I’d never seen this one before. Kinda poignant seeing it now shortly after the death of Fred Akers, who kicked both our extra points in the 14-7 Gator Bowl win over Georgia Tech. This is also the game my dad decided not to make the trip after JFB’s staff told him he wouldn’t get to play.
Hogs were ranked #9 before this game as SWC co-champs with Texas and TCU. FWIW, the Hogs were the only one of the three to win their bowl game. No post-bowl polls in those days; it would take the events of 1964 to bring that about,
The commentary on this video is unintentionally hilarious. Cliches all over the place.
The winning TD drive was two tight ends with great running by Alworth and Mooty. I’d heard from Switzer that Mooty’s winning score included breaking several tackles. First time I recall seeing it.
This game was one my earliest and most vivid memories of my early Hog fandom. Since we weren’t on TV very often, most of the games were followed on the radio. But, I finally got to watch Mooty and Alworth on TV!
It’s hard to believe now that Mooty was maybe 160 lbs. Or that in his best year, he had 519 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. And made some AA teams.
Joe Paul Alberty had only a few hundred yards in 3 years. Sure seemed like a lot more.
Warmachine2013 gets the credit for this on YouTube. He said he’s going to be putting up a lot of stuff over the holidays, including highlight packages of Hog stars as well as old games. What I want to know is where he finds this stuff.
Warmachine2013 is also an ASU fan, but I’ll forgive him that transgression.
I just tried to look up the stats for that game. Didn’t find them but I did find that GTech was only 6-4 coming into the game. There were only nine bowl games in 1959 and Tech was one of only four bowl teams that year not ranked in the AP top 20. Tech was still in the SEC then too, finishing 7th in a 12-team league at 3-3 (Tulane was the 12th team). Tech played a brutal schedule (six of their 11 opponents were ranked, and Bama, which beat them, wasn’t one of them). They lost their last three games to fall out of the top 20. We had a common opponent; both teams beat SMU that year.
EDIT: Kept looking and found the stats. We threw a total of six passes, completing two (Alworth, who would become a Hall of Fame receiver, didn’t catch either one of them). Tech really aired it out, throwing 18 times. Mooty rushed for 99 yards and the winning score. Alberty gained 38 and Alworth gained 40. Our total offense was 239 yards; Tech gained 236. Tech’s first possession, ending in the missed field goal, lasted almost 11 minutes.
Thanks for this post! This was an awesome way to start a day!
Anyone know if the series of shows with Rick Sheaffer narrating old Hog games is available somewhere?
That was before the clock stopping on a first down conversion. So, with very little passing (incompletions) and no first downs stopping the clock, I can see how a long scoring drive could eat up that amount of time.
Then again, now that I think about it, in that era going out of bounds stopped the clock until the next snap, as compared to a few seconds (to move the chains) these days.
I looked up the college football statistical leaders for that season. There was not a single 1000-yard back in the 1959 season. Pervis Atkins of New Mexico State led the nation with 971 yards. There wasn’t a 2000-yard passer either; Dick Norman of Stanford led by a wide margin with 1963 yards.
Counting the bowl game (99 yards and a TD), Mooty rushed for 618 yards and scored 6 TDs that season. He averaged just over 10 touches a game; 18 carries and one reception in the Gator Bowl took him over 10 touches.
It was a completely different game. There were limited substitutions & players played both sides of the ball. Blockers couldn’t use their hands at all.
