Please, I'm only 23 and my furthest memory of Aggie football goes back to the 1992 walloping of Texas @ Texas.

But after the "Worst Moment Thread," I'm awfully curious to hear it from you all.

A&M was 10-0 and #2 in the nation. Then we fell apart when we played the last game against Arkansas. I think we lost 30-6.

Edit: I think that was in 1977. Not sure about 1975.

[This message has been edited by Corps74 (edited 3/27/2010 11:38p).]

It was 1975.... We were set to play for the MNC, but our emotional energy was spent the week before in the Thanksgiving game against t.u.... this game was moved to early Decemeber for TV. If we had played at the normal time (November), there's a good chance we would have won this game.... this was my fish year at A&M... still a painful memory!

[This message has been edited by chick79 (edited 3/27/2010 11:51p).]

12/6/1975 Ark. 31 A&M 6

Got spanked by a superior team.

/Story

It happens.

FHUAggie (and all you younger Ags),

1975 was my fish year, so I remember it well. But let me go back even a bit before that to properly set the stage.

• TAMC voted in 1963 to 1) allow women, and 2) no longer make the Corps mandatory for undergraduate students.
  
• It took a while for the change to manifest, but by the early 70s that plan started gaining traction. Result?... the student population really took off.
  
• Also in the early 70s, we hired Emory Bellard – father of the Wishbone offense – and former offensive coordinator for Darrell Royal at tu.
  
• Coach Bellard was a very successful recruiter, and while his first few years didn’t show it, by 1974 he had amassed a very capable team. NOTE: he was the first to recruit black athletes in big numbers to Aggieland.
  
• in ’74, we were really beginning to make ground, and it came down to a cold, wet Thanksgiving Day game in Austin for the SWC championship… and we got smoked. Really smoked. The Horns scored three TD’s within about 90 total seconds, and it was she wrote.
  
• Now, keep in mind that there were only about 15 or so bowl games at that time, so it was either win that game or go home. We went home.

Point being, we were ready to kick some a$$ the next year!

Now, you have to understand something else, too: this was all “BC,” as in “before cable.” ESPN didn’t come around for another 5 years or so, and all we had on the tube were the three networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC), PBS, and for the bigger metro areas there might have been an independent TV station. One independent station. WB didn’t exist. Nor Fox. Nor Ion. Nada. Goose egg. THAT WAS IT! ABC was known as the sports station back then, although NBC would show some Notre Dame games now and then and CBS would break away from golf or whatever once a season to show a football game.

Thus, ANY invitation to play on TV was a big deal as there were far too few chances. Oh sure, there was Saturday afternoon football on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but if I saw Nebraska play once in my formative years in the 60s and early 70s, I saw them dozens of times. And if it wasn’t the Huskers, it was Notre Dame. Sometimes Oklahoma, and yes, even the Horns. But the Ags were rarely a TV commodity.

In 1975, Arkansas was still a regular SWC foe, and we were scheduled to play the Razorbacks midway through the season, and had we played them as originally scheduled, we would most likely have won the game. Even with it being a home game for them, that Aggie team was ready to play. Why?... well, let’s just say that 10 of the 11 defensive starters that year were eventually drafted by the NFL. All three LB’ers were All American: Ed Simonini and Garth Ten Apel were seniors that year and were AA in ’75, and MLB Robert Jackson – still THE hardest hitting LB’er I’ve ever seen! – was a junior that year and an AA the next year. (And we had some offensive players head to the NFL, too, like OL Dennis Swilley and RB Bubba Bean.)

Then ABC came a’callin’. “Say, gents… if y’all move that game to the last game of the season – say the first weekend in December – we have some available air time, and we’ll televise that for you and guarantee you $200,000 apiece. You’ll be the only show in town because the regular season will be over. How does that sound for you?!” Seeing that every Saturday it was either Nebraska or Notre Dame on TV, we said “SURE!”

Meanwhile, the Ags kept motoring on, taking care of business. Then came Turkey Day 1975. The Aggies were 9-0 and #2 in the land, and the Horns were equally potent at 9-1 and #5 coming into College Station. What a showdown! Now, Bellard had run the Wishbone well, but quite frankly we were getting antsy in the stands to see a bit more razzle-dazzle, and Bellard did not disappoint. The first play of the game for the Ags, we ran a reverse to speedy flanker Carl Roaches that went for about 50 yards. As a fish, I was sitting dead-center in the horseshoe (which is now The Zone), and all I could see was Carl running down the left sideline (the student side). And running. And running.. and running some more! I lost it. There wasn’t a vocal chord left in my body. And it was smooth sailing from then on. The Horns scored on a muffed special teams play, but we ruled the day and won 20-10. Sweet revenge for the shellacking we took the year prior.

Watch snippets here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGkrzJhviJw

Then, Aggie RB Bubba Bean’s picture showed up on Sports Illustrated. Not the regional version of SI that we’re all accustomed to today. The ONLY version. It was the curse of death!

Bubba Bean (the pride of Kirbyville, TX!): http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/81802418.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA548ED2B8F2022FD49C26C2C626DE7EBF495A126B5E07AD63795

Then came the debacle in Little Rock, with us getting outscored 6-31. To this day, I still don’t know what took our MOJO away. Perhaps it was too much celebrating after the Horn win – especially after what happened just the year prior – and we lost focus. Anway, that loss put us in a 3-way tie for the SWC, with the Pigs, the Horns, and the Ags all at 6-1. The contract arrangements of the day had the SWC winner going to the Cotton Bowl (only), and other SWC teams could go to lesser bowls like the Liberty Bowl in Memphis or the now defunct Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston.

Here’s the kicker and the reason why we were thiiiiiissss close to earning a national championship:

• Ohio State was #1 that year, and the Big Ten was contractually obligated to play the Pac Ten champion in the Rose Bowl. So, #1 Ohio State played #11 UCLA, and the Bruins won in an upset, 23-10. This opened the doors to the #2 team in the land (which shoulda/coulda/woulda been the Ags!
  
• Oklahoma took the #2 spot after the Ags’ loss to Arkansas, and played #4 Michigan in the Orange Bowl. The won that game, and thus became the National Champions that year.
  
• #18 Arkansas played #22 Georgia in the Cotton Bowl and won handily, 31-10. (I, like many, believe had the Ags beat Arky in the first place that they would have cleaned house with the Bulldogs in the Cotton Bowl.)
  
• The demoralized Ags played unranked USC in the Liberty Bowl, and lost miserably, 20-0.

That, my friend, is the proverbial one that got away. Had we won that game in the hills of Arkansas, a lot of things would have been different at Aggieland over the years.

Oh… and a rather young RC Slocum was a DL coach on that team, too! He worked for “Mad Dog” Robertson, who was a masterful defensive coordinator.

Cotton79 has it right. I'd make one edit though....Mad Dog Robertson wasn't "a" masterful defensive coordinator. He was "THE" master defensive coordinator. Every other DC at Aggieland is a distant second.

[This message has been edited by viejo (edited 3/28/2010 7:59a).]

One thing you forgot about the disaster in 1975. Frank Broyles, the then coach of Arkansas, was also the color commentor with Keith Jackson on the A&M vs tu game on national TV. Frank had a birds eye scouting view of the game. Moving the game after the tu game has haunted Emory Bellard ever since. Emory was the AD as well as HC. We had the best team (especially defense) in the land in 75 and 76. In fact I think the 76 team was better than 75 but had a couple of losses early and came on strong late. "Mad Dog" Robertson (Coaches Liquor) was the man!

...a perfect, comprehensive answer by Cotton. That nailed it.

MA

I seem to remember that our QB got knocked out of the game early and had to play a freshman?

Arkansas was NO superior team to the '75 Texas Aggies.

A&M's #2 ranking wasn't smoke and mirrors. They were hands down the most talented defensive team in the nation.

As others have said, Frank Broyles was insanely allowed to scout the game vs. Texas as the ABC color commentator and Arkansas came up with a huge upset on a given day the next week at home.

Arkansas had a good team, they were not superior. Texas beat them soundly in Arkansas back in October that year 24-18, where the Hogs scored late to make it close.

The '75 game was similar, not exactly opposite, to the season disruption of a team when Texas A&M went to Arkansas in 1971 and won 17-9. That year Arkansas had hammered UT 31-7 at home, vindicating their stinging losses of the famous 15-14 National title game of 1969 and the 42-7 shellacking they endured in 1970.

Again, Arkansas entered the '71 A&M game undefeated and on their way to an unblemished season. The Texas Aggies, in hard-nosed fashion, ran the ball and played defense and stiffly defeated a "superior" opponent. It was, without question, one of Coach Stallings most impressive wins. Rice tied Arkansas 24-24 afterwards and they finished 2nd at 5-1-1 behind Texas who was 6-1 in SWC play. It was very disappointing for Arkansas.

Back to '75, Arkansas put their best game of the season together by avoiding an early A&M drive, stacking the line, picking up some turnovers, using field position and making a handful of decisive plays. In short and with respect - THEY DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO, including Frank Broyles getting to color commentate the A&M-Texas game.

THE CURSE



[This message has been edited by NoFear (edited 3/28/2010 10:41a).]

They were just better. They only lost 2 games and they were by 6 and 7 points. They went on to beat down Georgia 31-10 in the Cotton Bowl.

Being a BQ Class of 75, the Arkansas game was lost to playing after thanksgiving, but mostly lost because of being outcoached. Mack Brown is a reincarnation of Emory Bellard in that we were outcoached in every game, but had talent particularly on defense such that we won in spite of coaching. For instance, we ran fullback up the middle in 36 straight games as our first play from scrimmage. I remember playing against Baylor that year who ran a 9-2 defense and left the split end uncovered on first down and we never threw. The year before we played Rice that had negative 100 yards in total offense and we lost. In Arkansas, Lou Holtz loaded up the line shut down the option(we never adjusted) and hit on deep passes, game over. I was depressed for a month, maybe I still am.

Emory Bellard: 48-27
Mack Brown: 128-27

Lou Holtz was not Arkansas' coach in '75, Frank Broyles was.

Here are the reasons we lost the game. We were flat after the huge rivalry game against tu the week before. Just emotionally spent. Arkansas was so emotionally charged that day that we never had a chance. The father of one of my classmates was a referee during that game. He was the one who told me that about Arkansas. The game was moved from earlier to this date for TV. Our starting QB was injured coming into the game and then got knocked out. Actually our top 2 QB's were hurt. And then Arkansas hurt us with our one weakness on defense, the long pass. They score right before half on a long pass and the game was over. Had the game been played at Kyle Field, maybe we win. But not in Arkansas' backyard.

My sister was a JR. that year. They drove up there for the game. She said when they got in the car to leave fron College Station, the song "You've blown it all sky high" came on the radio.

We also were without Mike Jay for that game. Hurt his back in the win over tu. Now Jay and Shipman were pretty equal in terms of talent, but Jay definitely had that intangible that made him a leader and made the team better when he was on the field at QB. Sort of like an Applewhite/Simms situation. A horrible sequence right before the end of the half doomed that game.

quote:

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Cotton79 has it right. I'd make one edit though....Mad Dog Robertson wasn't "a" masterful defensive coordinator. He was "THE" master defensive coordinator. Every other DC at Aggieland is a distant second.

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this +eleventy billion

I'll never forget sitting in his liquor store listening the the utter contempt just drip off his words as he talked about the "bend but don't break" defense. The man only knew one way, attack, attack and attack again.

What Happened? I think we had 6 turnovers, at least one inside the 10. QB hurt. 8 man front by
arkansas, we could not throw.
Guess who the D-coordinator for Arky was...
Jimmy Johnson, yeah that one. Mad Dog told me Johnson bragged that we were not ready for the 8 man front they ran.

Cotton explained it very well. A couple other points are our defense only gave up about 180 yards per game that year,but our weakness was the deep pass down the middle and Arkansas and USC exploited that.

Was there in LR for 75 game> Also, after beating tu school was called off in celebration adding to the not being focused for Arkies. Above poster right, td pass of about 35 yds to Doug Yoder right before half put ehm up at half 7-0. We never mounted anything in 2nd half and turnovers led to arky scores> We did crush them again in LR following yr (76) in Revenge at the Rock led by C. Dickey.

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I still don’t know what took our MOJO away

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What took it away was beating tex-sis. Its always an emotional lift to beat them, but it's our only REAL focus. It's a tunnel vision goal we've carried for generations, and still is. Beating the horns should be automatic for us by now, but it's not. Any games played after the tu game will always suffer from a let down. Its just a painful, inconvenient, uncomfortable truth.

terata

I hate that. Unfortunately, there is often truth to your statement.

quote:

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terata
posted 9:49p, 03/28/10




quote:
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I still don�t know what took our MOJO away
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What took it away was beating tex-sis. Its always an emotional lift to beat them, but it's our only REAL focus. It's a tunnel vision goal we've carried for generations, and still is. Beating the horns should be automatic for us by now, but it's not. Any games played after the tu game will always suffer from a let down. Its just a painful, inconvenient, uncomfortable truth.

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Understood, terata. That's why I offered a prelude of what happened the previous year in Austin (1974). The Aggies were beginning to gel quite a bit then, but that game just took the wind out of our sails. There was a big "payback" factor in that 20-10 win, and I fear that we just didn't focus nearly enough after that.

I think the move the Big 12 has helped somewhat in that regard, though. Playing OU every year and the likes of Nebraska and Colorado and such helps even things out. I think we're getting "there" - i.e., that emotional place where we see a bigger picture other than just tu - but your general gist is unfortunately true.

I also want to reiterate something about the TV factor. Few Ags under the age of 45 or so can really, truly appreciate this.

The decision to move that game came fairly early in the season. I don't recall the initially planned date to play Arkansas in 1975, but it was something like early to mid-October. So, the ABC deal likely came sometime in September so that everyone could make the necessary adjustments.

$200,000. We gambled away the real possibility of a national champions for 200 measley grand. Yea, that was considered a lot of money back then, but it's a mere pittance compared to today. In the 80s, the CFA came to the fore - the College Football Association - which ultimately challenged (sued, as I recall?) the NCAA for the right to air more college football games on this new, fandangled thing called "cable." And while it took some years to manifest, the TV masters and cable gods found a way to make some serious cash doing this, and accordingly the payouts to participating teams grew and grew.

But in the 70s, there was no such thing. I can't fault the powers that be, though. It was a too powerful elixer that just couldn't be denied.

But oh.... what would have happened had we stayed put with our original schedule?! The dreams of avarice, I tell you!


[This message has been edited by Cotton79 (edited 3/29/2010 12:20a).]

The dreams of avarice

absolutely, I'm right up there with you!!

6 fumbles...

Start, middle and end of story. Were they good? They were the best. Play that game in other weekend and we win.

frogagg, I believe the TD pass was to Teddy Barnes.

That was the year KU took one of their starting DB's named Nolan Cromwell and converted him to a wishbone QB. KU had a great game in Norman and upset the defending champ land thieves without completing a pass to open the door to everyone including A&M for the MNC.

I remember tuning in from out of state to see if the A&M defense really deserved to be mentioned in the same breath with OU's with the Selmon bros and Jimbo Elrod. Well, that and to see if the white stripes across the shoulders were as ugly as I had been reading about and whether Bubba Bean was good or writers just liked his name. I just remember A&M looking slow/tired and out of sync and thinking "typical let down after a huge win against the rival the week before". But what did I know, I was just a high school kid that liked college football.

This thread needs a 2020 bump.

BTHO outta Arkansas

I remember being about maybe 9 or 10 listening to the game on the radio and if I recall didn't we have a lot of injury players from the previous Texas game that were either playing hurt or did not play in the Arkansas Game....

Thanks for the bump...reading the thread was a punch in the gut. What wasn't mentioned was that Shipman was starting early in the year then was injured. Jay subsequently became entrenched as the starter. When Jay was injured in the tu game, the writing was on the wall...Shipman was overweight, slow and completely out of sync. I would say not close to recovered. Once Arkansas scored it was pretty much over.

One thing not being mentioned is that we were a team with a one dimensional offense - running - with a defense that allowed us to win. Arky simply stacked the line when we were on offense preventing us from moving the ball. It was a recipe for disaster on the week following our first win over tu since '67. That's why we lost.

Someone also mentioned the '71 game in Little Rock - one I'll never forget. People poured onto the quad after the upset with most showing up at Easterwood to greet the team (on the tarmac at the old terminal). There were a thousand or more fans for a night I will never forget.

wtr1975 said:

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One thing not being mentioned is that we were a team with a one dimensional offense - running - with a defense that allowed us to win. Arky simply stacked the line when we were on offense preventing us from moving the ball.

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No, that hasn't been mentioned at all. Not once.