Are we there yet?
September 18-24, 2017
By Jay Edwards
A friend who I was at the U of A with back in the 70’s (“Six years of college down the drain”) emailed me last week after he read my column on the ’69 Texas game. He wanted to remind me that he and I and our dates had gone to the Greek Theater for the pep rally the night before the 1977 game against Texas.
“Don’t you remember what Holtz said when he came out?” he asked in his email.
“He said, ‘Tomorrow we will beat the University of Texas.’”
I did remember that as a matter of fact, and thought of it when I wrote of the same guarantee Coach Broyles gave in 1969.
I guess when you are successful head football coach confidence comes with the job.
“What did you think they would say?” Fred asked when I told him about it. “Something like, ‘I don’t much like our chances tomorrow.’”
As it turned out Holtz was wrong that night, just as Frank had been eight years earlier. But Lou, like Frank, was convincing enough for me to make make a $50 wager on the Hogs - plus 3 and a half.
So let’s recap.
It was Lou Holtz’ first season. The year before, 1976, had been a strange one. Texas and Arkansas had agreed again to meet in December, the last game of the season for both, and the last game coaching for the two legends. Arkansas began the year ranked 13th in the AP, while the Horns were number 7. And once again there were high hopes that Big Shootout Two would finally happen, and that both teams would be undefeated, turning it into a classic retirement party.
The chances looked good for that scenario, with both teams finishing the ‘75 season at 10-2, including convincing bowl wins over Colorado and Georgia.
But games like the one in 1969 only come around every century or so, and when Texas lost to Boston College in the first game of 1976, the die was cast. Three months later Broyles brought his last team into Austin with a record of 5-4-1, to meet his old nemesis, whose burnt orange team was 5 - 5.
I joined my good friend Randy Morley at his apartment in Fayetteville, where we watched the Razorbacks fall 29-12. Talk about a double dose of anti-climax.
So the two old friends left the sideline that last time in search of their replacements.
Texas chose Fred Akers, who had been on Broyles’ first two teams at Arkansas. As for Frank, he chose Holtz, who resigned as the head coach of the New York Jets with a 3-10 record. But Lou was proven as a college coach, with successful years at William & Mary and N.C. State. Asked why he was leaving the Jets, Holtz said, “God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros.” 31 years later I guess Bobby Petrino felt the same way.
So in 1977, Texas, even after the bad year before, began as the #18 ranked team. And after winning their first four, the most recent over the second-ranked Sooners, the Horns rolled into Fayetteville as the #2 team.
The Hogs began the year unranked, stayed that way after blasting New Mexico State, but got to #15 after easily handling #15 Oklahoma State. After two more romps over Tulsa and TCU (what a difference 40 years makes) the big October matchup was happening again, between two top ten teams, with the Hogs at #8. This would have been a great year for another December meeting, as Texas swept the regular season and the Hogs would not lose again.
As for the game itself, well, let’s just say the Rose of Tyler cost me $50 bucks. And I felt almost as bad as I had eight years earlier.
Almost.
Jay Edwards is publisher of the Daily Record. Contact him at jedwards@dailydata.com.
