By David Steinle
The Southeastern Conference formed in 1933 with 15 former members of the Southern Conference, and for the first decade of its existence few teams in the league won more consistently than the LSU Fighting Tigers.
LSU won the SEC crown in 1935 and 1936, and by time the specter of World War II had ended in 1946, the Bayou Bengals had already been to four New Year’s Day bowl games, quite an achievement in an era when bowl games were few and far between compared to the bowl games in the 21st century.
LSU’s program was one of the few that did not have to shut down during World War II, and thanks to the return of several Tigers who were called into military service during the war, coach Bernie Moore, already in his 12th year in Baton Rouge, figured to have one of his strongest squads in 1946.
Leading the way for the Tigers would be a balding quarterback from Marshall, Texas named Yelberton Abramson (Y.A.) Tittle. Tittle was a fleet two-way player who could run, pass and play defense with equal abandon, and in 1946, he set LSU school records by throwing for 780 yards and 13 touchdowns, with the latter record holding up for another 26 seasons.
Tittle didn’t have a prolific end such as Gaynell Tinsley or Ken Kavanaugh to throw to, but the Tigers’ receiving corps of Dan Sandifer, Clyde Lindsey, Abner Wimbley and Sam Lyle more than picked up the slack and gave Tittle many weapons to throw to.
Not that the Tigers were shabby in the ground game, either. Behind the blocking of All-SEC guard Wren Worley and tackle Ed Champagne, the Tigers’ backfield featured a stable of solid running backs, led by Gene (Red) Knight, whose 473 rushing yards led the ’46 Tigers, and Rip Collins, who served as Knight’s understudy before leading the team in rushing in 1947 and 1948.
Early in 1946, though, the Tigers hardly looked the part of a cohesive unit, squeaking by Rice (7-6) and struggling with Mississippi A&M (13-6). LSU got it together in a 39-7 rout of Texas A&M, and it appeared the 12th-ranked Bayou Bengals would contend for the SEC’s first national championship.
But led by halfback Frank Broyles, the future leader of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Bobby Dodd’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets came to Baton Rogue and wrecked the Tigers’ SEC and national aspirations with a 26-7 victory that also knocked LSU out of the national polls.
Without co-champions Georgia and Tennessee on the schedule, LSU would likely have to win out to have any chance at the school’s fifth bowl appearance. And win out is exactly what the Bayou Bengals did.
It began with a 14-0 victory at Vanderbilt, then continued at home with a 34-21 victory over an Ole Miss team in its last year before the arrival of Johnny Vaught. Now ranked in the polls again, the Tigers made it three in a row by handling Frank Thomas’ Alabama Crimson Tide, 31-21, LSU’s first victory over the red elephants since 1909.
Now ranked at No. 11, their highest poll ascent so far, LSU went back on the road for a 20-7 victory at Miami in the Orange Bowl before wrapping up the season with smashing home victories over Fordham (40-0) and rival Tulane (41-27), giving LSU the eighth spot in the final poll and prime position for a bowl invitation.
That invitation came from the Cotton Bowl, which offered LSU a tidy $60,000 guarantee to play in the New Year’s Day bowl in Dallas opposite the Southwest Conference champion.
As for LSU’s opponent, one safe bet prior to the season probably would have been that the opponent would not have been the Arkansas Razorbacks, as TCU (1936) and Texas A&M (1939) had already claimed national championships for the league.
The favorite entering the 1946 season in the SWC was Southern Methodist, led by superstar running back Doak Walker.
Arkansas, meanwhile, was ushering in its fourth new coach in the last five years, as Athletic Director George Cole brought in John Barnhill to take over a divided program. Barnhill had been General Robert Neyland’s top assistant at Tennessee and even took over the Volunteers when Neyland was recalled to the army during the war.
Barnhill had a two-pronged plan to revitalize the Razorbacks. First, he wanted to make Arkansas a statewide program, not just a program confined to the Ozark Mountains of the northwest corner of the state. To that end, he arranged for the Hogs to play games in brand-new War Memorial Stadium in downtown Little Rock, the state capital and Arkansas’ largest city. The other big splash Barnhill made came on the recruiting trail. The new coach went to the southern Arkansas town of Smackover and snared a world-class sprinter and halfback named Clyde Scott away from LSU and every other major college, giving the Razorbacks their first recognizable name player and throwing the national spotlight on Fayetteville, as Scott, nicknamed “Smackover” in honor of his hometown, would go on to win a silver medal at the 1948 Olympics in London.
On the field, it appeared that Barnhill and Scott had indeed energized the Razorbacks, as evidenced b a 3-0-1 start that included key SWC victories at TCU (34-14) and over Baylor (13-0) at home, moving the Hogs to 14th in the AP poll.
But the Razorbacks couldn’t sustain the early season success, losing to third-ranked Texas, 20-0, then falling 9-7 at Memphis to Ole Miss, leaving Arkansas in need of three straight wins to salvage its second SWC championship.
Three wins is exactly what the Hogs got, as the streak started with a 7-0 win at Texas A&M, then continued in Fayetteville with a 7-0 stunner over fifth-ranked Rice and a 13-0 whitewash of Doak Walker and SMU, leaving Arkansas and Rice tied for the league crown at 5-1. Based on the head-to-head victory over the Owls, Barnhill’s club was extended the invitation to the Cotton Bowl opposite LSU, despite a 14-13 loss to close the season against non-conference foe Tulsa.
Eager for his troops to earn respect against the powerful Bayou Bengals, Barnhill and the Razorbacks jumped at the chance to play in Dallas.
For Arkansas and LSU, the Cotton Bowl was uncharted territory, much like the new frontier America was entering in 1946.
In college football, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Notre Dame, which had been the dominant force in the sport since Knute Rockne and the Four Horseman in the 1920s, were now racking up victory after victory under the legendary influence of coach Frank Leahy. The Fighting Irish’ main challenger were the Black Knights of the Hudson, a powerful Army team led by the combination of Doc “Mr. Inside” Blanchard and Glenn “Mr. Outside” Davis.
That year, the Cadets and the Irish would stage a legendary battle in Yankee Stadium in front of an overflow crowd of more than 80,000. The combination of Blanchard, the 1945 Heisman Trophy winner, and Davis, the eventual Heisman winner of 1946, were expected to carry the day for defending national champion Army, but a 0-0 tie pushed the Irish into the top spot, and eventually the first of back-to-back national titles under Leahy.
The post-World War II era in the SEC featured some of the greatest names to grace the college game. The 1946 marked the SEC debut of the man who would be the most dominant figure in college football history, Paul William “Bear” Bryant, who was in his first year at Kentucky. Bryant joined a list of superstar coaches that already included Frank Thomas, Bryant’s coach at Alabama, Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech, General Robert Neyland at Tennessee, Wally Butts at Georgia and LSU’s Moore, who would eventually lead the Southeastern Conference as its second commissioner.
The players gracing the league in the first full post-war year weren’t too shabby, either. Leading the way were “Chunkin” Charley Conerly of Ole Miss, Charley Trippi of Georgia, Frank Broyles of Georgia Tech (who would go on to coaching glory at Arkansas), and of course, Y.A. Tittle, who would now have the opportunity to play in front of his family and friends in his home state in the 11th Cotton Bowl Classic.
Two days prior to the meeting between the Tigers and the Hogs, Mother Nature unleashed her fury on the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, blowing in a blizzard that dumped seven inches of snow on the city and left the Cotton Bowl playing field a blanket of white. A tarpaulin that covered the field prevented more damage to the grass surface, but workers spent most of New Year’s Eve trying to sweep the topcoat of snow onto the sidelines.
The snow was out of Dallas by New Year’s morning, but 29-degree cold and a driving rain that was often mixed with sleet, freezing rain and bone-chilling winds had replaced it. A crowd of more than 45,000 had been expected to show up at State Fair Park for the big game, but more than 7,000 of those patrons decided to listen to the game on radio and stay warm.
Moore was very concerned prior to the game, as he felt that the Arctic conditions obviously favored an Arkansas team that was more accustomed to the cold than his Tigers were. But the sheet of ice on the field and the mud would also hurt the Hogs and speedster Scott.
In conditions that Bernie Moore would later call “the worst conditions in my 35 years of coaching,” LSU and Arkansas kicked off a little after 1 p.m., with the Razorbacks receiving Holly Heard’s kickoff, only to have to punt after failing to gain any yardage.
LSU gained the first field position edge when Coates returned Aubrey Fowler’s punt from his own 35 to the Razorback 47, but the drive was short-circuited when Tittle was smothered on second down for an 8-yard loss, forcing Knight to punt out of the end zone for a touchback.
Leon Campbell gained 19 yards on the Razorbacks’ first play following the punt for a first down to the 39, but that would be the last time on this frigid Wednesday afternoon the Hogs would move the chains, as Campbell and Scott were stopped for one yard each, forcing a quick kick by Fowler.
Sandifer gained 11 yards to start LSU’s third possession, and the Tigers kept moving steadily on the ground, with Collins picking up 16 yards on consecutive carries to bring the ball to the Arkansas 48.
But with the rain beginning to come down harder and turn the field into a soupy morass, then a skating rink, Collins was thrown for a loss of two, then Sandifer was stuffed for a loss to set up a third-and-13. Tittle hit Collins on a screen pass to get 12 of those 13 yards, but on fourth-and-1, Knight had the first down, only to fumble it away to Arkansas’ Hoffman at the Razorback 41.
Hoffman gave the ball right back to LSU, though, fumbling to Tittle at the LSU 43 as the first quarter drew to a close. On the second play of the second quarter, a 12-yard burst by Knight moved the ball to the Hog 37, but the drive soon ended when Alfred Heroman was thrown for a 6-yard loss on the Statue of Liberty play, forcing a punt.
Following another quick kick by Arkansas’ Fowler, Knight picked up 15 over right tackle to move the ball into Hog territory, then picked up five more on a screen pass. However, an illegal motion penalty on LSU stalled the drive, and Arkansas then got its first break of the game when Charles Lively broke through to block Knight’s punt and give the Hogs the ball at the LSU 43.
That drive, though, lasted only two plays, as Scott fumbled the ball back to the Tigers’ Lindsey at the 45. Another penalty forced LSU to quick kick to the Razorbacks, and the move paid dividends for the Tigers when Tittle picked off Fowler and gave LSU the ball at the Arkansas 16.
Tittle twice threw incomplete, and then Jim Cason raced around right end to give the Tigers a fourth-and-3 at the 9. Under normal conditions, Moore would have sent Heard in to attempt a 26-yard field goal, but with the condition of the field going from bad to worse by the minute, such a try was out of the question at this point, and instead, went for it. Knight got the call and fought hard, but he was stuffed a yard shy of the sticks to give the ball back to Arkansas.
Clearly, LSU had established itself as the dominant team, as Arkansas was trying in vain to play the field position game, hoping the Tigers would make a critical mistake that would give the Razorbacks a gift-wrapped opportunity.
But the only other first-half scoring opportunity belonged to LSU, as Cason returned a Fowler punt for 23 yards to the Arkansas 19, then gained four yards on first down.
With a third-and-10 facing the Bayou Bengals, Sandifer took a double reverse for the needed yardage to make it first-and-goal from the 8.
With time winding down and the Tigers out of timeouts, LSU would in most circumstances try the field goal and at least attempt to get on the board. But in this soup, a field goal attempt would not be in the cards. Knight was stuck for a 2-yard loss on first down, and after another penalty on LSU, this one for too many timeouts, Tittle could not find an open receiver and threw the ball away to end the first half.
As the Tigers and Razorbacks left the field, the rain had begun to let up, but by time the 20-minute intermission ended, the precipitation had not only come back with vengeance, but was now coming down as ice pellets and freezing on contact.
Fowler, this time returning a punt rather than kicking the ball, gave Arkansas their best field position of the day by returning a Knight punt to the LSU 44. But the Tigers stopped Kenneth Holland short of the first down, and the Hogs pinned the Tigers at their own 8 on a punt.
Coates got LSU out of the hole right away by busting for 18, and the Tigers began to steadily move downfield, with Sandifer gaining 19 to the Arkansas 33. LSU would reach the 19 before Tittle’s fourth down pass to the end zone for Sandifer fell awry, turning the ball over on downs.
Neither team could move until the fourth quarter, when LSU started from the Arkansas 41 and used gains of 16 by Collins and 10 by Coates for a first-and-goal at the 9. Three plays moved the ball to the Razorback 1, and with only three feet separating the Tigers from their first 10-win season since 1908, Moore called on freshman fullback Zollie Toth to pick up the final three feet. But Toth only got two of those three feet, and Arkansas’ weary defense had amazingly held its ground.
The Tigers had one last chance, starting from the 31 after a punt and getting down the Arkansas 7, when Moore sent in Heard to try a 24-yard field goal. But Coates, the holder, bobbled the snap, and Heard was swarmed under at the Arkansas 16. The Tigers got one last possession from its own 49, but the game ended with Arkansas in possession at its own 19.
If this had been high school football prior to the advent of overtime, LSU would have won easily. The Tigers picked up 15 first downs to Arkansas’ 1, outgained the Razorbacks 271-54, and twice penetrated the Hogs’ 10-yard line, only to come up foiled by Mother Nature each time.
Amazingly, only two bowl games prior to this one ended in a 0-0 tie: the 1922 Rose Bowl between California and Washington and Jefferson, and the 1940 Sun Bowl between Arizona State and Catholic University. Since the LSU-Arkansas clash, only one other bowl game has gone without scoring, the 1959 Cotton Bowl between TCU and Air Force. The last scoreless tie in college football came in 1983 when Oregon State and Oregon ended their Civil War without denting the scoreboard.
For several of the characters in this classic, greater glory awaited, most notably for Arkansas’ Olympic hero, Scott, and for Tittle, who went on to a 15-year Hall of Fame career with the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants. The men leading their respective teams also would enjoy long and distinguished careers in college athletics, as Moore left LSU following the 1947 season and eventually enjoyed an 18-year run as commissioner of the SEC, and Barnhill would continue on for two decades as the Razorbacks’ athletic director following his retirement from coaching in 1949.
Unfortunately for LSU, the Tigers’ fortunes remained as cold as the Dallas weather. Moore would leave the Bayou Bengals after the 1947 season, and LSU would reach only one bowl game in the 11 seasons following the scoreless tie with Arkansas, losing 35-0 to Oklahoma in the 1950 Sugar Bowl. It would take a future Heisman Trophy winner and a bunch of Bandits to get the Tigers back on track, but when they did, the results were spectacular.