QUESTION: How high is your confidence level right now, especially coming off the BYU game?

KICKER KYLE BRYANT: My confidence is pretty high. I worked a lot this summer and did a lot of mental work and visionary work. I didn’t really have that much momentum coming off the Michigan game, although that was a big relief for me, no doubt. I knew things may go bad, but there is always a better side to it. The Michigan game proved that.

As far as my confidence this year, it comes from the work I did this summer. You’re getting older and more mature. You’re starting to realize that little things don’t really that much. All that superstition you tend to put in your head, that’s fake.

Q: At practice, you sometimes just kick an imaginary ball over and over. Is that something new in your practice routine?

BRYANT: It’s something I picked up this summer. When you find your sync, your one way of kicking it, you want to keep repeating that. The key thing is consistency. Every little technical thing counts also. I want to ingrain it in my brain to where I want it to become instinct.

Q: How low was your confidence level last year when you were in the middle of a 7-of-15 slump on field goals?

BRYANT: I will always have confidence in myself, and I know what I’m capable of. But what kind of got to me is I listened to other people’s comments. There were some people who have nothing to do with the sport of football, and they threw in their two cents. I tended to let that get to me. I read a couple of articles that were published, and that discouraged me a lot. I was like, ‘You’ve got to get past all that.’ I have a lot of faith in God, and I prayed about it, and He helped me come out of that.

Q: Technically, what was wrong with your kicks last season?

BRYANT: I don’t think I was putting as much emphasis on practice as I should have. I’m utilizing my time a lot more efficiently than last year. Now, I’ll kick before practice; I’ll do some visionary work; I’ll work out with sit-ups and leg exercises. Then I’ll grab Kyle Lednicky and Bill Johnston, the snapper and holder, and we’ll actually go out and practice running on and off the field from the sidelines. I have a whole routine now, and that works out a lot better.

Q: You seem to be kicking the ball very deep on kickoffs. Is that because your leg is much stronger this season?

BRYANT: Last year coming in, I wasn’t in the best shape at all. This year, I took advantage of coach (Mike) Clark’s workouts and made all except for one or two of those. And with me knowing I’m coming into the season in shape, that just adds to your confidence, also. (My leg) will continue to get stronger.

Q: Do you like kicking on the new grass at Kyle Field?

BRYANT: I do. I like it. When we came into two-a-days, you could still pull it apart a little bit. But it’s starting to come together. It’s solid, and I’m going to like kicking off of it. It don’t believe it will affect me in any way.

Q: What are general goals for the season?

BRYANT: I would like to have a lot of touchbacks. With kicking from the left hash (mark) now, it’s a shorter distance from left to left than middle to left. It’s a little shorter distance. Extra point-wise, I want to make all those. Those should be automatic. With field goals, I’d love to have a perfect season. But I’m going to shoot for 90 percent on field goals.

Q: When you look back on that BYU game, you had a chance to be the hero. And you were... for about 30 seconds. But will that kick help you down the road, knowing you can make a 52-yarder in the last minute of a game for the win?

BRYANT: I think a kick like that always adds to the kicker’s confidence. Before I kicked it, I knew I could make it. I think I can make every kick we’re out there for. What that kick served for me was experience. Now I have experience with a kick like that. So I know I don’t have to do any pre-kick rituals before I have to get myself psyched up for it.

BRYANT: So far, my teammates have been real helpful with that. Take, for instance, in the BYU game. I’m in my own world, I guess. I can’t let us getting a first down or fumbling the ball bother me. Those are big momentum swings for the offense and defense. But in the kicking game, I think it is separate. I can’t let that stuff influence my confidence and emotions. So I do get by myself. Sometimes I try not and watch the game, just stay relaxed and not build up the situation. I do get over by myself and don’t put more in my mind than there should be.

Q: How does a kicker get to be friends and roommates with the starting quarterback:

BRYANT: I think your personality plays a role in that. When Branndon (Stewart) came to A&M in the spring, he lived across the hall from me in the dorm. I felt like, right off, we had things in common and we’d play off one another’s jokes. We gradually doing stuff together, going out to get something to eat or playing golf.

Today, Ray Childress is out of football, a successful businessman and the proud father of four children who will carry on his name for many years to come.

In the early 1980s, however, Childress may have been the father of a proud tradition that over the years has carried Texas A&M's defensive reputation from mediocre to magnificent.

The year was 1982, Jackie Sherrill's first season as head coach of the Aggies, and Texas A&M was enduring a rather forgettable 5-6 season that included a 47-9 loss to SMU, a 35-0 blanking at Arkansas and a humiliating 53-16 loss at Texas.

Particularly paltry in 1982 was the Aggies' defense, which surrendered an abysmal 403 yards per game. A&M, which also yielded nearly 30 points per contest, finished dead last in the Southwest Conference in total defense.

Childress was a part of that rather forgettable unit, and the defensive tackle finished the year with just one sack. But that was as an inside tackle in the old 4-3 defensive alignment.

Prior to the 1983 season, Sherrill and then defensive coordinator R.C. Slocum elected to go with the now familiar 3-4 defense that is a trademark of the Wrecking Crew. Hoping to feature the tremendous talents of Childress, the A&M coaching staff moved him to defensive end where he emerged as a monster on a mission.

Not only was a star born in Childress, but perhaps the nationally recognized Wrecking Crew received its origins with that decision. Childress didn't have the "WC" hand signal or the line of apparel, but like the future stars of the Wrecking Crew, he did dominate on defense.

Childress went from one sack as a sophomore to 15 sacks as a junior — four more than the Aggies recorded as an entire team in 1982. And A&M went from being the worst defensive team in the SWC to being the third best in '83.

Since that time, the Aggies' defense has rarely been anything but dominant. By 1985, A&M finished first in the conference in total defense and eighth nationally. A&M has been ranked in the top three in the conference and among the top 25 nationally in total defense every year since.

The soft-spoken, unassuming Childress downplays such a notion that he played such a significant part in a tradition that has become an A&M trademark. But there is much more to the timing and the numbers than mere coincidence. The Aggies began to get good on defense again when Childress emerged as a star.

"I don't think there is any doubt that Ray was a part of the beginning of something very special," Slocum said recently. "He was an outstanding player for us. He could take control of a football game, and he literally changed games for us."

Perhaps the best example of that came in a 1983 game against the University of Houston. The Aggies had stumbled to a 1-3 record, and rumblings about the direction of the program were beginning to be heard. Early in the contest, the Cougars drove to the A&M 15 and then tried an option to Childress' side.

Childress met the fullback, attacked the quarterback and then got outside to grab UH's last option, running back Donald Jordan. Childress caused a fumble that the Aggies recovered, and A&M went on to win, 30-7.

"He personally destroyed the whole thing," Slocum said at the time. "He's a really tough son-of-a-gun. I don't know what Ray Childress' negatives are."

Not many (if any) on the football field. Of course, Childress changed, dominated and controlled football games for practically all his life. Whether it was at Richardson Pearce High School, Texas A&M or with the Houston Oilers for 11 years, Childress could impact a game like few other defensive linemen could.

Combining outstanding talent with an even greater amount of toughness and intensity, Childress was All-State in high school, All-American for two years in college and a five-time Pro Bowl selection with the Oilers. He was, as former Oilers coach Jack Pardee once said, "a 100 percent pure football player."

Now, however, Childress is going through a fall without football for the first time since grade school. After becoming one of the most consistent and dominant defensive linemen in NFL and establishing himself as one of the Oilers' most popular players among the fans, Childress became a casualty of the salary cap this year.

Building with youth and smaller salaries, the Oilers simply turned their back on Childress. Nothing personal, of course. It was simply a typical business decision in today's NFL.

Still, after 11 years with one team, it would seem like Childress would have every reason to be bitter about his rather abrupt departure from the NFL. But while he may have the reason to be upset, Childress appears to be taking on this new chapter in his life much like he took on offensive lineman for so many years — with confidence, class and professionalism.

"I'm not bitter at all about being out of football," said Childress, who has several successful business ventures, including the Bar 11-79 Cattle Feeders company he bought in August. "The way I look at it is that I gave everything I had to football for a long time. Now, it must be time to move on.

"The salary cap has changed the scope of pro football, and this is the reality of today's game. I have had a very good career, and I feel very fortunate. There's no reason for bitterness."

Childress hasn't completely ruled out a return to the NFL if the right team made the right offer. But he isn't holding his breath, and he certainly isn't waiting by the phone.

Besides, unless it was the Dallas Cowboys who called and made an offer he couldn't refuse, it would probably seem unnatural to see Ray Childress playing for a football team that wasn't based in Texas.

From Pop Warner to the pros, Childress played every season in the Lone Star State. He did sign an offer sheet with the Chicago Bears in 1989, but the Oilers matched Chicago's offer and retained their All-Pro defensive lineman.

"Again, I feel very fortunate to have played at every level in Texas," said Childress, who ranks fifth on A&M's all-time sacks leaders list with 25. "I couldn't have asked for much more."

Without a doubt, Childress is proud of his Texas background. In his mannerisms, his tastes and his preferences, it is obvious Childress has the state of Texas in his blood. Of course, he would be the first to admit that his blood is still maroon in color.

A Texan by birth and an Aggie by choice, Childress once pulled off the ultimate Aggie victory off the football field. As a student at A&M, Childress began dating the former Kara Shipley, a University of Texas coed. As the two began getting serious, Shipley, a member of Texas coach Fred Akers' hospitality auxiliary known as "Akers Angels," transferred to A&M and later became Mrs. Ray Childress.

That may have been an even bigger win than the Aggies' 37-12 victory over Texas in 1984, Childress' senior year.

Childress remains close to the A&M program through the 12th Man Foundation and his ties to the A&M football program. He says he is pleased with the Aggies' direction and the success of Slocum's teams in recent years. It's a success he never enjoyed at A&M.

For all his individual honors, Childress was a part of some rather average teams at A&M from 1981-84. In his four seasons with the Aggies, A&M went 7-5, 5-6, 5-5-1 and 6-5. The Aggies won their first SWC championship under Sherrill in 1985, the year after Childress departed for the Oilers.

But there is no doubt that the Aggies stepped into title contention because of the groundwork laid by Childress. After all, he may have been the father of a defensive tradition that carries the Aggies even today.

"I was just happy to be a part of Texas A&M," Childress said. "There's no doubt that playing at Texas A&M absolutely prepared me to play in the pros. And more importantly, attending Texas A&M helped me prepare for a lot of other encounters in my life."

G. Guerrieri recently was visiting with some of his coaching peers when one of the soccer coaches delivered this defining statement:

"Someday, we want to be one of the big boys like you guys," the coach said in the direction of the fourth-year A&M women’s soccer coach.

To which a startled Guerrieri replied:

"Are you talking to me?"

Gender generalities aside, the big boys are the Lady Aggies, who have quickly built Texas A&M’s most dominant women’s program since the A&M softball team won its last national championship in 1987.

In just four years, Guerrieri and the self-proclaimed Los Angeles Lakers of women’s collegiate soccer have indeed brought "Showtime" to College Station.

From its fledgling days in 1993 when A&M announced it would fully fund the women’s soccer program and discard its label as a "Varsity II" sport, the Lady Aggies have racked up 54 victories, 11 losses and three ties heading into their Sept. 18 showdown with rival SMU. A&M had lost just one home game during that stretch and reached the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Tournament in 1995.

But after a 6-0 start in 1996 and with the 1993 freshmen having matured into salty seniors, the Lady Aggies suddenly find themselves ranked in the top 10 (sixth as of Sept. 18). Like their patented fast-break attack, A&M is bearing down hard and fast on perhaps A&M’s first Big 12 title in any sport.

And the Lady Aggies, who were just five minutes away from a quarterfinal spot in the NCAA Tournament last fall, have set their sights on the Final Four. Behind closed doors when Guerrieri isn’t monitoring the conversation, the talk reaches even further. Like playing where the air is rare — on the level of North Carolina, the juggernaut of women’s soccer.

"I think it’s in the back of everybody’s mind," said junior Bryn Blalack, the A&M star who chose A&M over North Carolina during the recruiting wars. "We’ve been to the playoffs before. We were so close last year. If we can put it together, we can go even further."

Is there really national title talk in Aggieland?

There was, at least, the mention of playing for a national championship when Guerrieri quizzed his players about their goals when his current seniors walked onto campus in 1993.

At the time, "Coach G." dismissed the talk as just eager freshmen talking like, well, eager freshmen. Not anymore.

"We’d have to have some really good bounces," he said. "But they’ve got me believing."

The Lady Aggies enjoyed top 10 rankings last fall, but they deserve the lofty status this season, their coach says. With depth, star players, senior leadership and a schedule that includes North Carolina (Oct. 20), SMU, Florida and Nebraska, the Lady Aggies have all the ingredients to make this a special season. It may not be more special than the first year of the program, when the growing pains united the team, but national prominence is surely in the picture.

"It’s very flattering," Guerrieri said. "But at the same time, we feel the pressure. If you ask coaches their deepest, darkest secrets it’s that they’re worried that anything going well will stop. I have trouble sleeping at night This four years has been a dream. I just don’t want anyone to pinch me."

A&M, which has drawn crowds close to 1,000 at the Aggie Soccer Complex, has asserted itself, along with Nebraska, as the team to beat in Big 12 play. A&M rolled its first two Big 12 opponents — Missouri and Kansas — by a combined score of 13-1. Last season, A&M played Nebraska twice, beating the Cornhuskers 2-0 in the fall and 1-0 in a spring exhibition game.

A&M also throttled Texas, now in its third year as a varsity sport, by a 6-0 count in 1995.

But almost everyone agrees, it’s A&M and NU in 1996.

"There are two teams in this conference," Guerrieri said frankly. "That’s us and Nebraska. It’ll be our job to not get surprised by one of the others and be focused for Nebraska."

A&M’s biggest challenge to date, however, will come in the Adidas Challenge in Klein Oct. 18-20. The Lady Aggies will play Duke on Oct. 18 and North Carolina, which lost to Notre Dame in the NCAA title game last fall, on Oct. 20.

And that UNC loss to the Fighting Irish could be just what women’s soccer needed. Not that the popularity of the sport hasn’t boomed since the success of Team USA in the Olympic Games. But the sport doesn’t need a one-team show, taking its curtain call year after year with another national championship in hand.

Take, for instance, men’s college basketball. When the UCLA Bruins began to be human again and not win the NCAA Tournament every year, the sport and particularly its postseason blossomed into one of the nation’s premier sporting events. You can’t equate women’s soccer with March Madness, but the sport is creating a following and its Final Four has even landed on ESPN.

So when the Lady Aggies and Tar Heels meet in Klein, A&M will be facing its ultimate measuring stick on the national level. But A&M has beaten SMU, a team that made the Final Four a year ago.

"North Carolina and Notre Dame are incredibly dominant," Guerrieri said. "Those are the two everybody is talking about as national contenders. Teams 3-10, on any given day, can beat each other.

"(UNC’s loss) has given everybody hope. It’s not an impossible dream anymore. Hard work and dedication pay off. Just look at Notre Dame in 1995."

If Guerrieri appears like he is setting some high expectations, his players claim nothing is new. The coach has been instilling such an attitude for the last three years.

"I think he’s a great coach," said Blalack, one of the nation’s top scorers with eight goals in her first six games of the season. "I think he has big expectations, which some people would think is a negative. But for us, it’s a positive."

But even Blalack could not imagine the heights this A&M program has reached under Guerrieri, who claims he was hired because his wife, Terri, is an Aggie, Class of ’87.

"I knew we had the potential to be ranked," Blalack added. "But I didn’t think we would be ranked sixth or seventh."

Regardless of how the Lady Aggies fare against UNC, they are playing at a new level in 1996. In their first games, A&M outscored its opponents 19-4, with 12 of those goals coming in the second period.

Indeed, the Lady Aggies simply wear teams out with pressure ball. A&M, while staying with NCAA rules, even keeps its field in playing shape for the Aggie attack. The grass is cut short to keep the ball on the move, while the self-imposed dimensions of the field (115 yards x 75) allow the Lady Aggies to stretch their opponents into a game of speed and aggressive play.

"The way we play is really similar to the ’Lakers teams of the ’80s," Guerrieri said. "We are constantly trying to fast-break, and we have a stable full of weapons to come at you from every angle. Everything we do is built with a speed component in mind."

Guerrieri hopes the fast-paced game has shelved the notion that soccer is boring. Apparently, the fans of Bryan-College Station have bought into the speed game. Big crowds are the norm, not the exception, at the Aggie Soccer Complex.

"I’ve never had anyone come up to me and say, ‘This is my first game, and I’ll never be back,’" he said. "It also helps that we have a 26-1 record at home (as of mid-September)."

It also helps the sport’s image at Texas A&M when the postseason accolades are more than just athletic ones. The 1995 student-athlete of the year in all 19 sports was senior forward Kristin Koop, a former walk-on now considered one of the team leaders.

The Lady Aggies also feature a sparkling team grade-point average of 3.28.

And with such a stellar senior class leading the way, many detractors of the program are waiting for the downslide to begin in 1997. Guerrieri, however, says 1997 may be the year for the Lady Aggies to really compete for a spot in the national title game.

"People are waiting for the wheels to fall off," he said. "We returned all our starters from last season, yet signed our best recruiting crop to date. We’ll be better next year than we are this year, especially if recruiting goes as well as we expect it to. We’ve got to continue to develop the players we have, but the girls we have, they have amazing potential."

Of course, there are hurdles for the Lady Aggies to overcome. A&M must beat Nebraska to likely win the Big 12 title, and it likely will have to get by SMU one more time in the postseason. The Mustangs beat A&M in the NCAAs last year, 2-1, scoring the game-winning goal in the final five minutes of the game.

As SMU rolled into the Final Four of women’s soccer, the A&M players could barely stand to watch the games. It could have been, should have been, A&M playing on the national stage.

"I was sick to my stomach," Guerrieri said. " I didn’t want to watch, either."

To help remedy that sick feeling, Guerrieri said he is hoping A&M can maintain its top-10 status to help secure as many as three home games during the 32-team NCAA Tournament.

"That’s one of my goals," he added. "I want to not only get into the tournament, but to be ranked high enough so that we could play home games up until the Final Four."

And with a .960 winning percentage at home, the Lady Aggies would appear to have the edge on most any team in Division I.

Then A&M could possibly see a rematch with mighty North Carolina.

"We feel like if we play them well the first time, eventually we will meet them again," Guerrieri said. "We’re really moving in the direction we want to go."

Which, no doubt, is straight up.