Texas A&M; In Holiday

SAN DIEGO — Its Cotton Bowl hopes extinguished with Texas’ 23-13 victory Saturday over Baylor, Texas A&M; accepted a bid from the Holiday Bowl after a 56-10 victory over Texas Christian.

And a few minutes after the traditional trading of congratulations and glowing praise between school and bowl officials, Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum turned his attention to the Holiday Bowl matchup Dec. 29 with No. 4 Brigham Young, the Western Athletic Conference champion, and Heisman Trophy candidate Ty Detmer.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to play what I think is probably the best (college) football team in the country,” Slocum said. “That guy Ty Detmer has my vote for Heisman Trophy.”

Actually, Slocum doesn’t get a vote, but that’s OK. He didn’t give defensive coordinator Bob Davies a vote on whether the Aggie defense wants to face the No. 2 offense in the nation (562 yards and 44 points a game).

“We didn’t ask Bob Davies for his vote,” Slocum said wryly. “Obviously, the head coach made this decision. This presents a great challenge for our defense.

“(Holiday Bowl team selection committee chairman) Vinnie (Vinson) kind of hurt my feelings a while ago when he said he thought the (Holiday Bowl) score could be 48-47. As an old defensive coordinator, that kind of hurts.”