Bear Is Showman, Even in Defeat
1/2/1968
You should have expected it of Bear Bryant.
More than 70,000 chilled fans had fidgeted through the final four minutes of Monday's 32nd Cotton Bowl Cotton Bowl Classic expecting Bryant to command a miracle at any time to pull out victory for Alabama over Texas A&M.
So what did the imperturbable Bryant do after the Aggies had swiped his magic wand and clubbed his Crimson Tide to death with it, 20-16, in front of all those spectators and a national television audience?
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He rushed to midfield, picked up A&M coach Gene Stallings, Bryant's former player and coaching aide, and waved his young protégé about in the air like he had just experienced his greatest thrill in a long, legendary coaching career.
It might well have ranked right up there with the best of Bryant's thrills at that. For Stallings' Aggies pulled off the upset with foorball just like the old master had taught his young pupil the game should be played.
The Aggies played Bryant-type clutch football all the way, turning an Alabama interception and a fumble into two first half touchdowns to frisk the lead from the Tide, 13-10, with just 16 seconds left in the first half. Then the Ags converted a 28-yard Alabama punt into their final touchdown and a 20-10 lead in the third quarter and dug in to hold off 'Bama the last 23 minutes of play.
In spite of Bryant's post-game compassion for Stallings' greatest moment of glory there at midfield, the loss must have been at least a little bitter for the wise old 'Bama headmaster. For it slapped down one of the few remaining distinctions for him to acquire in his ninth consecutive bowl game appearance.
A victory would have given the Bear and Alabama their third straight bowl victory in three different major bowls. Alabama whacked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in 1965 and in the Sugar Bowl last year. No team in history ever had won three different bowls in a row.
And if the Aggies played Bryant-type football in victory, the Tide was something short of it in defeat.
'Bama quarterback Ken Stabler had three of his passes stolen by the hawking Aggie defenders. And the Tide gave up the ball twice on fumbles. But probably the most glaring Alabama deficiency was in its kicking and return games, which kept A&M stocked with quite pleasant field position most of the afternoon.
Then there were shabby, un-Bryant-like things, such as having 10 men on the field when A&M quarterback Edd Hargett passed 28 yards to split end Barney Harris on a play that set up the first Aggie touchdown at the 'Bama 15-yard line with little more than six minutes to play in the first quarter. And like All-America end Dennis Homan dropping a pass right in his hands as he ran full speed away from Ag defensive back Curley Hallman inside the A&M 20.
Homan dropped that one with just a minute and 33 seconds to play as 'Bama moved from its own 13 to the Aggie 35 in those agonizing final four minutes. At the time Bryant paced the sidelines nervously and it seemed most eyes were on him rather than the action on the field. There was the feeling that each fan either expected or feared, depending on the point of view, that college football's mighty Bear would at any moment command that miracle.
But it never came, and quite likely because Stallings has taught his Aggies there are no such things. There are only opportunities, to be grasped and savored by the alert or to be frizzled away by the careless.
And no one ever has accused Stallings' Aggies of being careless or unalert.
On fourth down from the Aggie 35, on the play after Homan's dropped pass, Bill Hobbs, A&M's All-America linebacker who was to be voted the game's oustanding lineman, led a wave of maroon jerseys that swarmed 'Bama tight end Hunter Husband four giant yards short of a first down on a pass from Stabler.
A&M took over at the Aggie 29 with 1:16 to play. But they failed to run out the clock with three running plays and Steve O'Neal had to punt.
That gave Bear and 'Bama 12 seconds. Time for the miracle? Not on your life. Hallman grabbed off Stabler's badly strayed pass intended for flanker Perry Willis and skittered about until the clock ran out.
The victory not only gave Stallings his first bowl victory in just his third season as head football coach at Texas A&M its first Cotton Bowl win in a quarter-century, it also kept alive the incredible string of triumphs the Aggies began back in October after four humiliating losses to start the season.
But there can be no doubt now that the Aggies are indeed back, perhaps for quite awhile.
It was the same pattern used in almost all of those six straight regular-season wins that swept the Ags to the Southwest Conference title. Only in one of those six wins – against Rice – did A&M win the battle of statistics.
But as Stallings is quick to point out at every opportunity – "statistics are for losers."
It was such again Monday. Alabama had one more first down, 14-13, and had 314 yards total offense to 257 for A&M.
But because of the near flawless execution and the same alert defensive play Stallings' comeback kids employed all season long, the Aggies controlled the game the last two and a half periods.
Using another Bryant-like tactic – the element of surprise – Stallings sent Hargett out throwing in the first two periods. The Aggie quarterback, who used the pass effectively but conservatively, mostly on obvious passing situations during the season, put the ball in the air 21 times in the first period. He completed 10 for 113 yards.
But with that 13-10 lead, Stallings and Hargett, named the game's outstanding back, played it close to the vest in the second period. Hargett threw only one pass, a 10-yard completion to split end Barney Harris, to ignite the final 52-yard Aggie scoring drive in the third period after a 28-yard punt by 'Bama's Steve Davis.
As Hargett kept his troops on the gorund in the second half, it was Wendell Housley, the hard-luck junior from Richardson who took over the brunt of the Ag attack. He carried only twice for seven yards in the first half, but bruised his way for 52 more on eight carries the last two periods. Those included two savage assaults at 'Bama's right defensive side, first for 14 yards and then for 20, to notch that last Aggie touchdown.
Hargett passed 13 yards to Stegent, who ripped out of the arms of 'Bama All-America defensive back Bobby Johns at the five, for the first A&M touchdown. That produced a 7-7 tie after Stabler faked beautifully into the the line then circled left end for four yards and the first 'Bama touchdown with 8:22 left in the opening period.
Davis kicked a 36-yard field goal, the longest in Cotton Bowl history, on the first play of the second quarter to give the Tide a 10-7 lead.
But the Ags launched the late first-half drive which produced the 13-10 lead as Jim Piper recovered a Stabler fumble at the Aggie 45 after Hallman and Tommy Maxwell stripped the 'Bama quarterback of the ball. It was Maxwell who scored the touchdown on a 7-yard Hargett pass.
Alabama drove 83 yards in just eight plays for its second touchdown with 3:55 to play in the third period. But Lynn Odom and Harvey Aschenbeck mobbed an attempt at a 2-point burst up the middle by 'Bama fullback David Chatwood.
That left Bear and 'Bama needing four points and/or one mircale.
They never got either.
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