good job of recruiting, although he couldn’t keep two of his players from illegally taking money from an agent.

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz is suitably impressed with the depth of talent Sherrill has assembled at A&M.;

“You may have the best two teams in the conference at A&M;,” Holtz said to Sherrill.

Unlike A&M; teams of the recent past, these Aggies prefer to keep the football on the ground. The Aggies switched from a one-back formation they used when Kevin Murray was the quarterback and now rely mainly on the I-formation, dominated by tailbacks Keith Woodside and Darren Lewis.

Whereas A&M; likes to run the football, Notre Dame wants to throw it. And that may be a good idea because the Aggies are tough against the run. They gave up only 2.6 yards on each rushing attempt this season.

What about Notre Dame’s passing attack? Holtz isn’t sure how it’s going to work, but he hopes senior quarterback Terry Andrysiak can make it go.

Andrysiak is going to start, even though he hasn’t played since he broke his collarbone Oct. 10 against Pittsburgh.

“I never thought Terry would come back,” Holtz said. “I think we’ll run it less because of A&M;, not because of Terry.”

Holtz promised that sophomore quarterback Tony Rice would also play. Rice completed 42.7% of his passes as Andrysiak’s replacement. He threw a touchdown pass and was sacked 13 times.

Brown caught 39 passes for 846 yards this season, averaging 21.7 yards a catch, and those numbers alone make him the player A&M; must concentrate on more than any other.

“Tim Brown is a great football player,” Sherrill said. “But we have to play Notre Dame, not just Tim Brown. They certainly have the ability to make the big play, but our advantage is our quickness.”

Cotton Bowl Notes

Notre Dame’s Tim Brown is keeping a streak going. For the third time in the last four Cotton Bowls, the Heisman Trophy winner will play in the game. Auburn’s Bo Jackson played in the 1986 game and Boston College’s Doug Flutie played in the 1985 game. . . . The young woman who was driving the car that hit Brown goes to Dallas’ Woodrow Wilson High School, which is Brown’s Alma Mater. . . . Texas A&M; Coach Jackie Sherrill said he will use all three of his quarterbacks, but is going to start freshman Bucky Richardson. . . . Channel 2 will televise the game at 10:30 a.m. (PST). . . . Notre Dame and Texas A&M; have never played one another.