SWC75
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1958
(This will be my last post in this series until next fall. I wanted to complete the 1950’s before the hiatus.)
1958 and 1959 were two more of the “team of the year” seasons in this era, (like 1955-56, 1961-63) where there was little controversy about who was #1 at the end of the years because the national champion ran the table and no one else with a comparable schedule did so. But I did want to discuss what happened in these years and try to deal with a mini-controversy about 1959. But there will be no poll for either of these years as there was no major controversy and we all know who this board would unanimously vote for re: 1959.
The pre-season Top ten for 1958 was Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Auburn, Mississippi, Navy, Texas Christian, Army and North Carolina. Louisiana State was not ranked and for good reason. Since being destroyed 0-35 By Oklahoma in the 1/1/50 Sugar Bowl, the Tigers had been a toothless 35-41-8. Their last winning record had been 5-3-3 in 1953. Young Paul Dietzel had taken over as head coach in 1955 had had consecutive records of 3-5-2, 3-7 and 5-5. For 1958 he had a team mostly of sophomores and juniors, (remember that freshmen were not eligible), and little was expected of them in 1958.
But one of the juniors was a remarkable player named Billy Cannon, 6-1 208 with 9.4 speed in the 100 yard dash who was strong enough to put the shot 56 feet, dead-lift 450 pounds and press 285 pounds, unusual numbers in those days. He’d scored 39 touchdowns as a senior in highs school and everyone wanted him to play for them in college. Dietzel won the race to get him. Billy was described as combining “the rhythm of a chorus girl, the power of a steamroller and the boom of a cannon”. He also had the perfect name for an explosive player. His sophomore year he made a pretty fair running duo with a fullback named Jim Taylor. Taylor had been replaced by on J. W. Broadnax. They also had a new quarterback, Warren Rabb, who had completed 8 of 28 passes as a back-up the season before.
Dietzel concentrated on building up his defense. He also came up with a clever trick for his deep reserves. In this era, when a player who left in a quarter could not come back into the game until the next quarter, teams had a first team that played both ways and a second team that also played both ways. The first team would start each half. The second team would come in late in the first and third quarters, play into the next quarter and then the first team would come back in. (It wasn’t quite as simple as that – there were exceptions for injured players, but that was the general idea.) Deep teams might create a third team and use them as “shock troops” to start the game. They would be highly motivated to prove themselves and, (ideally) play competitively with the other team’s first team. The powerhouse would then send in their first team to roll over the demoralized opponent. (Knute Rockne famously did this in the 20’s.) Dietzel decided to do that with his team, even though they were hardly a powerhouse. He decided to try to create a culture for each team by naming them. The first team was the “white team”, (this was the year LSU began wearing white at home and on the road), and had his best defenders. The second team was the “Go” team and contained his best offensive players. The third team was the “Chinese Bandits”, based on a line from Dietzel’s favorite comic strip, “Terry and the Pirates”, in which Chinese Bandits were described as "the most vicious people in the world." Chinese music would be played as they entered the field. It gave this third team sky-high morale and aggressiveness. Using all three teams keep all of Dietzel’s players fresh and avoided injuries.
The first team to get mauled by the suddenly revived Tigers was Rice, then a highly respected program who had beaten the Tigers 20-14 and won the SWC the previous year and gone to the Cotton Bowl. LSU whipped the Owls, 26-6 with four different players scoring. Cannon wasn’t among them but set up two scores with a long pass reception and a punt return. The propelled the Tigers to #15 in the AP (writer’s) pill and #13 in the UPI (coach’s poll). They followed that up with a 13-3 victory over Bear Bryant’s first Alabama team and somehow moved to #13 according to AP but down to #17 per UPI. Iowa beat TCU the same day, 17-0 and jumped to #8 in both polls. The entire Top 10 won in week three as did LSU in a 20-6 romp over Hardin-Simmons, then a mid-major. Week four brought a vital game. Darrell Royal’s second Texas team upset his mentor, Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma powerhouse, 15-14, using a new rule that allowed teams to try for two points after a touchdown. Royal used his passing quarterback, (who hadn’t seen much action), Vince Mathews to lead the team on a late drive for the winning score, which came on fourth down. That one point kept the Sooners from a perfect season and another national championship – and opened the door for the Tigers.
Notre dame lost to Army 2-14 the same day. This was Red Blaik’s last Army team, completing the program’s comeback from the 1952 cribbing scandal with an undefeated season. But the Cadets had an exception, too, but not yet. They went to the #1 spot for week 5. Auburn was #2 but got tied by Georgia Tech 7-7. #4 Wisconsin, #5 Michigan State and #6 Navy all went down. LSU had crushed U. of Miami 41-0 in week four. That got them a #9 ranking and they followed it up by destroying Kentucky 32-7, which got them all the way up to #3 behind Army and Ohio State. Wisconsin tied the Buckeyes 7-7 in week 6and Pittsburgh tied Army 14-14, parting the waves for the Tigers to reach the #1 spot in the AP poll after a 10-7 win over Florida, thanks to “Billy Cannon’s clutch running”. UPI wasn’t convinced and rated them #5 behind Iowa, Army, Ohio State and Auburn, all at 4-0-1.
Now came a major roadblock: #6 Mississippi, which was establishing itself as a major power. The Tigers hadn’t beaten them since 1960. A goal line stand at the Tiger 2 kept the game scoreless and a Rebel fumble at their own 21 set up a run by Rabb for a score. A blocked punt in the fourth quarter set up the clincher is a 14-0 win. The Tigers never relinquished their top ranking, crushing Duke, then considered a national power, 50-18 the next week. UPI now pushed them up to #1 in both polls. Meanwhile Ohio State had been shocked 0-21 by Ara Parsehgian’s surprising Northwestern team.
The Tigers began reading their press clippings and so did Mississippi State’s Bulldogs. The result was a skin-of-their-teeth close call, 7-6 that included a missed field goal on the game’s last play. Meanwhile, Ohio State won a wild, (for the times) 38-28 game over Iowa. Bob White who had gained 66 of 68 yards in the winning drive vs. the Hawkeyes in 1957, had a huge day with 209 yards, 71 on one play and repeated his 1957 performance by carrying 11 times in the drive that broke a 28-28 tie. LSU erased the memory of the struggles against Mississippi State with a 62-0 romp over their perennial rival Tulane. That ended their regular season and wrapped up a totally unexpected national championship.
But to modern eyes, you’ve got to win your bowl game. The Tigers were back in the Sugar Bowl after 9 years. Their opponent was feisty 12th ranked Clemson, an 8-2 team. Auburn was 9-0-1 but still on probation and other teams used black players. Frank Howard, the Clemson coach said “They keep telling us we’re not worth a darn. I don’t know, maybe we’re not. But you keep telling a feller that long enough and it begins to get under his hide.” Both teams were the Tigers and they both play the Tiger Rag so New Orleans might not have bene as intimidating to the visiting Tigers as most teams: they could pretend the fans were rooting for them. Howard called his team “The One-Armed Bandits”. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
LSU had three good first half scoring chances and came up empty each time, once when Broadnax fumbled through the end zone. They finally cashed in in the third quarter when a punt snap was bobbled and recovered by the hometown Tigers at the visiting Tiger’s 11. Clemson center Paul Snyder said “A little wet grass got between my hand and the ball. It slipped when I threw it and it got away.” Per “Big Bowl Football” by Fred Russell and George Leonard, “”LSU advanced the ball two yards on the next two plays. Dietzel sent in the next one. Quarterback Durel Matherne, (Rabb had been injured), handed off to Cannon, who moved from left to right on a run or pass option. Billy slowed up after he’d gone a few yards laterally and cast a strike into the arms of right end Mickey Mangham in the end zone.” Cannon: “I didn’t throw it. The Lord did.” Clemson marched 59 yards to the LSU 24 but turned the ball over on downs. That was their last gasp. LSU won 7-0 to finish 11-0-0. Nobody else did.
Not that there weren’t other worthy teams. Oklahoma had beaten a Syracuse team that also had lost just one game by one point 21-6 in the orange Bowl. They had out-scored their 11 opponents 300-53 and might well have won still another national title except for that two point conversion by Texas. The Big Eight had finally muscled up enough to challenge the Sooners who finally felt the effects of trying to sustain success and Oklahoma would not have such a team for nearly a decade. Army finished 9-0-1 and had the Heisman Trophy winner in Pete Dawkins. They outscored their opposition 264-49. Auburn followed up their 1957 coach’s title with a 9-0-1 record. They had even less offense than the previous year, (173-62), but the same knack for winning close games. They finally came off probation in 1959 and lost three games- by a total of 13 points. Air Force joined the ranks of the major college service teams with a 9-0-1 record of their own. (247-102). Their one blemish was a 14-14 tie with Iowa. Then they got another with a 0-0 tie with Texas Christian in the Cotton Bowl, (there were 5 missed field goals).maybe it had something to do with the coaches: ben martin of Air Force vs. Abe Martin of TCU, (no, no relation). But the #2 ranked team was Iowa, with that loss to Ohio State and that tie with Air Force, (8-1-1, 272-146). They blew away a mediocre California team in the Rose Bowl, 38-12, ending a stretch where the Big Ten won 12 of 13 Rose Bowls.
With three teams at 9-0-1 and Oklahoma losing by a point, there are a lot of ways this year could have wound up differently but it didn’t. LSU was recognized as national champions by 14 for the 16 official NCAA selectors: AP, Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football news, Football research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship foundation, Poling, UPI and Williamson. Iowa was recognized by Football Writers Association and Sagarin. Of the non-NCAA selectors I found on the web, all of them (Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell, Square gear, Taylor, Waits and Wilson) went for LSU. The massive lsit on College Football Data Warehouse:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160331144734/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/national_championships/yearly_results.php?year=1958
has LSU chosen by 39 selectors and Iowa, Auburn and Oklahoma chosen by 1 each.
Here is Richard Vautravers article on the 1958 national championship:
1958 College Football National Championship
He thinks Iowa has a case based on their schedule but still goes for LSU.
(This will be my last post in this series until next fall. I wanted to complete the 1950’s before the hiatus.)
1958 and 1959 were two more of the “team of the year” seasons in this era, (like 1955-56, 1961-63) where there was little controversy about who was #1 at the end of the years because the national champion ran the table and no one else with a comparable schedule did so. But I did want to discuss what happened in these years and try to deal with a mini-controversy about 1959. But there will be no poll for either of these years as there was no major controversy and we all know who this board would unanimously vote for re: 1959.
The pre-season Top ten for 1958 was Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Auburn, Mississippi, Navy, Texas Christian, Army and North Carolina. Louisiana State was not ranked and for good reason. Since being destroyed 0-35 By Oklahoma in the 1/1/50 Sugar Bowl, the Tigers had been a toothless 35-41-8. Their last winning record had been 5-3-3 in 1953. Young Paul Dietzel had taken over as head coach in 1955 had had consecutive records of 3-5-2, 3-7 and 5-5. For 1958 he had a team mostly of sophomores and juniors, (remember that freshmen were not eligible), and little was expected of them in 1958.
But one of the juniors was a remarkable player named Billy Cannon, 6-1 208 with 9.4 speed in the 100 yard dash who was strong enough to put the shot 56 feet, dead-lift 450 pounds and press 285 pounds, unusual numbers in those days. He’d scored 39 touchdowns as a senior in highs school and everyone wanted him to play for them in college. Dietzel won the race to get him. Billy was described as combining “the rhythm of a chorus girl, the power of a steamroller and the boom of a cannon”. He also had the perfect name for an explosive player. His sophomore year he made a pretty fair running duo with a fullback named Jim Taylor. Taylor had been replaced by on J. W. Broadnax. They also had a new quarterback, Warren Rabb, who had completed 8 of 28 passes as a back-up the season before.
Dietzel concentrated on building up his defense. He also came up with a clever trick for his deep reserves. In this era, when a player who left in a quarter could not come back into the game until the next quarter, teams had a first team that played both ways and a second team that also played both ways. The first team would start each half. The second team would come in late in the first and third quarters, play into the next quarter and then the first team would come back in. (It wasn’t quite as simple as that – there were exceptions for injured players, but that was the general idea.) Deep teams might create a third team and use them as “shock troops” to start the game. They would be highly motivated to prove themselves and, (ideally) play competitively with the other team’s first team. The powerhouse would then send in their first team to roll over the demoralized opponent. (Knute Rockne famously did this in the 20’s.) Dietzel decided to do that with his team, even though they were hardly a powerhouse. He decided to try to create a culture for each team by naming them. The first team was the “white team”, (this was the year LSU began wearing white at home and on the road), and had his best defenders. The second team was the “Go” team and contained his best offensive players. The third team was the “Chinese Bandits”, based on a line from Dietzel’s favorite comic strip, “Terry and the Pirates”, in which Chinese Bandits were described as "the most vicious people in the world." Chinese music would be played as they entered the field. It gave this third team sky-high morale and aggressiveness. Using all three teams keep all of Dietzel’s players fresh and avoided injuries.
The first team to get mauled by the suddenly revived Tigers was Rice, then a highly respected program who had beaten the Tigers 20-14 and won the SWC the previous year and gone to the Cotton Bowl. LSU whipped the Owls, 26-6 with four different players scoring. Cannon wasn’t among them but set up two scores with a long pass reception and a punt return. The propelled the Tigers to #15 in the AP (writer’s) pill and #13 in the UPI (coach’s poll). They followed that up with a 13-3 victory over Bear Bryant’s first Alabama team and somehow moved to #13 according to AP but down to #17 per UPI. Iowa beat TCU the same day, 17-0 and jumped to #8 in both polls. The entire Top 10 won in week three as did LSU in a 20-6 romp over Hardin-Simmons, then a mid-major. Week four brought a vital game. Darrell Royal’s second Texas team upset his mentor, Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma powerhouse, 15-14, using a new rule that allowed teams to try for two points after a touchdown. Royal used his passing quarterback, (who hadn’t seen much action), Vince Mathews to lead the team on a late drive for the winning score, which came on fourth down. That one point kept the Sooners from a perfect season and another national championship – and opened the door for the Tigers.
Notre dame lost to Army 2-14 the same day. This was Red Blaik’s last Army team, completing the program’s comeback from the 1952 cribbing scandal with an undefeated season. But the Cadets had an exception, too, but not yet. They went to the #1 spot for week 5. Auburn was #2 but got tied by Georgia Tech 7-7. #4 Wisconsin, #5 Michigan State and #6 Navy all went down. LSU had crushed U. of Miami 41-0 in week four. That got them a #9 ranking and they followed it up by destroying Kentucky 32-7, which got them all the way up to #3 behind Army and Ohio State. Wisconsin tied the Buckeyes 7-7 in week 6and Pittsburgh tied Army 14-14, parting the waves for the Tigers to reach the #1 spot in the AP poll after a 10-7 win over Florida, thanks to “Billy Cannon’s clutch running”. UPI wasn’t convinced and rated them #5 behind Iowa, Army, Ohio State and Auburn, all at 4-0-1.
Now came a major roadblock: #6 Mississippi, which was establishing itself as a major power. The Tigers hadn’t beaten them since 1960. A goal line stand at the Tiger 2 kept the game scoreless and a Rebel fumble at their own 21 set up a run by Rabb for a score. A blocked punt in the fourth quarter set up the clincher is a 14-0 win. The Tigers never relinquished their top ranking, crushing Duke, then considered a national power, 50-18 the next week. UPI now pushed them up to #1 in both polls. Meanwhile Ohio State had been shocked 0-21 by Ara Parsehgian’s surprising Northwestern team.
The Tigers began reading their press clippings and so did Mississippi State’s Bulldogs. The result was a skin-of-their-teeth close call, 7-6 that included a missed field goal on the game’s last play. Meanwhile, Ohio State won a wild, (for the times) 38-28 game over Iowa. Bob White who had gained 66 of 68 yards in the winning drive vs. the Hawkeyes in 1957, had a huge day with 209 yards, 71 on one play and repeated his 1957 performance by carrying 11 times in the drive that broke a 28-28 tie. LSU erased the memory of the struggles against Mississippi State with a 62-0 romp over their perennial rival Tulane. That ended their regular season and wrapped up a totally unexpected national championship.
But to modern eyes, you’ve got to win your bowl game. The Tigers were back in the Sugar Bowl after 9 years. Their opponent was feisty 12th ranked Clemson, an 8-2 team. Auburn was 9-0-1 but still on probation and other teams used black players. Frank Howard, the Clemson coach said “They keep telling us we’re not worth a darn. I don’t know, maybe we’re not. But you keep telling a feller that long enough and it begins to get under his hide.” Both teams were the Tigers and they both play the Tiger Rag so New Orleans might not have bene as intimidating to the visiting Tigers as most teams: they could pretend the fans were rooting for them. Howard called his team “The One-Armed Bandits”. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
LSU had three good first half scoring chances and came up empty each time, once when Broadnax fumbled through the end zone. They finally cashed in in the third quarter when a punt snap was bobbled and recovered by the hometown Tigers at the visiting Tiger’s 11. Clemson center Paul Snyder said “A little wet grass got between my hand and the ball. It slipped when I threw it and it got away.” Per “Big Bowl Football” by Fred Russell and George Leonard, “”LSU advanced the ball two yards on the next two plays. Dietzel sent in the next one. Quarterback Durel Matherne, (Rabb had been injured), handed off to Cannon, who moved from left to right on a run or pass option. Billy slowed up after he’d gone a few yards laterally and cast a strike into the arms of right end Mickey Mangham in the end zone.” Cannon: “I didn’t throw it. The Lord did.” Clemson marched 59 yards to the LSU 24 but turned the ball over on downs. That was their last gasp. LSU won 7-0 to finish 11-0-0. Nobody else did.
Not that there weren’t other worthy teams. Oklahoma had beaten a Syracuse team that also had lost just one game by one point 21-6 in the orange Bowl. They had out-scored their 11 opponents 300-53 and might well have won still another national title except for that two point conversion by Texas. The Big Eight had finally muscled up enough to challenge the Sooners who finally felt the effects of trying to sustain success and Oklahoma would not have such a team for nearly a decade. Army finished 9-0-1 and had the Heisman Trophy winner in Pete Dawkins. They outscored their opposition 264-49. Auburn followed up their 1957 coach’s title with a 9-0-1 record. They had even less offense than the previous year, (173-62), but the same knack for winning close games. They finally came off probation in 1959 and lost three games- by a total of 13 points. Air Force joined the ranks of the major college service teams with a 9-0-1 record of their own. (247-102). Their one blemish was a 14-14 tie with Iowa. Then they got another with a 0-0 tie with Texas Christian in the Cotton Bowl, (there were 5 missed field goals).maybe it had something to do with the coaches: ben martin of Air Force vs. Abe Martin of TCU, (no, no relation). But the #2 ranked team was Iowa, with that loss to Ohio State and that tie with Air Force, (8-1-1, 272-146). They blew away a mediocre California team in the Rose Bowl, 38-12, ending a stretch where the Big Ten won 12 of 13 Rose Bowls.
With three teams at 9-0-1 and Oklahoma losing by a point, there are a lot of ways this year could have wound up differently but it didn’t. LSU was recognized as national champions by 14 for the 16 official NCAA selectors: AP, Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football news, Football research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship foundation, Poling, UPI and Williamson. Iowa was recognized by Football Writers Association and Sagarin. Of the non-NCAA selectors I found on the web, all of them (Time Travel, Dolphin, Howell, Square gear, Taylor, Waits and Wilson) went for LSU. The massive lsit on College Football Data Warehouse:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160331144734/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/national_championships/yearly_results.php?year=1958
has LSU chosen by 39 selectors and Iowa, Auburn and Oklahoma chosen by 1 each.
Here is Richard Vautravers article on the 1958 national championship:
1958 College Football National Championship
He thinks Iowa has a case based on their schedule but still goes for LSU.
