by David Steinle
Special to LSUsports.net
LSU’s 1961 football season ended in glorious fashion, as a 25-7 victory over Colorado in the Orange Bowl capped the season with a 10-game winning streak, a 10-1 record and a number four ranking in the final polls. But many Fighting Tiger fans were left wondering after the victory over the Buffaloes about what might have been.
What might have been had the Tigers not dropped their season opener, a 16-3 setback to the Rice Owls in Houston, a team that LSU had beaten 26-6 and 26-3 in the previous two meetings. What might have been if LSU could have taken on Bear Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide, which ended up as national champions. LSU and Alabama tied for the SEC championship, but for some strange reason, the series had taken a hiatus since LSU’s 13-3 victory during the national championship season of 1958.
The Tigers might have been lamenting the lost opportunities, but also looming on the horizon was the possibility of having to play 1962 under new leadership. Coach Paul Dietzel, who played for Sid Gillman at Miami (Ohio) and served as an assistant under Red Blaik at Army, and with Dietzel’s sparkling 35-6-1 mark over the last four years, West Point had the 36-year old Bayou Bengal coach atop its list.
LSU fans seemingly had no reason to worry after the Tigers’ 1958 national championship season. Shortly after the Bayou Bengals disposed of Clemson in the Sugar Bowl to finish an 11-0 campaign, Dietzel declared, “I’ll never leave LSU”. Buoyed by that statement, LSU gave Dietzel a five-year contract extension and built a swimming pool at his Baton Rouge house.
Now, LSU athletic director Jim Corbett was faced with a dilemma-hold Dietzel to his contract and deal with a coach who was truly unhappy to be in Baton Rouge, or let Dietzel go and start the coaching search. Corbett opted for the latter, sensing the best candidate to lead the purple and gold into 1962 and beyond was already in Baton Rouge.
Shortly after Dietzel’s departure, Corbett moved quickly by promoting defensive coordinator Charles Youmans McClendon to the top spot, while also guaranteeing job security for the remaining members of Dietzel’s staff who did not leave for West Point. McClendon, a 39-year old Arkansas native, had impressive credentials as an All-America defensive end at Kentucky under Bear Bryant, and as the architect of the Chinese Bandits defense that limited opponents to 44 points in 1961 and posted four shutouts.
LSU entered 1962 with a handsome stable of returning talent, which would make McClendon’s job much easier. Gone was superstar All-America linebacker Roy “Moonie” Winston and All-SEC halfback Wendell Harris, but several stars were returning, including fleet two-way back Jerry Stovall and terrorizing tackle Fred Miller, the anchor of LSU’s stingy defense. Other key components returning from the ’61 squad also included quarterbacks Jimmy Field and Lynn Amedee, center/linebacker Dennis Gaubatz and end Billy Truax, who was developing into the Tigers’ first great tight end.
The 1962 season got off to a bang, as Stovall began his Heisman Trophy campaign with a punt return for a touchdown in the Tigers’ season-opening victory over Texas A&M, 21-0. Rice then came to Baton Rouge, and LSU was eager for the chance at revenge for the 1961 defeat that effectively denied the Tigers the opportunity at their second national championship in four years.
Instead of exacting revenge, LSU left the Death Valley turf heartbroken, as Jess Neely’s Owls escaped Red Stick with a 6-6 tie in an battle of field goals. The tie not only ended any hopes of finishing number one, it knocked the Tigers out of the polls, as the Associated Press was in the first year of a six-year period in which it ranked only the top 10 teams.
Now, if LSU was going to regroup, it would have to do so in hostile Grant Field against a Georgia Tech team that now was out for its own revenge, as the Yellow Jackets saw their title hopes dashed with a 10-0 Tiger victory.
With a sellout crowd of nearly 46,000 and a national television audience on CBS looking on, the Tigers turned the trick again, as LSU ground out a 10-7 victory to knock the Rambling Wreck from the ranks of the unbeaten and vault LSU back into the polls at number six.
LSU got on a roll after returning from Atlanta, stuffing Miami 17-3, blanking Kentucky in Lexington, 7-0, then returning home to destroy Florida in Death Valley, 23-0, the Tigers’ second consecutive victory over the Gators by that score. The Tigers were now ranked fourth, their highest point of the season, and would now host Ole Miss with the SEC championship on the line.
LSU was 3-0-1 in its last four meetings with the Rebels, and each of the last those meetings had championship ramifications.
In 1958, LSU came in as the top-ranked team in the AP poll and stuffed the Rebels, 14-0, giving them the top ranking in the United Press International coaches poll, as the Tigers were on their way to the national championship. Of course, in 1959, Billy Cannon’s 89-yard punt return locked up the Heisman Trophy for Cannon and a 7-3 win for LSU, which retained its number one ranking against the third-ranked Rebels.
In 1960, LSU entered Oxford’s Hemingway Stadium with just a 1-4 record, but a stunning 6-6 tie with the second-ranked Rebels ruined an unblemished season for John Vaught’s club and led to a streak that would see LSU win 15 of its next 16 games. Returning to Baton Rouge in 1961, Ole Miss was again ranked second, but left Death Valley with a 10-7 defeat and no shot at the title.
With an overflow record crowd of 68,571 looking on, LSU sought to play spoiler to Ole Miss for the fifth consecutive years, but instead, the Rebels escaped Baton Rouge with a 15-7 victory and the SEC championship.
At 5-1-1, LSU was out of the running to go back to the Sugar Bowl, but certainly a berth in another top-tier bowl game awaited a team that had won 40 games in four-plus seasons and had been to three New Year’s Day bowl games in four seasons, but only if the Tigers could win out.
No problem. The Tigers went out of conference to blank TCU, 5-0, in their home finale, then went on the road to dispose of the SEC’s two worst teams, thrashing Mississippi State 28-0 in Jackson, then traveling to Tulane Stadium to maul winless Tulane, 38-3, ending the season at 8-1-1 and seventh in the final AP poll.
That impressive final; flurry impressed the Cotton Bowl brass, who extended the Tigers a berth to the New Year’s Day bowl game in Dallas opposite the champion of the Southwest Conference. It would be the Tigers’ first appearance in the game since the memorable scoreless tie against Arkansas in 1947.
Meanwhile, Stovall had fallen short in his quest to become LSU’s second Heisman Trophy winner in four years, finishing as runner-up to Oregon State quarterback Terry Baker.
Deep in the heart of Texas, the Texas Longhorns of coach Darrell Royal were building their way back to national dominance. Royal, an All-American in his playing days for legendary Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson, led the ‘Horns to a 10-1 mark in 1961, with a 6-0 loss to TCU knocking Texas out of the top spot in the polls and giving Alabama the national championship.
Now, in 1962, Royal was poised to get the Longhorns to the top, and after four straight victories over Oregon, Texas Tech, Tulane and Oklahoma to start the season, Texas sat atop the college football world.
A 7-3 victory over seventh-ranked Arkansas maintained that status, but the next week, a trip to Houston resulted in a shocking 14-14 tie against the same Rice team that played LSU to a deadlock a month earlier. The sister-kisser tumbled the burnt orange from first to sixth in the AP poll, but with three undefeated teams still on the horizon, Royal’s championship would have to wait.
The Longhorns didn’t let the tie faze them, finishing the season with four consecutive wins, with a 13-3 triumph over rival Texas A&M on Thanksgiving day giving Texas a 9-0-1 mark, its first undefeated regular season since 1923 and the berth in the Cotton Bowl opposite LSU.
Royal was no stranger to the Bayou Bengals, facing the Tigers during his two-year tenure as coach of Mississippi State in 1954 and 1955. The Maroons shut out LSU 25-0 in 1954, marking State’s last shutout of LSU to date in the series.
When Royal took over in Austin in 1957, the Longhorns’ proud program had hit rock bottom. The 1956 season under Ed Price saw Texas stumble to a 1-9 mark and a winless SWC campaign, punctuated with a humiliating 34-21 loss to Bear Bryant’s Texas A&M Aggies, who finished as league champions at 9-0-1.
Royal got the Longhorns on the right track in his rookie year, handing Bryant and Texas A&M a 9-7 defeat in College Station to send the burnt orange to the Sugar Bowl.
Bryant would leave Texas A&M for Alabama after the 1957 season, but the balance of power of the SWC still resided with the small, private schools, Rice, Southern Methodist and Texas Christian. Rice won the championship in 1957 and TCU won it in 1958, while Texas fell from second in ’57 to a disappointing fourth in ’58.
Arkansas, under the leadership of its new coach, Frank Broyles, and Texas started that seismic shift in 1959 by finishing in a three-way tie with TCU for the crown. Two years later, the Longhorns were one win shy of all the marbles, and in 1962, the Longhorns had their first outright league crown in a decade.
The 1962 Longhorns were not quite as talented as the teams that won national championships in 1963 and 1969, but Texas was still quite formidable, led by a backfield of Ted Koy, Jerry Cook and Tommy Ford, and a rock-ribbed defense headed by All-America end Scott Appleton.
The only Texas weakness, which was to be expected under the conservative Royal, was the lack of a consistent passing game, as both quarterbacks, John Genung and Virgil Wade, were better runners than throwers.
The college football world was in a state of flux. Alabama had risen back to power with its 1961 championship under Bear Bryant, Ole Miss was as strong as ever under John Vaught, and USC was on its way to the national championship under the leadership of John McKay. Wisconsin finished second in the final AP poll and Ole Miss third, and the repercussions of the rioting over James Meredith’s enrollment may have swayed some voters despite the Rebels’ perfect 9-0 season.
Meanwhile, as LSU and Texas prepared for their showdown in Dallas, the city had its first professional championship, as the Dallas Texans won the American Football League championship by defeating the Houston Oilers two days prior to the start of the New Year. However, it would be the Texans’ last game representing Dallas; by 1963, they were the Kansas City Chiefs.
Unlike the Tigers’ last visit to the Cotton Bowl, which featured a blizzard in the days leading up to the game and an ice storm during the battle with Arkansas, New Year’s Day 1963 was a sunny 54-degree afternoon, perfect weather for a big game.
Early on, it appeared that points would be at a premium, as both teams combined for just one first down on the opening possessions of the contest, and Koy’s 72-yard punt to the LSU 12 appeared to give the Longhorns the early field position edge.
But the Tigers began to move following the long kick, with Stovall sweeping right end for 8, Danny LeBlanc picking up five more and a first down, and finally Amedee finding Charles Cranford along the right sideline for 12 more and another first down near midfield. However, the Longhorns’ Joe Dixon halted Ray Wilkins one yard short of the sticks, forcing another LSU punt. The first quarter ended scoreless, but the Tigers had the clear edge in total yards (90-24) and first downs (5-1).
A clipping penalty on a punt return midway through the second quarter set the Longhorns back to their own 14, but Genung began to get the Texas offense going, finding Dixon for 17 and a first down, then giving to Ford, who crashed over left tackle to the Texas 42 to move the chains once again.
With a second-and-10 at the LSU 45, Genung hit Dan Talbert on a flea-flicker for 15 yards to the 30, and the record crowd of 75,500 crackled with excitement as the Longhorns appeared ready to break the scoreless drought.
Despite Genung’s success through the air, Royal opted to go back to his bread and butter on the ground, but the Tigers limited the Longhorns to five yards on three plays, and on fourth down, Texas came up empty when Hugh Crosby’s 42-yard field goal attempt fell short.
McClendon went to his second offense, the Go Team, with 5:12 still left in the first half, and a pass interference penalty on a third-down pass for Wilkins gave the Tigers a first down at the 39. The Tigers kept the chains moving as Amedee hit Wilkins in the flat for 7 near midfield, and Cranford converted a foruth-and-1 to the Texas 40.
From that point, Amedee overshot Stovall at the 5, but with a third-and-4 at the 1:19 mark of the period, the LSU quarterback split Texas defenders Emmett Carlisle and J.P. Culpepper with a shot to Truax over the middle for 22 yards to the Texas 12. Stovall gained three at left tackle and Amedee found LeBlanc for another gain of four, but with time winding down, Amedee booted home a 23-yard field goal with eight seconds remaining in the first half to give LSU a 3-0 halftime lead.
Most of the Longhorn faithful had to be stunned; certainly, LSU could not come to Texas turf and defeat the mighty Longhorns? But with a 152-93 edge in first-half yardage, the Tigers appeared to have the game in hand, especially if the Bayou Bengals could come out strong to start the second half.
Mission accomplished. Amedee kicked off to Cook, who returned 21 yards to the Texas 36 before fumbling, where the ever-present kicker also made the recovery to set up the Tigers for the knockout punch.
The White team started the drive, and Field found Gene Sykes for an 11-yard gain to the Longhorn 23. Three plays later from the 22, Field appeared to be trapped in his own backfield, but he got away, scrambled around left and reached the flag for the touchdown that gave LSU a 10-0 lead with 1:54 elapsed in the second half.
Sure, there was more than 33 minutes remaining in the contest, but the Longhorns were facing an uphill battle against Miller, Gaubatz, Stovall and the rest of a fierce LSU defense that had allowed 10 or more points in only four of its previous 30 outings.
Texas picked up a couple of first downs following the Tiger touchdown, but eventually had to punt after Genung twice threw incomplete from the LSU 39. Wade replaced Genung at quarterback on the Longhorns’ next drive, but disaster struck when Ruffin Rodrigue intercepted Wade at the Texas 47 to end the march.
LSU now had a golden opportunity to put the game away, and Field found Stovall for 12 to the 33, then hit Jack Gates for 14 more and first-and-goal from the 7.
Cook and John Treadwell dropped Stovall for a 5-yard loss, and as the fourth quarter began, Field threw behind Stovall on fourth-and-goal from the 24 to end the drive.
Texas’ final chance to get in the game ended in misery at the LSU 31 when Cook fumbled and Buddy Hamic fell on the ball for the Tigers. LSU took over and marched 50 yards on 12 plays to a 37-yard field goal by Amedee, which set a Cotton Bowl record and made it 13-0 with 4:58 remaining.
Fittingly, Stovall put the exclamation point on the LSU victory with 1:14 remaining when he picked off Wade at the LSU 32, allowing Field to run out the clock and preserve LSU’s second Cotton Bowl shutout.
“I was extremely proud of our whole team, and especially proud of our 18 seniors,” McClendon told the media in the victorious locker room. “They gave leadership again today that they consistently displayed all season, and it was a pleasure to coach such a dedicated group of young men.”
Amedee was an easy choice as Most Valuable Player, as he added 94 yards passing on 9-of-13 to go with his two field goals, while Field was 4-of-8 for 39 yards, with neither passer throwing an interception. Stovall, in his last game before embarking on a nine-year NFL career with the St. Louis Cardinals, led the Tigers with 36 yards rushing.
Texas would not experience defeat for nearly two years after this contest, as the Longhorns ran the table in 1963 and won the national championship, capping the year with a 28-6 victory over Navy and Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach. Royal would lead Texas to national titles in 1969 and 1970 before retiring following the 1976 season with a 167-47-5 record.
LSU would return to Dallas following the 1965 season, when it ruined Arkansas’ hopes for a national championship for a 14-7 victory. The Tigers had hoped to get another shot at the Longhorns in 1969 in the Cotton Bowl, but Notre Dame instead got the invite as the Fighting Irish ended its 45-year old self-imposed bowl ban, leaving a 9-1 LSU team in the cold.
Forty years to the day after the last meeting in Dallas, LSU and Texas will strap it on again this New Year’s Day in the Cotton Bowl. As was the case then, the Tigers and Longhorns represent the top conferences in college football and are led by vibrant coaches in Nick Saban and Mack Brown, who like their predecessors, are committed to maintaining the level of excellence that has symbolized college football in both Baton Rouge and Austin.