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Cotton
Razor backs tie ‘Dogs with ‘Shoestring 9
DALLAS (UPI) - The
“shoestring play,” looked pret
ty good on the drawing board.
But when it came time to roll it
out on the runway at the Cotton
Bowl Thursday, it failed to fly.
“I guess,” lamented Georgia
coach Vince Dooley, “that we
should have just run out the
clock instead.”
The trick play that backfired
in the final seconds of the first
half Thursday reversed the
momentum of the Cotton Bowl
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Ike Forte, 85, Arkansas running back who gained 119-yards in Arkansas’ 31-10 Cotton Bowl
victory over Georgia got five on this carry as he spun from the arms of Georgia’s Rusty
Russell (86). (UPI)
Bulldogs impressed
DALLAS (UPI) — Arkansas
felt it upheld its personal honor
and that of the Southwest
Conference. And the Georgia
Bulldogs were properly im
pressed.
“Arkansas was every bit as
good as we expected,” said
Georgia coach Vince Dooley
following the Razorbacks’ 31-10
triumph in the Cotton Bowl
Thursday. “They were a
complete football team, as I
said before the game, and they
showed it in the second half.
“Arkansas never let us out of
the hole and their offense took
it to us.”
But, despite Dooley’s gra
cious comments, the Georgia
Bulldogs had to feel that they
helped Arkansas a little too
much.
Leading 10-0 with the seconds
ticking away in the first half,
Georgia turned the ball over
twice — once on a busted trick
play that was diagnosed by the
Razorbacks before it could
unravel — and allowed the
Orange
Sooners claiming national title
By DAVID MOFFIT
UPI Sports Writer
MIAMI (UPI) - The Ok
lahoma Sooners may have won
a lot more than a bowl game.
The Sooners, ranked second
behind Ohio State in the last
GRIFFIN
DA I LY M E W 55
9 port 9
Georgia
Arkansas trounced the Georgia Bulldogs 31-10 in the
Cotton Bowl at Dallas yesterday. Arkansas and Georgia
were both overlooked nationally during the year although
both teams posted 9-2 records.
Flames &
The Atlanta Flames take to the ice at the Omni tonight
against the St. Louis Blues. The Flames are coming off an
easy 8-1 victory over the New York Rangers in New York.
Face off against the Blues is 8:30 p.m.
Hawks 5)
The Atlanta Hawks meet the New Orleans Jazz in
National Basketball Association action at New Orleans
tonight. At stake is the Central Division lead the Hawks
have held since November. Cleveland is a half game back
in second place.
game and sent the Arkansas
Razorbacks, overwhelmingly
outplayed during the first two
quarters, to a 31-10 runaway
win over the Bulldogs.
If the play had worked,
Georgia would have probably
taken a 17-3 lead at the half.
But it failed miserably since
the Bulldogs fumbled on the
play, allowing Arkansas to
recover at the Georgia 13 and
score the tying touchdown on a
one-yard run by Ike Forte with
Razorbacks to tie the score at
10-10.
“Turnovers are usually the
difference in any game, espe
cially in a bowl game,” Dooley
said. “And we had some
critical ones. At the same time,
we could never get one when
we needed one.”
Arkansas and Georgia were
both overlooked nationally dur
ing the year although both
teams posted 0-2 records.
Razorback players and coa
ches, after Arkansas’ win over
Texas A&M to close the regular
season, said they felt they could
play with any team in the
country.
“We felt like we had to
represent the conference and
ourselves,” said Rolland Fuchs,
who scored one of Arkansas’
three fourth-quarter touch
downs, “because some people
were still saying we had backed
into the bowl game.”
“We came to the Cotton Bowl
to win,” chimed in Ike Forte,
who scored Arkansas’ first and
national football college ran
kings, could wind up No. 1
today when the final ballots are
counted.
Oklahoma beat fourth-ranked
Michigan 14-6 Thursday night in
the Orange Bowl just a few
f
less than 20 seconds remaining
in the half.
“Os course,” said Georgia
quarterback Ray Goff, “every
one will second guess as to
whether it should have been
called at that time. The
shoestring play could have been
a great one or a sorry one. And
it turned out to be sorry.”
Arkansas thus had scored 10
points in the final minute of the
first half thanks to two Georgia
turnovers (backup quarterback
last touchdown and was voted
the game’s most valuable
offensive player. “We had
never won a big one before and
people said we didn’t have a
good team.
“Today we showed them we
had a great team.”
Georgia players preferred to
think that the two teams were
about equal, but that on this
particular day the breaks were
too big a factor to overcome.
Not only did the Bulldogs
turn the ball over twice late in
the first half to produce 10
Arkansas points, but Arkansas
intercepted two secondhalf
passes. And although the
Razorbacks fumbled six times,
Arkansas was able to retain the
ball on all but one occasion.
“We did what we wanted in
the first half and Arkansas did
about what we expected offen
sively,” said Bulldog defensive
back David Schwak. “But we
couldn’t seem to get any breaks
at the right time.
hours after UCLA upset Ohio
State 23-10 in the Rose Bowl.
“I’d like to think we’re No.
1,” said Oklahoma Coach Barry
Switzer. “But I don’t know how
the polls are going to come
out.”
Oklahoma quarterback Steve
Davis, who pitched off for one
touchdown and scored another
himself, said knowing about
Ohio State’s Rose Bowl loss
“gave us more incentive. This
was the Super Bowl for us. We
knew we had to perform well. I
think we deserve to be No. 1.”
Oklahoma, losing only to
Kansas in an upset in a 11-1
season, was making its first
Paul Brown retires
CINCINNATI (UPI) - Paul
Brown, who coached the most
victories in the history of
football, quietly ended his 41-
year coaching career Thursday
night by retiring as head coach
of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Brown, 67, still spry and in
good health, said he will
continue as general manager of
the Bengals, the National
Football League team he
helped form in 1968.
Brown picked assistant coach
Bill Johnson to take over as
head coach and hired Mike
McCormack, who was fired last
month as the Philadelphia
Eagles’ head coach, to take
Matt Robinson had previously
fumbled to set up an Arkansas
field goal by Steve Little).
“Without doing very much
offensively or defensively in the
first half we were tied and so
we were ahead psychological
ly,” said Arkansas coach Frank
Broyles.
Arkansas took control in the
second half and finally used a
35-yard pass from quarterback
Scott Bull to flanker Freddie
Douglas to set up the go ahead
touchdown —a one-yard run by
Rolland Fuchs with 11 minutes
to play in the game.
The Razorbacks went ahead
to score twice more in the final
period on a one-yard run by
Michael Forrest and a five-yard
run by Forte, who gained 119
yards on 24 carries and was
voted the gae’s leading offen
sive player.
Georgia was held to two first
downs and 60 total yards in the
second half.
The Bulldogs had jumped in
front, 1(H), on a 35-yard field
goal by Alan Leavitt and a 21-
yard touchdown pass from Matt
Sugar
By CYRIL GUERRERA
NEW ORLEANS (UPI) —
Alabama Coach Bear Bryant
believes the current post-season
bowl system makes it difficult
to select a genuine national
collegiate football champion.
“I’ve always been a bowl
man and I still am. But if
you’re going to have a national
champion, you can’t have it the
way it is now,” Bryant said
Thursday, referring to the
increasing trend toward confer-
Landry named NFC coach of year
By RICK GOSSELIN
UPI Sports Writer
NEW YORK (UPI) - Tom
Landry, who used numerous
new offensive tactics and 12
rookies this season to put the
Dallas Cowboys back into the
playoffs, has been named
United Press International’s
Coach of the Year in the
National Football Conference.
Landry, the only coach in the
15-year history of the Cowboys,
won in a narrow vote, getting
12 of the 39 votes from the UPI
selection panel, which consists
bowl appearance in three years
and its first television appear
ance in more than two because
of NCAA probation.
A 40-yard pass from Davis to
Tinker Owens was followed by
a pitchout to Billy Brooks on a
39-yard end-around and Ok
lahoma was on its way to
victory and that probable
national championship.
Davis, a senior who directed
Oklahoma to a 32-1-1 record
during his three years at
quarterback, keyed the Soo
ners’ other scoring drive —a
68-yard march in which he ran
eight, 12, 16 and 10 yards, the
Johnson’s place as offensive
line coach.
Brown’s coaching career
started in 1930 at Severn (Md.)
Prep and later included high
school, college, military and
pro teams for an amazing
record of 351-134-16.
He was an innovator of
“scientific” football as it is
played and coached today. He
is credited with inventing face
bars on helmets, was the first
to employ a year-round coach
ing staff and the first to call
plays from the sidelines via
substitutions on every play.
Before coaching in the pro
ranks, he was Ohio State
Robinson to Gene Washington.
And Georgia control the
game without interruption until
the two costly fumbles in the
final minute of the first half.
The Bulldogs dubbed their
trick play the shoestring play
because, when it was used
successfully earlier this season
against Vanderbilt, quarterback
Ray Goff pretended to be tying
a shoe before the play started
in order to lull the Commodore
defense into a state of
unpreparedness.
As diagramed the play calls
for the Georgia offense to line
up away from the ball while
Goff walks casually over to
where the ball has been placed
down. Suddenly he shovels the
ball to halfback Gene Washing
ton, who in turn is supposed to
hand off on the reverse to tight
end Richard Appleby who then
is to throw a pass back to Goff
down the sidelines.
But before Goff could start
the play rolling the Razorbacks
had recognized it.
“The quarterback came over
to the ball and the rest of the
Bryant prefers national playoff
ence commitments to bowl
games.
Bryant’s own team scored its
first bowl victory in nine
seasons by dumping Penn State
13-6 in the New Year’s Eve
Sugar Bowl.
Bryant said bowl tieups with
athletic conferences should be
dropped or a national playoff
system established. He said
playoffs could be held between
the regular season and the bowl
games.
of three writers from each
conference city.
Rick Forzano of Detroit
finished second with 10 votes,
followed by Bud Grant of
Minnesota and Don Coryell of
St. Louis each with eight.
Landrey also won the award
in 1966. No coach has ever won
it more than twice, as Landry
joined Don Shula, George
Halas, Allie Sherman and
George Allen as two-time
winners.
Dallas missed the playoffs
last for a touchdown on the
opening play of the final period.
Michigan’s six points were a
gift. Backed up to their two, the
Sooners fumbled and Gordon
Bell scored on a two-yard
plunge with 7:06 left in the
game. Michigan tried to run for
two points but failed.
All-America Leroy Selmon,
who anchored the Sooner front
four with his brother Dewey,
said the Sooners had “a tough
time” with Michigan’s running
attack early in the game.
“Then we began to see what
they were doing and made
them pass.”
University head coach from
1941-43, leading the Buckeyes to
the national championship in
1942.
But Brown probably was best
known for his long career as
head coach of the Cleveland
Browns from 1946 to 1962,
where he developed such stars
as Jimmy Brown, Otto Graham
and Lou “The Toe” Groza.
Stunned and bitterly disap
pointed when he was fired as
head coach of the Browns in
1962, Brown dropped out of
football before starting the
Bengals in 1968.
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DALLAS — Georgia halfback Glynn Harrison (25), slips a tackle from Arkansas’s Bo
Busby, (17), to gain 7 yards and a first down in the first quarter of the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Arkansas won, 31-10.
team lined up,” said linebacker
Hal McAfee, voted the game’s
most vaulable defensive player.
“I started yelling ‘trick play,
trick play.’ And the quarter
back never completed the pitch.
“Now you have a month to
wait for a bowl. You could have
the playoffs over then,” he
said. “It would be okay if you
don’t have any tieups with
anybody. Otherwise, you should
go to the playoff system.”
The Crimson Tide scored its
Sugar Bowl win by taking
advantage of Penn State’s
vulnerable secondary. The Nit
tany Lions choked off the
Alabama rushing attack but
quarterback Richard Todd, who
last season for the first time in
nine years.
Over the offseason, Landry
lost four starters through
retirement (Bob Lilly, Walt
Garrison, Dave Manders and
Cornell Green), his leading
rusher (Calvin Hill), who went
to the World Football League,
and defensive end (Pat Too
may), who played out his
option and signed with Buffalo.
But the Cowboys had a good
college draft. Landry took 12
first year men into the season
Fullback Jim Culbreath (41) of Oklahoma Is upended by a low tackle from Greg Morton (77)
of Michigan after a short gain in third quarter Michigan-Oklahoma Orange Bowl action
here late last night. Oklahoma defeated Michigan 14-6 to lay claim to the No. 1 spot in
national college football ranking. (UPI)
Page 7
— Griffin Daily News Friday, January 2, 1976 j
Tommy Harris and Johnnie
Meadors hit him (Washington)
and I just fell on the ball.”
The bowl victory was the first
in seven years for 10th ranked
Arkansas, which finished with a
was the game’s Most Valuable
Player, completed 10-of-12
passes for 210 yards.
Two of Todd’s completions
put Alabama in position to
score. Bryant said he was
pleased with Todd’s performan
ce.
“I thought he was great. I’ve
been thinking it a long time,”
Bryant said. “I hurt Todd a lot
by popping off about him when
he was a sophomore and
everybody started expecting too
with him and traded one of his
steadiest linemen—John Niland
—to make room for rookie
guard Burton Lawless.
Landry gave his offense a
new tool (the shotgun passing
formation), moved one of his
two fine young tight ends (Jean
Fugett) out to wide receiver,
put his three best runners
(Robert Newhouse, Preston
Pearson and Doug Dennison)
into a backfield rotation and
turned two promi ing but green
defensive linemen (Ed Jones
10-2 record. Georgia ended its
season at 9-3 and had the
distinction of becoming the
seventh straight team to take
the lead in the Cotton Bowl
game only to lose.
much out of him. They
expected Todd to score every
time they got the ball. Well,
you don’t do that. He’s got a
. . . . good record.”
Alabama scored on field
goals of 25 and 28 yards by
Danny Ridgeway and on a 14-
yard run by
Penn State, which held
Alabama to three points in the
first half, scored on field goals
of 42 and 37 yards by All-
America kicker Chris Bahr.
and Harvey Martin) loose at
end.
When the season opened, the
Cowboys shocked the NFC
preseason favorite Los Angeles
Rams, a team they were
humiliated by in the exhibition
season, rolled past defending
Eastern Division champion St.
Louis in overtime, knocked off
the Detroit Lions in a Monday
night national television game
and nipped the New York
Giants to stand 4-0 after the
season’s first four weeks.