Have me looking back a lot lately. It brings to mind my finest year ever as a Hog fan. A time that I so wish you younger guys could experience.
It really started in 1975. The Hogs came from nowhere and won the SWC on the heels of pummeling number 2 ranked and undefeated A&M in Little Rock 31-6. They followed that up by trouncing Georgia in the Cotton Bowl 31-10. 1976 came with high expectations that through injuries and some inner turmoil with the team ended up with a dismal 5-5-1 record that included a season ending loss to a just as bad Texas team.
JFB the AD did what all good AD's do. He recognized that the FB program was not doing well and he fired the coach, who happened to be him. Sure, for public consumption he resigned, but it was pretty understood amongst my little party circle that JFB the AD had fired JFB the coach. Lots of names thrown out by the fans, big names. But in the end, we were all shocked by the "about to be fired by the Jets" unknown little guy he came up with. Anyway, back to the greatest Hog year of my life.
As bad as we had been in 76, and breaking in a new QB(Calcagni) and coach, expectations were pretty low for the 77 season. By the time we played no.1 Texas to a near stalemate(13-9) inspite of the usual homecooked reffing, we were beginning to realize we were pretty good. We went on to a 10-1 record and finished the regular season pounding hapless SMU as fans threw oranges on the field to help sell us to the Orange Bowl committee that was in attendance. Texas was 11-0 and undefeated and OU was 10-1 with their only loss being to Texas 13-6. Texas was no.1, OU was no.2, and we were in the latter part of the top 10.
Well, we got the Orange Bowl and the opportunity to face powerful OU and Barry Switzer. Now, at the time, Switzer and OU were about what Bama and Saban are now. They had two games to fret over on their whole schedule(Texas and then elite Nebraska) and they pretty much just ran over everybody else. In spite of the fact that we were 10-1 also and had actually played Texas 3 points tighter than OU did, we were huge underdogs.
And then it happened. Our All SWC RB, our best WR, and our starting FB got caught in a dorm mess involving sex and a white girl. Holtz immediately suspended all 3. Nobody in the country gave us even a slight chance after that. Vegas pulled the OB off the betting board. Even the most avid Hog fans were discouraged. We were facing a giant and we were going to war with a stick. There was a lot of gloom and doom among Hog fans.
And then the genius of Holtz came into play. He(or somebody on his staff) noticed that the OU players tilted ever so slightly in the direction they were running the option. He went to JFB and asked him just how bad we would need to beat OU to win a NC. Of course, the fans knew none of this.
Meanwhile the ever confident Switzer had bought into the notion that the OB was going to be an easy cruise to a lopsided win. They didn't even bother to study our films. They partied big at the OB and gave minimal thought to the Hogs. Legend has it that at some point during the OB festivities, a bored assistant(seems like it was Lacewell) sat down and watched our film and freaked out. He notified Switzer but it was too late. The rest is history. We pounded OU all night. Had Notre Dame not also pummeled Texas in the Cotton Bowl, we would likely have been no.1. We finished no.3 with practically our whole team coming back the next year.
If that wasn't awesome enough, we had Brewer and Delph as seniors and Moncrief as a junior on a team that had gone 26-2 the year before. We made our first FF of modern times, went 32-4, finished 3rd in the rankings, and won the last FF consolation game ever played, against Notre Dame.
As a 20 year old Hog fan who partied daily with other 20 year old Hog fans, it was an amazing time. Sadly, we all pretty much figured it would always be that way. Never did we dream it would be over 30 years before we would see another 11 win season or into the 90's before we would see another FF. But at the time, it was euphoric. I hope you younger fans get to see it someday. Hopefully before I die.
It really started in 1975. The Hogs came from nowhere and won the SWC on the heels of pummeling number 2 ranked and undefeated A&M in Little Rock 31-6. They followed that up by trouncing Georgia in the Cotton Bowl 31-10. 1976 came with high expectations that through injuries and some inner turmoil with the team ended up with a dismal 5-5-1 record that included a season ending loss to a just as bad Texas team.
JFB the AD did what all good AD's do. He recognized that the FB program was not doing well and he fired the coach, who happened to be him. Sure, for public consumption he resigned, but it was pretty understood amongst my little party circle that JFB the AD had fired JFB the coach. Lots of names thrown out by the fans, big names. But in the end, we were all shocked by the "about to be fired by the Jets" unknown little guy he came up with. Anyway, back to the greatest Hog year of my life.
As bad as we had been in 76, and breaking in a new QB(Calcagni) and coach, expectations were pretty low for the 77 season. By the time we played no.1 Texas to a near stalemate(13-9) inspite of the usual homecooked reffing, we were beginning to realize we were pretty good. We went on to a 10-1 record and finished the regular season pounding hapless SMU as fans threw oranges on the field to help sell us to the Orange Bowl committee that was in attendance. Texas was 11-0 and undefeated and OU was 10-1 with their only loss being to Texas 13-6. Texas was no.1, OU was no.2, and we were in the latter part of the top 10.
Well, we got the Orange Bowl and the opportunity to face powerful OU and Barry Switzer. Now, at the time, Switzer and OU were about what Bama and Saban are now. They had two games to fret over on their whole schedule(Texas and then elite Nebraska) and they pretty much just ran over everybody else. In spite of the fact that we were 10-1 also and had actually played Texas 3 points tighter than OU did, we were huge underdogs.
And then it happened. Our All SWC RB, our best WR, and our starting FB got caught in a dorm mess involving sex and a white girl. Holtz immediately suspended all 3. Nobody in the country gave us even a slight chance after that. Vegas pulled the OB off the betting board. Even the most avid Hog fans were discouraged. We were facing a giant and we were going to war with a stick. There was a lot of gloom and doom among Hog fans.
And then the genius of Holtz came into play. He(or somebody on his staff) noticed that the OU players tilted ever so slightly in the direction they were running the option. He went to JFB and asked him just how bad we would need to beat OU to win a NC. Of course, the fans knew none of this.
Meanwhile the ever confident Switzer had bought into the notion that the OB was going to be an easy cruise to a lopsided win. They didn't even bother to study our films. They partied big at the OB and gave minimal thought to the Hogs. Legend has it that at some point during the OB festivities, a bored assistant(seems like it was Lacewell) sat down and watched our film and freaked out. He notified Switzer but it was too late. The rest is history. We pounded OU all night. Had Notre Dame not also pummeled Texas in the Cotton Bowl, we would likely have been no.1. We finished no.3 with practically our whole team coming back the next year.
If that wasn't awesome enough, we had Brewer and Delph as seniors and Moncrief as a junior on a team that had gone 26-2 the year before. We made our first FF of modern times, went 32-4, finished 3rd in the rankings, and won the last FF consolation game ever played, against Notre Dame.
As a 20 year old Hog fan who partied daily with other 20 year old Hog fans, it was an amazing time. Sadly, we all pretty much figured it would always be that way. Never did we dream it would be over 30 years before we would see another 11 win season or into the 90's before we would see another FF. But at the time, it was euphoric. I hope you younger fans get to see it someday. Hopefully before I die.
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