It’s the doldrums of the offseason, so I figured it would be interesting to visit an event that’s always intrigued me in various ways.
I wasn’t even born yet, or close to being born yet, when the so-called “Game of the Century” was played in Fayetteville in 1969 between Texas and Arkansas. My dad played ball at Rice and was recruited by Texas as a DB until he tore a knee up during his senior year. He grew up a Texas fan and that’s how he raised his boys, even if we also got to see quite a few Rice games growing up as well. The first CFB game I ever watched with him, mostly because the neighborhood kids were all out of town, was the 1984 Cotton Bowl between Texas and Georgia. After the end of that gut-wrenching experience, my father stayed parked in front of a tv, still as a statue, for hours. That Texas/Georgia game may have scarred him but it woke me up to something that was dormant for the first 7 years of my life. If he could be that obsessed with this “college” team, whatever college was, well, then I could get hooked too.
The first and most repeated story I heard from that New Year’s Day to this day about the fabled Longhorn program before my days was the “Game of the Century” – Fayettville, AR, December 6, 1969, Texas vs. Arkansas. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve revisited that story on my own, in part to understand reality vs family sports myth, and in part because it’s actually a pretty fascinating event within the sport I love religiously. There are documentaries I’ve watched and books I’ve read about it, and I’ve often asked people who were alive and cognizant at that time to share their thoughts. Outside of the way my dad explains it, my two other favorite versions of the game come from “Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming: Texas vs. Arkansas in Dixie’s Last Stand”, largely because it’s comprehensive and well told, and then separately, there’s an old documentary on the life of DKR that I can no longer remember the name of, but covered this game through the eyes of various people involved.
Anyway, who gives a shit, 49 years later, right? Well, honestly, if you’re a fan of one of the two programs, or the sport itself, you shouldn’t be able to help yourself from being somewhat fascinated. Consider the following elements:
Beano Cook called the shot that this game could decide the nation title winner during the summer of 1969. He was a young executive for ABC and convinced Roone Arledge to take a shot at moving this game to the last game on the schedule, in December no less. With Arledge on board, they then worked to convince the two programs to move the game and they somehow pulled it off. Frank Broyles usually loved to see Arkansas scheduled to play Texas the week after the Texas/OU game every year, so he wasn’t exactly gung ho about the concept of moving the game. Having the game in Fayetteville, as well as promising him ABC coverage against Stanford to open the 1970 season, gave him enough comfort to let it happen. Royal was on the opposite end of the spectrum, and was all too happy to see the game moved.
This might have been the first conference championship game ever played in December. It wasn’t touted as such, but it turned out that way.
Texas turned the ball over 6 times in this game and still won.
Richard Nixon, a sports fan in a major way, invited himself to the game and ultimately declared Texas the national title winner in the locker room after the game.
Nixon’s decision to attend stirred up all kinds of trivia. First, Fayetteville doesn’t have an airport close enough to handle Air Force One, so they had to land at Fort Smith, some distance away, and then have Marine One brought in to deliver the president to the game on time. Second, Vietnam protesters attended his appearance en masse in an effort to heckle and shame him. Third, an urban legend arose that one of those protesters, in fact the one who climbed up in a tree with a sarcastic sign about the war, was none other than a young Bill Clinton. Apparently, that last part has been invalidated due to Clinton being in Oxford, England at the time. Finally, there was another future president in attendance of the game, however, as George HW Bush, a congressman from Texas at the time, attended as part of Nixon’s entourage.
A side effect of Nixon granting Texas the national title in the locker room was that another undefeated team, Penn State, felt they had a legitimate claim on the national title as well. Joe Paterno, a future piece of human shit who covered up child rape by one of his friends in order to maintain order within his regime at Penn State, whined endlessly about the slight for years. In fact, the Cotton Bowl actually invited Penn State down to settle the argument on the field against Texas on New Year’s Day, 1970. Paterno instead decided to take his team instead to the Orange Bowl, and whined from afar to the press at that game, and continued to do so right up until a grand jury opted to pursue Jerry Sandusky as a monster. I like to think that Joe Paterno has to watch the game of the century and Nixon handing Texas that trophy on repeat down in whatever level of hell he’s been thrown.
Anyway, there’s a remaining odd lot of random shit that’s interesting about the surroundings of this game, but that isn’t the true purpose of this tome. What really brings me back to this game and a higher meaning for it in my life is the behavior of Darrell Royal leading up to this game and in the fourth quarter. Any time I think about strategy, forethought, cajones and courage under fire, this game is one of the random thoughts that pops in.
Specifically, I find two things fascinating about DKR’s leadership in this experience.
The man showed a mastery of game theory for his craft. Ahead of the game being played, and I believe on the flight up there, he talked to James Street about what they’d do if they were down by two touchdowns in the second half. Royal told Street that when UT scored the first time, they would then go for 2 points. Street asked him if he was sure, and Royal confirmed. Mathematically, this is actually the right maneuver, if rarely deployed. If they missed, they’d still have the chance to go for 2 later if they scored again, which maximizes their opportunity for either a win or a tie. A few years before, Ara Parseghian had played for a tie against Michigan State in a match-up of 1 vs. 2 and it paid off as Notre Dame eventually won the 1966 national title. DKR saw the world differently and hadn’t gotten as far as he had playing for ties, and he wouldn’t do so if given his own choice. As it turned out, Texas was down 14-0 in the 4th quarter when Street came unhinged on a keeper and scored from way out. They then called the play they’d discussed and converted the 2 point conversion. Awesome. Tom Osborne was later vilified, as it turns out on that same New Year’s Day in 1984 as the Texas/Georgia debacle, when he failed the game theory test and went for 2 points on the last score of the game against Miami, as opposed to going for 2 on the prior score. We discussed this in another offseason thread on Shaggy that I enjoyed at this link: http://www.shaggytexas.com/board/showthread.php/108875-The-1984-Orange-Bowl-Game-Theory-amp-Tom-Osborne-s-quot-Folly-quot
Most importantly, the call on 4th and 3 from UT’s own 43 with just under 5 minutes left in the game on the play “Right 53 Veer Pass” where, in effect, Street’s only target on the passing tree was a rarely used tight end on a deep route. The TE was Randy Peschel and he was double covered on the play, yet he still came down with the catch, 44 yards downfield and in the Arkansas red zone. Before the play, Street basically asked DKR if he knew what he was doing and Royal responded with biting certainty. It’s an insane play call and the probability of success had to be incredibly low. Arkansas wasn’t even fooled as they had guys draped over Peschel when he came down with the freaking ball. Over time, DKR has taken on mythical proportions within the sport and particularly within the program at Texas. The man could turn a phrase, he won 3 national titles, he was an innovator and a hard ass, he hated cheaters and Barry fucking Switzer, and he won. That considered, my true belief is that none of that other shit matters in proportion to his mythology if he doesn’t call that fucking play and his guys don’t execute flawlessly.
My view is that I hope to have the stones in my own life to pull stunts like that, as it’s a great example to me of a life being fully lived, and bringing so many others along on the same damned ride. I’m thankful to root for a school with legends like that in its repertoire, too.
Thoughts?