Clemson's Tigers Edge Out Boston's Battling Eagles, 6 to 3, in Thriller
Timmons Drives Over For Only Touchdown
Lukachick Registers Field Goal to Give BC All Its Scoring
1/2/1940
If the good folks of Abbeville, S.C., weren't listening in on their radios Monday afternoon, they should have been. For one of Abbeville's native sons, Charley Timmons, broke loose in sophomoric fury on New Year's Day to lead Clemson College's Tigers to a brilliant 6-to-3 triumph over the battling Eagles of Boston College in the Cotton Bowl.
Fifteen thousand citizens of Southwestern, New England and Down South communities, who went out to the Fair Park football plant expecting to see All-American Banks McFadden, Shad Bryant, Vito Ananis, Charley O'Rourke and other heralded stars headline the fourth annual pigskin presentation of J. Curtis Sanford, roared the excitement as Timmons took over the leading role, though none of the advertised cast failed to deliver.
All of the scoring was packed into the scorching second period, but thrills were jammed into every quarter. It was BC, the team that had come 2,000 miles to end its greatest season, that scored first, Alex Lukachik, a substitute end and kicking specialist, booting a field goal that proved to be the Eagles' only point-making.
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Shortly afterward in that turbulent second quarter, Clemson, with Timmons leading the parade, marched fifty-seven yards in nine plays for the game's only touchdown. Bryant's placement kick for the seventh point fizzled, but it wasn't needed as things turned out.
There wasn't a great deal of activity near either teams' double stripe in the opening period, though a clipping penalty set the Tigers back on their 1-yard line near the end of the session and just after McFadden and his first-team crowd had hustled off the field to give the B eleven a chance to kick up its heels. Bru Trexler, standing in the end zone, booted the ball out to O'Rourke on the Clemson 40 and that skinny-legged gentleman ankled right down to the 13 before he was hustled out of bounds. The period expired then and Coach Jess Neely sent his first-stringers running back into the fray, Coach Frank Leahy countering this move by substituting a new ball-lugging corps. Frank Maznicki was rushed for a five-yard loss by the aroused Clemson line, and Bob Jauron was swarmed for another loss. Frank Davis stormed into the midline and got some of these yards back, but not enough and on fourth down with the ball on the 13-yard line, Lukachick kicked a perfect field goal from placement.
After the kickoff and a punt exchange, the Clemsons had the ball on their 43-yard line and from there the Southern Conference co-champions went to town in a hurry. Timmons powered through right tackle for five yards, then broke through a whole in the same vicinity for a first down on the BC 43. Bryant was trapped for a yard loss, but McFadden then cocked his good right arm for a pass, found a highway paved around right end and stepped on the gas. They hauled him down on the BC 30. Bryant was stopped for a six-yard deficit and then McFadden did pass – for the first time all afternoon. Wister (Warhorse) Jackson hauled down the flying pigskin and hen the whistle blew he had a first down on the New Englanders' 19. Timmons took up the burden here, crashing out a first down on the 7. Then he roared through the right tackle hole again and was dragged down on the 1. Right guard was where he struck next and behind the goal line was where he wound up. And, as has been chronicled, it made no difference whether Bryant's kick was good or not.
That was all the business for the scoreboard operator, but it appeared more than once afterward as if the fighting Eagles might do a bit more point gathering. O'Rourke hailed in the advance billings as a great passer, and who proved to be as dangerous a football pitcher as you'd care to see – particularly if you wore a Clemson uniform – time after time sent bullet-like heaves deep into the Southerners' end of the field and several times over the goal line. He sent fans to their feet midway of the third quarter with what appeared to be a certain touchdown heave in the corner to End Dick Harrison, a very good receiver, but Harrison failed to handle the toss and fell sprawling.
Three minutes before the field judge's gun barked, the Eagles, clawing desperately for victory, banged inside Clemson's 10-yard line, but spectacular defensive play saved the day for the South Carolinians. It was a thriller – that fourth period – and it was a breath-taking series of happenings that gave BC its start on that final, luckless drive.
The ball was Clemson's on its 45. Joe Blalock, an end, shifted back and southpawed a pass that was knocked skyward by Walter Dubzinski, in at center for BC, and Al Morro, BC tackle, pulled the ball out of the air and ran down to the Clemson 34. Ananis lost a yard, but on the ensuing play, BC pulled a spread formation and off of it a Fancy Dan play on which O'Rourke passed to Ananis and he lateraled the ball to George Kerr, a guard, who steamed off downfield behind three blockers. This maneuver put the ball on the Clemson 25. Fullback Pete Cignetti crashed out a first down on the 22. Ananis picked up a yard and Cignetti bowled through center again to the 11. Cignetti got a first down on the 10 and O'Rourke and Ananis each picked up a yard, but there the uprising was halted as two O'Rourke passes failed to click. The first was out of bounds toward Harrison and the second, intended for Cignetti, was batted down by McFadden.
But the BC thrill department hadn't closed shop. O'Rourke, whose quick kicking was more outstanding than his passing, caught the Clemsons by surprise when he faked perfectly a quick kick, hid the ball behind his left leg, stood still for a second, then suddenly streaked off toward the enemy goal. He scampered from his own 48 to the Clemson 32 before the startled defenders got wise and finally trapped him.
It was a thrilling football game played under a bright sun, although a sharp wind from the north was uncomfortably cold for spectators, who were entirely too scarce for such a fine contest. The statistics show as well as the score how evenly matched were these 1940 Cotton Bowlers, two grand teams. Clemson made eleven first downs to Boston's 9 and ran up 210 yards from scrimmage to the New Englanders' 184. In the air BC registered seventy-three yards to Clemson's thirty-one.
McFadden, who batted down enough passes to have led the American League in batting – except for DiMaggio, maybe – tried few passes, but proved he could pass turned in a brilliant punting job for a 42.6 average, and registered the best ball-packing average of the day, picking up forty-four yards in his four tries. They say he was All-American during the season, and as far as this corner is concerned, that recognition is extended into postseason activities. Shad Bryant turned in his bit, too. But the unheralded sophie, Timmons, provided the difference in two great clubs Monday, crashing his way 127 yards in twenty-seven carries, and scoring the lone touchdown.
O'Rourke, who is not accurate enough with his heaves to be called a great passer under exacting Southwestern standards, nevertheless was a constant threat at passing and running and his kicks, which averaged 39.3 yards, already have been mentioned. Ananis picked up forty-three yards in eleven tries to share honors with O'Rourke in the running department. The Irish dynamo picked up forty-one yards in eight carries.
There was enough brilliant play down in the trenches to satisfy a bowlful of line coaches.
As BC's Coach Leahy summed up things in the players' tunnel just after the game:
"Clemson has a great team. My boys gave everything they had and we have no excuses. It was a grand game."
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