The excitement had started in the spring of my sophomore year in High School. Oh, the third Saturday (almost every season) in October was always a big deal. Whether the game was in Fayetteville, Little Rock or Austin. The undisputed Kings of the SWC meeting in a game that routinely matched two top ten teams – if not top 5. And two of the top five coaches in the country. Yeah – Texas vs. Arkansas was THE game of my sports year, every year.
But this was a new twist. There it was, in the Sports section of the El Paso Times, my conduit to Regional and National sports growing up in “The Pass of the North” in the 1960’s: “Texas and Arkansas Move Game to Early December”. I didn’t need any qualification of whether it was a football or basketball game; in those days, football was the ONLY game anyone talked about. There were some quotes in the article from guys named Roone Arledge and Beano Cook about what a good game it promised to be. How they wanted a “Showcase Game” to be the grand finale of College Football’s 100th season.
I well remember the sting of that game the autumn before. The young Razorbacks and their new, high-octane passing attack went to Austin to play a Texas team that appeared to be vulnerable after starting the season with a tie, and then a loss before Darrell Royal performed radical surgery on them, replacing their All-Everything Quarterback (they called him “Super Bill” Bradley) and installing a new offense called the Wishbone. It had worked well enough for them to dump Oklahoma State and then edge Oklahoma (a good but not traditionally strong OU team) coming into the Arkansas game.
But there, Texas first really displayed the dominance that was to be their trademark the next several seasons. With James Street at QB, Steve Woster at Fullback lined up just behind Street, and then halfbacks Chris Gilbert and Ted Koy, the Horns moved the ball almost at will against the Hogs. It was 39-14 before Arkansas scored two late TD’s to make the score a more respectable 39-29 in what was the be Arkansas’ only loss of the season. Neither they, nor Texas lost another game, and both had impressive Bowl wins (Texas over Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl, Arkansas over Georgia in the Sugar). So, it was easy to see what ABC saw in the 1969 match-up. Both teams returned visually all of their play-makers on both sides of the ball.
Older folks (like me) know that in that era, there was ONE (if you were lucky, on rare occasions, TWO) games shown each Saturday. Normally, there were 3 or 4 games showed regionally – ABC decided what game your local affiliate got. A few times each season, the entire nation was treated to just one game across the whole country. And that was it. So, it was a BIG deal to have a game not only broadcast nationally, but to have it MOVED to the final game of the entire season.
My friends and I – an odd combination of Texas, Notre Dame and Air Force (yes, that’s right…Air Force. They actually had some pretty good teams back then) fans, talked and discussed endless narratives for the way that game might play out over the whole summer. There probably was – almost surely – but I don’t remember a day that we didn’t talk about it at least for a few moments. It seemed to be such an even game, on balance – Texas’ irresistible Wishbone against Arkansas’ tremendous defense; Arkansas’ multiple offense against Texas’ talented and big defenders. Good kicking games from both teams. Not good, but EXCELLENT coaching on either side.
Yes – we all knew that defending National Champion Ohio State might repeat. And Penn State was always a threat to go undefeated, playing (at that time) a schedule of almost all weak East Coast teams. But Texas and Arkansas, by that time, had finally received National recognition for what it was – THE best rivalry of the 1960’s. There had been some absolutely epic games played between the two in the early part of the 1960’s that inexplicably were not televised (kind of reminds mo of how long it took TV to catch on the concept that Arkansas and Kentucky MIGHT be a pretty good game to televise when we joined the SEC – but it wasn’t featured on major Network (CBS) until it’s 4th year!), but by the latter half of the 60’s Texas-Arkansas was MUST see TV. And it was clear that if both somehow managed to be undefeated going into the game, there was a chance it would be a game for the ages. You never know for sure, but all of the ingredients were there.
As the season progressed, it became more and more clear that neither team was going to lose before they met each other. Texas’ offense became nearly unstoppable, putting up 69 points on hapless TCU in an era when a 30 point game was considered “high scoring”. Meanwhile the Hogs were holding teams to less than a TD per game. We marked the weeks and days until the game.
I so clearly remember the game right before “The Big Shootout” – a National Broadcast of Arkansas hosting Texas Tech in Little Rock on Thanksgiving Day (only time I ever remember the Hogs playing on Turkey Day). We smothered Tech that day, 33-0 in the cold and rain. One play that sticks in my mind was in the second half, when backup John Eichler – a senior who had started in 1967 before Montgomery gained eligibility as a sophomore in 1968 – was getting some playing time. He dropped to pass and had – literally 8 to 10 seconds to get the ball off – which he did for a completion. Tech couldn’t get past our offensive line to touch him.
I won’t belabor or “replay” the game itself. If you saw it live, you’re all to familiar with the ebb/flow and drama of the game. If you didn’t, you’re probably sick of hearing about them. The only comment or memory of the game itself that I’ll make is a fleeting exchange between my dear, late father and I during the commercial break between the 3rd and 4th quarter. Dad and I always got along well, but we were especially close when it came to Arkansas sports, and Football was what started that, long before Eddie resurrected Basketball or Norm got Baseball going.
With Arkansas holding a 14-0 lead, and Texas having been frustrated by failure and turnovers all day long, Dad turned to me during that break and (famously, at least in our family) said to me “Son…I think we’ve got them!”. I looked at him and said something about hoping he hadn’t jinxed us. As we all know, James Street, facing a third and long from about midfield, dropped back to pass, then scrambled up the middle and broke it for a TD on the very first play of the 4th quarter (and, yes – I did see the uncalled clip in real time). Neither of us said a word – but we both know things had changed and not in a good way.
When the game was over, my Texas fan friend (who lived just around the corner) came over immediately and to his credit, he didn’t boast. He simply acknowledged what a fantastic, dramatic game it had been. And I looked at him and said “This is one game I’ll never forget. If I’m alive 50 years from now, the pain of this one will be as fresh as it is today.”
Sadly, that has turned out to be true.
And, it is particularly ironic and painful to me that as College Football celebrates it’s 150th season, Arkansas is SO irrelevant that we are scarcely ever mentioned in any of the TV broadcasts – and if we are, it’s in a derisive and condescending way. In a year when people should be talking about that game and the two programs involved in it, nary a word has been uttered. Heck, I’ve always assumed that when the day came, there would be a replay with a panel discussion by whoever was still alive that remembered the game first hand. But the game isn’t being replayed on the Longhorn Network, which shows the 2 hour (very poorly edited) version several times a year. Sad indeed.
One last thing. Yes, I know that especially younger fans don’t get why we “olders” hang onto and “glorify” a LOSS like this. I see where they are coming from, not having lived in the moment. But it was such an honor and a proud moment just to BE in the game. When the ENTIRE COUNTRY stopped and focused on (then) little old Fayetteville. The President of the United States came to the game (as did future President George Bush). Billy Graham game the invocation before the game. Heck – even Colonel Sanders was in the stands.
OU and Nebraska played one Hell of a game in 1971 – one of the very best I every watched. Many of the fans from those schools call that game the “Game of the Century”. But the Texas Arkansas “Big Shootout” rightfully claims that title. It was THE very last game of the 100th season of College Football. It was specially moved to that spot by the powers that be exactly because they strongly felt it should and would be the best game of the season. It was #1 vs. #2 for all the marble, with no more games to play.
OU and Nebraska both had games AFTER their epic game. They didn’t lose those games, but they might have. If OU – Nebraska 1971 is to be recognized as “The Game of the Century”, it will have to be in 2069 when the SECOND century of College football concludes. The first century ended in December of 1969, and Texas-Arkansas was THAT century’s “Game of the Century”.