There were no satellite trucks from WFAA Channel 8 in Dallas parked in front of Rudder Tower.

There were no called press conferences and, as far as we know, no NCAA sleuths or investigative reporters from metropolitan newspapers slinking through the aging oaks on the big campus.

Federal Express came and went, and no packages were addressed to one George Smith.

Yes, it was a hot and hazy day in College Station, and Texas A&M football coach R.C. Slocum circled his team after an afternoon workout, perhaps circling the wagons, as well.

As news of Tiki Hardeman's ineligibility became official, Slocum was quick to point out to his team the possible notion of forfeiture, but also the positives that lay ahead for the program.

Then he greeted four members of the media outside the practice field and, while expressing frustration over the "clerical error" that cost him his starting fullback and cost A&M in terms of reputation, the coach stood proud.

What he said back in January of 1994 about how A&M would learn from its past transgressions was playing out in textbook fashion.

The Aggies got caught. And they did the catching.

"I've taken a whole lot of pride in doing things so that there would not be any question in the way we had done them," he said. "I think it's a credit to Texas A&M and our system here. This was not something where someone else called it to our attention or the NCAA called it to our attention. This was Texas A&M monitoring itself and us managing our deal, saying we go by the rules. Our intention is to do things the right way. I think this is a positive thing about the university and our compliance and commitment to doing things the right way."

Texas Tech got caught when a reporter from the Houston Chronicle began to uncover the mess on the South Plains. There were more ineligible players running through the Tech athletic department than there were flying tortillas at football games.

The University of Texas lost its basketball coach and some of its integrity when Luke Axtell's grade problems were aired on a radio show for all to hear.

So the problem with Hardeman came about, and A&M officials stayed hush hush because of ramifications from the Buckley Amendment that protects students' privacy rights.

They also realized a problem, declared Hardeman immediately ineligible and waited for the NCAA to make its ruling. Yes, former students and fans of Texas A&M felt uninformed and frustrated by the silence.

But it was all the athletic department could do, and while pointing fingers is pointless now, the department was cleared of any wrongdoing in this case. It was a grade posting oversight in the academic arm of the university, and it didn't go unchecked.

The system of checks and balances, brought on by the past, clicked into gear. And Texas A&M will move on, perhaps blasted nationally by critics but lauded internally by the NCAA.

If Hardeman had played the entire year, and then the discrepancy was detected, the cynics and skeptics of the A&M program would have really had legitimate fodder. Now, the story gets killed before it has any time to fester.

"I've said for some time that (the NCAA) has a growing comfort level with A&M because in every instance where we've had an opportunity to take the high road, we've done so," Slocum added. "That's the whole concept of the NCAA: That the membership institutions would have integrity and would control themselves and monitor their situations. The schools have an obligation, if they have integrity, to make sure everything they do is in compliance.

"This was a small, little deal that happened. It'll play out as a big, big thing, but in the overall operation of the school, the athletic department and the team, it was a minor error on someone's part outside the athletic department."

Of course, if you're Hardeman or a head coach facing the Big 12 schedule without a key player, the punishment of ineligibility looms large.

The Aggies will have to play out the rest of the season with a true freshman (Ja'Mar Toombs) at B-back, backed up by a senior walk-on, Will Simpson.

And to think just six months ago, the position of B-back was considered to be five-deep, with Hardeman, Marc Broyles, Michael Williams, Jason Bragg and Toombs.

Since last semester, Williams has flunked out; Broyles was lost to a rare eye condition; Bragg could miss the rest of the year because of recurring headaches; and finally, Hardeman must sit out a year, with the option of using a redshirt year and returning to the field in 1999.

"It's painful," Slocum said of the situation. "We lost our best running back, but we're not to the point where we want to win so badly that people here are going to cover that over and let it go on. We'd rather take whatever pain or whatever you have to take and say, 'You know what, the bottom line is we're aboveboard on this thing.'"

It's unclear how the NCAA, the polls or bowls will handle this rare ÑÊif not unprecedented ÑÊcase of a team declaring a player ineligible in the middle of a season and offering to forfeit a win over a non-conference opponent.

The NCAA recognizes Colorado's 5-6 record last season for its records, even though the Buffs were ordered to forfeit some of its games because of the use of an ineligible player.

Texas A&M, Slocum says, will continue to promote the fact that it beat Louisiana Tech, and its record will reflect that win accordingly, albeit with an asterisk. And as for bowl consideration, should that be a problem down the line, Slocum said he informed his team that it must win five of its eight conference games to assure themselves of a bowl bid.

Of course, A&M set its sights on a Big 12 South Division title and a shot at the conference championship, so the Aggies should be able to reach the minimum number of wins (seven because of the added Kickoff Classic).

The pollsters will have to get over the awkward possibility of A&M having two losses instead of one and must judge the Aggies solely by what they have done on the field. Unfortunately, most pollsters have no idea what A&M looks like on the field and vote only by record anyway.

The aforementioned scenarios, however, are the least of Slocum's worries. He was more relieved to have the Hardeman case behind him so he could concentrate on preparing his team for the conference run.

And, whether A&M takes a hit in perception or not, the reality of the situation is that the program's trip wires prevented an ambush down the road.

"I hope we've done enough," Slocum said, referring to the school's reputation in compliance. "The people who we would take a hit from are not very objective in reading or following what's going on. This is a case of Texas A&M running an honest football program and doing what honest football programs do.

"I've got no knowledge of (a precedent). I think that's a credit to how this came about. It wasn't someone else at the end of the year reporting and going through this thing. We've got a bunch of checks, cross checks and monitoring things. We feel like we have a pretty secure system for looking at everything. People that do that, (the NCAA) feels good about and says, 'Those people down there, if there's something awry, they'll find it, they'll report it and we can trust them.'"