TCU Shades Syracuse Eleven, 28 to 27, In Spectacular Cotton Bowl Contest
Easterners give Frogs Stern Test
1/2/1957
In a spectacular Cotton Bowl game played almost precisely as advertised, Texas Christian University shaded the Saltine Warriors of Syracuse University, 28-27, Tuesday afternoon. Led by their thunderous All-American halfback, Jim Brown, the invaders from the East gave TCU a fierce battle and demonstrated a never-quit attitude. They scored the last two touchdowns of the sizzling duel in a desperate effort to overtake the Horned Frogs but a rangy kid from Ranger, Texas – an end named Chico Mendoza – ruined their gallant try.
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In the final period, after Brown had bullied his way to his third straight touchdown, Mendoza burst into the Syracuse backfield's area and blocked Brown's try for extra point. Undoubtedly, Mendoza's great charge kept Syracuse from getting a tie, for Brown is a man with an almost uncanny accuracy at kicking from placement. He had thumped the ball over the cross-bar like a shot after his two previous touchdowns.
The fourth period was halfway through when Mendoza's hurtling body foiled the conversion attempt. It meant Syracuse had to score twice to win, and the odds were great against the Orangemen.
But, with the same doggedness they showed earlier, they plowed right back into the Frogs and scored once more, on a 28-yard pass from Quarterback Chuck Zimmerman to Halfback Jim Ridlon. One minute and 16 seconds were left. Many in the crowd of 68,000 expected Syracuse to try and onside kick after that, in an effort to keep possession of the ball. But they didn't. They kicked off in orthodox style and TCU simply ran out the clock.
The 8-touchdown game was a thriller, one of the best in the 21-year-old history of the Cotton Bowl. It justified the wisdom of the Cotton Bowl selection committee and it probably brought sudden death to all snide comments about the quality of Eastern football.
While Jim Brown, the big and strong Negro youth from Manhasset, Long Island, N.Y., was the bellwether of the Syracuse flock, the entire team played fine football. Their only apparent flaw was their failure to solve the pin-point passing of TCU's Chuck Curtis.
But the Orangemen in the secondary couldn't afford to roam around too much, for fear that Jim Swink and the other great TCU runners might ruin them on the ground.
Brown proved his right to be a unanimous choice as An All-American, which is what he was at the end of this past season. The 6-2, 212-pounder apparently can be contained only by if he is hit before he takes his second stride; after that, he runs like a locomotive running downhill under full steam.
Brown gained 132 yards on 26 carries, leading all runners by a wide margin and being voted the game's outstanding back. Norman Hamilton, the TCU left tackle, was voted the best lineman. The closest player to Brown in the collection of rushing yardage was the Frog fullback, Buddy Dike, who gained 54. Swink, an All-American in '55 was limited to 41.
TCU scored all four of its touchdowns after mistakes by Syracuse, once after a pass interception and three times after recovering Orange fumbles.
Curtis had a field day with his passing, completing 12 of 15 for 174 yards and throwing for two of the scores.
He also scored one of the other touchdowns.
Curtis bombardment was the decisive factor in the contest. It was a form of sweet revenge for the tall signal-caller who was hurt on the kickoff in last year's Cotton Bowl game and failed to play a down as TCU was upset by Mississippi, 14-13.
At the outset of the game played in perfect weather and watched by millions on television as well as by those in the bowl, TCU appeared to be moving easily and confidently against their opponents, the champions of the East.
They rolled up a 14-0 lead through the early part of the second period. But Syracuse rallied to tie the score in that quarter. After the halftime intermission, the Frogs again built up a 14-point lead, and once more, the Syracuse team charged back, missing a tie by that blocked extra point attempt.
Statistically, the teams were almost even, although their modes of attack differed. Syracuse dominated the ground game, with 235 yards to 133, and TCU was far ahead in passing yardage, with 202 to 63.
The result was a bright button for TCU, which had lost five straight bowl games.
Swink, who gained 60 yards on four pass receptions in addition to his running, closed out a brilliant career, as did Brown for Syracuse. Swink scored one of the touchdowns and as he did so, he tied the Southwest Conference career record set by Doak Walker of SMU – 35 trips across the goal stripe.
Midway through the first period, Syracuse made its first critical mistake, brought about by the alertness of TCU Halfback Jimmy Shofner. He intercepted a running pass by Brown, intended for Ridlon, on the Frog 30.
After calling for a couple of probes at the line, Curtis fired two straight passes, one to End O'Day Williams for 27 yards and another to Swink for 16. Dike stormed through center for 17 and two plays later, Curtis hit the other end, John Nikkel, with a 6-yard scoring pass. Nikkel had eluded detection and patiently waited all by himself until Curtis flung the ball.
The next time Syracuse was on the offensive, Halfback Ed Ackley was racked up when he took a pitchout around right end. He fumbled and Fullback Vernon Hallbeck recovered for TCU. The Frogs worked the ball to the 8-yard line and Curtis found Shofner with a touchdown pass on the sixth play of the second period. Syracuse Quarterback Ferd Kuczala didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. He tackled Shofner but the Frog was already in the end zone.
Those touchdowns and the two extra points by End Harold Pollard – he kicked all four of the Frog conversions – put Syracuse behind, 14-0.
But they came back with the next kickoff, which Brown ran back 30 yards. The great halfback then went to work, plowing his way for 59 yards on seven carries as Syracuse drove to its score. His final burst was through right guard, for two yards. Then he kicked the extra point.
A fumble by TCU Substitute Quarterback Dick Finney gave the Orangemen another opportunity in the same quarter and they made it count. They took possession on the Horned Frog 24, got to the five on a pass from Brown to Ridlon, and scored when Brown, swinging the ball in his right hand, romped around right end without being tackled. Then with only a little more than a minute of the first half left, he kicked the tying point.
Early in the third period, Brown fumbled when he was hit by Dike and Tackle Don Cooper recovered for TCU on the Frog 40. The Frogs consumed a dozen plays as they moved to the score. Curtis's passing and short line blasts by Swink and Dike kept the progress and the touchdown came when Curtis rolled out to his left, looked for a receiver, noted that the defensive men were falling back in anticipation of a pass, and then calmly proceeded to trot around left end until he had crossed the goal line, seven yards distant from the scrimmage line.
Pollard's extra point made the score 21-14.
In the final period, TCU made its last touchdown, after having gotten the ball on a Syracuse fumble. Swink scored on a 3-yard ram at right tackle. He stumbled slightly and went off balance but he had enough drive left to dive across. Again Pollard converted and TCU led, 28-14.
But Syracuse wasn't done. One the next kickoff, Brown almost got away, rumbling 41 yards before Dike, the last enemy, corralled him on the TCU 49. The Orangemen pounded their way steadily forward but the Frogs stiffened near the goal line. Finally, it was fourth down on the one, so Kuczala did the obvious. He called on Brown, who responded by a bursting into right tackle with so much momentum that he carried Shofner, who had rushed up to meet him at the goal line, two yards into the end zone.
But then came Mendoza, the villain of the piece from the Syracuse angle, to block Brown's try. It was the vital play in the TCU victory, it turned out.
Syracuse didn't give up. In the dying minutes, it took a TCU punt on the opposition's 43 and then went to the air. Ridlon hit the fine right end, Dick Lasse, with a good pass for 15 yards. Then Zimmerman called for Ridlon to receive on the next play. The halfback got in front of a pair of defenders and snared a touchdown pass from the Orange quarterback. Brown kicked the point but TCU still led by that precarious point.
Syracuse kicked off and TCU held the ball for the brief time left.
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