Those days have mostly passed, replaced by the ever-growing popularity of the spread. But Texas A&M still uses the option extensively and plans to today when it faces No. 12 Kansas University in College Station, Texas.

“Option football : you have to be assignment-sound,” KU coach Mark Mangino said of defending the attack. “That’s the key. We don’t live and die with it, but that’s why we’ve used option football as part of our package here over the years. You have to be assignment-sound, you have to have the numbers right.”

Defensive ends John Larson and Russell Brorsen agreed the pressure is on them to defend A&M’s run, which includes quarterback Stephen McGee and running backs Michael Goodson and Jorvorskie Lane.

“They have some good backs, and they rush pretty well,” Larson said. “We’re going to work on playing our technique. Everybody has their assignments, and everybody has a job to do every play.”

¢ Homecoming: KU freshman Drew Dudley will be returning home – perhaps for the only time in his college career.

Dudley, a reserve linebacker and special-teams regular, is from College Station, Texas, and went to A&M Consolidated High. He was offered scholarships by Kansas, Oklahoma State and Baylor, but not Texas A&M.

Despite the linebacker position being filled with talent, Dudley has found a niche as a true freshman on the kickoff and kickoff-return units.

“When I watched team defense during training camp, he was on the scout team going against their offense, and he was always around the ball,” special-teams coordinator Louie Matsakis said. “He sheds blocks. He does good things.”

Kansas won’t play at Texas A&M again until 2011.

¢ Defending Lane: Every opponent faces a problem with Texas A&M that they probably don’t face anywhere else: stopping Jorvorskie Lane.

He’s just a running back, but keep in mind he’s 6-foot, 274 pounds, with quick feet and, obviously, plenty of power.

Lane has 575 yards on 117 rushes this season, an average of 4.9 yards per carry. His average would be higher if he didn’t have 15 touchdowns, seven of which were one-yard dives.

“I’m going low,” Larson quipped of tackling Lane. “That’s for sure.”

All but one of Lane’s scores came inside the five, giving the Aggies an obvious workhorse when they’re within striking distance.

Stopping him is the answer nobody really has.

“It’s hard to do because he’s a big ol’ cat, and once he gets rolling, he’s hard to stop,” Mangino said. “I guess we’ll do our best to try not to let them get inside the five very often. That’s one of the precautions.”

¢ Domination: Out of 420 minutes played this football season, Kansas has trailed for just 20 minutes and seven seconds total.

Even more startling: Out of 210 second-half minutes played this season, Kansas has trailed for just 2 minutes, 35 seconds. That was after touchdowns scored by both Kansas State and Colorado were answered immediately on the Jayhawks’ ensuing drive.

¢ This, that: Texas A&M is 6-0 when it wins the turnover battle and 0-2 when it doesn’t : Kansas has yet to lose a turnover battle and has a plus-10 turnover margin this season. : Texas A&M leads the all-time series, 7-1. Kansas won a nonconference game between the two in 1974.