Porkers Hold Tigers, 0 to 0, In Bowl Clash
Razorbacks' Courageous Defense Feature of Hard-Fought Contest
1/2/1947
Backed repeatedly to their goal line but grimly determined never to crack in a crisis, crimson giants of the University of Arkansas rose to their greatest heights in a long and glorious season Wednesday and held the powerful Louisiana State University Tigers to a scoreless tie in the eleventh annual Cotton Bowl football classic.
Impotent offensively themselves and badly outplayed as gridiron performance is measured by game statistics, the valiant Razorbacks gained a moral victory for the Southwest Conference over the Southeastern by stopping the hard-driving Bengals five times inside their own 10-yard line. Midway through the fourth quarter they took the ball away from the orange-clad stalwarts from Baton Rouge, La., on their own 1-yard stripe.
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The courageous defensive stand of the Porkers was far and away the feature of a bitterly contested battle under the most wretched conditions that ever prevailed for a Dallas bowl game. Light rain and sleet began falling soon after the initial kick-off and there was no let up during the sixty minutes of action and the halftime intermission. Most of the officially estimated crowd of 38,000 stayed until the finish in 29-degree temperature that had their teeth chattering and their knees knocking.
The game, of course, had been a sell-out for weeks. While official figures are not yet available, it had been announced in advance that the participating schools would split a melon totaling approximately $125,000 as their 85 per cent of the gate. It may be the largest gross gate since the classic's inception in 1937.
Wednesday's result was the first scoreless encounter in Cotton Bowl history and was the third shutout stalemate to date in all of the widely known bowls. Last one was between Catholic University and Tempe (Ariz.) Teachers in the 1940 Sun Bowl and the only other one was in the 1922 Rose Bowl between Washington and Jefferson and the University of California.
Cold weather numbing the fingers of receivers and the dampness that made the ball-handling hazardous sharply reduced passing and in this respect Louisiana State with its sensational pitcher Y.A. Tittle, doubtless was more severely handicapped. The Tigers completed only five of sixteen aerials for sixteen yards gain. Arkansas tried four and never connected.
Vigorous pushing by the Arkansas ends, Alton Baldwin and Bud Canada and by Guard Theron Roberts also contributed to the inefficiency of the Bengal aerial attack.
Most of the damage was done on the ground and the Tigers piled up a tremendous advantage. They gained 255 yards running to only fifty-four by the Porkers and made fifteen first downs against one. Five times they were turned back less than ten yards from their objective and most of the game was played in Arkansas territory. Excellent punting by little Aubrey Fowler, Porker halfback, also helped to save his team and hold the opposition at a distance.
The Porkers never got closer than the LSU 30-yard line – this in the first quarter – and eight of the twelve times that they attempted to go on the attack, they were stopped deep in their own side of the greensward.
By far the high spot of the struggle came in the fourth period when the Tigers' hopes were dissipated one good step from the goal. Ray Coates had returned a Fowler punt to midfield to the Arkansas 42. Dan Sandifer bounced of the Hogs' right tackle for five and Sub Fullback Rip Collins raced inside right end for seventeen more. The LSU streamroller was moving now and to the stands it looked like the Hogs were weakening. The Tiger offense off the T seemed to attain more deception. Ray Coates, benefiting from a fake to the left that drew the defense out of position, stormed down the middle for tem and a first down on the Arkansas 9.
Tackle Jim Minor stopped Collins with no gain on another thrust, then he sliced right tackle for three. Right there Smackover Clyde Scott, the former Annapolis star who came back to his home state for his postwar gridiron glory, saved the day. Sub Fullback Zollie Toth faked so perfectly on a run wide of the Arkansas right wing that few in the stands, and probably no one but Scott at his defensive halfback position, saw Tittle fading wide to shoot a snap pass to End Jeff Adams in the coffin corner to the right. Just as he corralled the ball, Scott hit and knocked him out of bounds on the 1-yard line. On fourth down the right side of the fighting Arkansas forward line smothered Toth at the line of scrimmage and the Razorbacks took over.
Fowler kicked temporarily out of this hole, but the Bengals came charging right back and for a moment luck was with them. In the midst of a twenty-seven-yard march, Willard Landry fumbled going through the line and Adams recovered to turn what might have been a costly play into a ten-yard gain and a first down on the Porkers' 20. Landry plowed twice more for a firster on the 9. Dale Gray picked up three and Goth two more before Sub Back Alvin Duke smashed through and spilled Landry for a yard loss on an attempted right-end sweep.
Time was running out fast at this stage, there being less than three minutes remaining, so coach Bennie Moore rushed his field goal specialist, Holly Heard, into the fray to for a three-pointer from the 15-yard line. Coates, who was to hold the ball for placement, fumbled the pass back. Heard himself covered the ball and it went over on downs to Arkansas on its own 17.
That was the last real scoring threat of the contest and after Fowler kicked out, Tittle tried three desperate passes before kicking on fourth down. Arkansas held the ball to finish inside its own 20.
The first time LSU made a serious scoring threat was in the second quarter as a result of a break. Determined to open up with an offense in its final encounter, Arkansas made only one bad gamble and it proved so costly that the Hogs went back into defensive shell and stayed.
Getting the ball on their own 18 where Red Knight's quick kick died, the Porkers tried a first down pass, which was intercepted by Tittle from Fowler, aiming for End Alton Baldwin. He ran the ball back to the Arkansas 16 and the LSU drive finally reached the Porker 7 before the Hogs braced and took over on downs.
Immediately, Cason ran Fowler's punt out twenty-three yards to the Porker 19, and the Tigers began rolling again. They managed a first down to the 8, then Knight was stopped for no gain at center., an overtime out for subbing in End Mel Lyle cost the Bengals five yards and a pass from Tittle to Cason over the goal line was broken up as the half gun popped.
Early in the third the Tigers put on the longest sustained drive of the day, seventy-five yards to the Arkansas 18, and there again found the Porkers equal to the occasion when danger was near. Holland's fine play in breaking up a fourth-down pass from Tittle to Sandifer ended the threat.
Among the many fine plays during the game was Fowler's quick kick of fifty-six yards dead to the LSU 3-yard line early in the first quarter the helped keep the Tigers in a hole in the early stages of the conflict. It was after this fine boot that the Hogs made their deepest penetration of LSU territory. Fowler fumbled and recovered Knight's kick on the LSU 38 and with Leon Campbell leading the attack, the Hogs drove to the Tiger 30 before being forced to punt.
Breaks were numerous under the high tension and with a slippery ball in play. Shortly before the first quarter ended, Arkansas Fullback John Hoffman recovered a fumble by Tittle and two plays later Tittle recovered one by him. Early in the second, LSU End Jeff Adams made the mistake of killing a kick by Knight to the Arkansas 2-yard line and for doing so, the ball was given to the Hogs eighteen yards out, on their 20.
In this same period, Tackle Charlie Lively of the Porkers blocked a punt by Knight, which Alton Baldwin covered to give Arkansas the leather on the Tigers' 44, and two plays later the Hogs lost to ball on a fumble by Clyde Scott, covered by Bengal End Clyde Lindsey. Then there was Tittle's interception that enabled the Tigers to threaten twice before the half. In the third stanza, Arkansas got a break when Tackle Jim Minor covered a ball put in play by LSU and fumbled both by Cason and Sandifer. Early in the fourth, Scott fumbled a kick by Collins and Tackle Fred Land recovered for the Mooremen.
Ray Coates was the day's best ground gainer with sixty-one yards on seven plays, while Sandifer accounted for fifty-seven on nine running attempts. For Arkansas, Campbell led with twenty-four yards in seven tries, Ken Holland being runner-up with seventeen in four. In the line the standouts were Guards Bill Franklin and Theron Roberts, Tackles Charlie Lively and Jim Minor, End Alton Baldwin and Center Billy Thomas for Arkanass; Guard Fred Hall, Tackle Piggy Barnes and Center Buck Ballard for the Louisianans.
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