Duke Roars Back to Upset Hogs, 7-6
1/2/1961
Duke University, overcoming some dazzling heroics by Arkansas halfback Lance Alworth, roared from behind in the fourth quarter and scored an upset, 7-6 victory in the Cotton Bowl game Monday afternoon.
In the third period, Alworth put Duke in a deep hole with a punt which he kicked while on the dead run, and then returned a punt 49 yards for a touchdown.
But Duke drove 73 yards and scored with less than three minutes to play. The touchdown came on a 9-yard pass to Duke's celebrated "Lonely End," Tee Moorman. Art Browning, Duke's All-Atlantic Coast Conference guard, kicked the precious extra point.
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Emphasizing the sudden change in the game's complexion, Duke was banging away at the Arkansas 1-yard line when the contest ended.
This was the Silver Anniversary Cotton Bowl production, and, after a slow start, it sent the crowd of 74,000 fans home with their veins still pounding from the excitement.
The first half was a methodical, ho-hum affair that generated thousands of yawns. But after intermission, both teams came back with fire in their souls, and they transmitted that fuel to their minds, their legs and their arms. As a result, there were wild runs, ramming tackles and dramatic passes during those hectic last two periods.
The sensational victory preserved a perfect record for Duke coach Bill Murray. He never has lost a game to a Southwest Conference member: this was Duke's sixth straight victory, with no ties, over Southwest Conference teams.
Lance Alworth, the fabulous Arkansas halfback, almost ruined that record single-handedly. He had a tremendous afternoon and easily won the press box accolade as the game's outstanding back. Duke tackle Dwight Bumgarner won the honor among the linemen.
Running, catching passes and returning kicks, Alworth was an active participant in the accumulation of 173 yards. He kicked six times, under tremendous pressure from waves of big Duke linemen, for a 31-yard average.
And as Duke made its touchdown drive, Alworth came within a fingernail of intercepting a pass, with a clear field to the Duke goal line. The most exciting moments he devised were unfolded within about a minute's playing time.
Late in the third period, Arkansas was kicking from the Duke 41-yard line. The pass from center was high and Alworth had to leap up, with arms extended, in order to get it. When his feet touched the ground again, there was a posse of Blue Devils bearing down on him.
Alworth zipped around the mass to his right, started running and when he was he couldn't get away from the rest of the Duke players, kicked the ball while in full, fast flight. Like something magnetized, the ball angled toward the coffin corner to the right and went out of bounds on the one-and-a-half-yard line.
The crowd gasped and then let out a roar. It was a feat seldom seen in football, reminiscent of a similar kick one time by SMU's Doak Walker, on the same turf.
Three plays later, Duke was on its 6-yard line and decided to kick its way out of this serious trouble. Randy Clark got off a beautiful punt which would have accomplished the mission. It was high and far. The only trouble was, it went to Alworth on the Duke 49.
Arkansas blockers mowed down some of the nearest onrushing Blue Devils, giving Alworth a chance to do some maneuvering to his left. He bulleted toward the sideline and wheeled down it until he was around the 20. There, Clark, who had made the kick and was the last potential tackler, was moving up, about 10 yards inside the boundary line. Alworth cut back toward him and executed such a perfect fake, and with such decisive swiftness, that Clark had no chance to attempt the tackle as Alworth, now running to his right on an angle toward the goal line, completed the 49-yard romp with no further opposition.
But the extra point attempt by Mickey Cissell, Arkansas' Cinderella placement kicker, was blocked by end Dave Unser.
The lead seemed large enough, for Duke's offense had sputtered, principally because of the fierce defensive play of the Razorbacks. Duke had lost a golden opportunity when it got to the Arkansas 3-yard line in the second period after grabbing a Razorback fumble. From the 20-yard line, a tricky pass boomeranged. Quarterback Don Altman pitched the ball to halfback Dean Wright, who ran behind the quarterback and gave the ball back to him. Altman then threw to the other halfback, Jack Wilson. But Wilson, just as he caught the ball, was hit hard by Arkansas fullback Curtis Cox, fumbled, and Alworth recovered for the Razorbacks.
But Duke refused to fade after that misfortune, and the Arkansas touchdown seemed to give them determination and drive they hadn't possessed before.
In the fourth and critical period, Arkansas had the ball on only seven scrimmage plays and they were at the outset of that quarter.
Duke moved relentlessly on its 73-yard march to the goal line. Third-down passes from Altman to Moorman were essential in the surge. The 9-yard touchdown pass came with Moorman as an alternate receiver, rather than the primary target. The play was the same one that had almost gotten the Duke team a touchdown in the second period, but Altman couldn't spot the halfback, saw Moorman open to his right in the end zone, and fired the ball to the All-America end.
Like Duke, Arkansas also fizzled on an excellent chance to score. In the second period, the Razorbacks got to the Duke 14 but penalties, and alert defensive work by Duke, stopped the attack.
Special guests who saw Duke, rated tenth in the nation, upset the no. 7 team, were the TCU Horned Frogs of 1936, who won the first Cotton Bowl game by beating Marquette, 16-6. Art Guepe, one of the backs on the Marquette team and now coach at Vanderbilt, also was a guest.
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