Remembering the last time USC came to town to face the Longhorns
ByLARRY CARLSON Sep 14, 2018
It has been 52 years since the University of Southern California sent one of its proud football squads to Austin to duke it out with the Texas Longhorns. There was this kinda sorta championship duel between the Men of Troy and the Horns that out-did all the ESPN hype back in January 2006 but until last season's double-overtime win for USC you would have had to go back to a home-and-home contract in '66-'67 to check out any other "recent" head-to-head bouts between two of college football's titled and entitled headliners.
Back on Sept. 17, 1966, Texas was set to kick off a new season that seemed like a long time coming for players and fans. Sure, All-Planet linebacker Tommy Nobis had finished out his career on a winning note in '65, shutting down an A&M team that held a 17-zip halftime lead over the Horns before Texas rallied for a redemptive 21-17 Thanksgiving Day victory. But a 6-4 bowl-less season was nothing to brag about at the Forty Acres. Especially not after four seasons of 40-3-1 football had secured a national title, two unbeaten regular seasons, two Cotton Bowl championships, and an Orange Bowl win over national champion Alabama.
(Photo: Bettmann, Getty)
So one might say that the burnt orange fan base was itching for a fresh start. Hated rival OU had used the offseason to offer Darrell Royal a raise and a contract better than what the former Sooner quarterback enjoyed at Texas. But Royal had said no to his alma mater and UT put an exclamation point on his loyalty with a brash 25-percent raise, pushing DKR to a healthy $30,000 annual income.
The hottest quarterback recruit to make his way to Austin in Royal's early years had wowed everybody — fans, teammates, writers and opponents — on the freshman circuit the previous fall, while the varsity struggled. Then the guy wearing No. 18 impressed everyone even more during the spring. His name was Bill Bradley and he came from the Piney Woods town of Palestine, just as had All-America running back James Saxton, seven years earlier.
The lore was plentiful about the kid now dubbed "Super Bill." He had even thrown a touchdown pass with his other hand back in high school. And now that he had dazzled everyone around Austin with his quickness, elusiveness and athleticism for a full year, fans in burnt orange were eager for his unveiling and unleashing. A switch from the Wing-T to the flashier I-formation was the prescription for getting well quick.
Texans were ready, even more than usual, for the great diversion of pigskin fever. It had been a somber late summer in Austin.
Back on Aug. 1, a troubled former Marine named Charles Whitman had taken an arsenal of weaponry to the deck of the tall University of Texas tower and opened fire on those below. In a nightmarish 90 minutes before Austin police killed the mass murderer, the bullets fired from his high-powered rifle killed 17 and wounded 31 more.
Austin, UT, Texas and America had been devastated by the unthinkable act and the resulting grief and disbelief. Some journalists and countless citizens had pondered just how much higher the death toll might have been, had the gunman waited to fire into a huge crowd at Memorial Stadium the next month.
Slowly, the members of the national press corps left Austin and the chilling cover story of Life magazine began to fade ever so slightly.
Summer's heat continued but students returned to school after Labor Day and a bit more normalcy began to usher the city and the UT campus back to normalcy.
Mid-September was a relief. It always meant football season was about to start and Barton Springs and Deep Eddy were still great for cooling off after a hot day in the classroom. Austin's KNOW radio, "the mighty 14-90" on the AM dial, was playing the Beach Boys new top-10 hit, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" just about every hour. And a kooky instrumental by a band named the Surfaris was driving teachers and professors crazy because so many students were thumping out the contagious drum beat of the song, "Wipeout," on their desks.
(Photo: Bettmann, Getty)
So now the California college team most associated with football greatness, USC, was flying in to face the Texas Longhorns in Saturday's one nationally televised game. It was going to be a good matchup. The Trojans, coached by cool, charismatic John McKay, were ranked ninth in the preseason polls. The Longhorns were absent for once the standard great expectations because of a small senior class and the need for seven sophomores, including Bradley at quarterback, to start. But the experts figured the Horns were still going to be a solid team. Royal didn't make them any other way.
Led by the aptly named Troy Winslow at quarterback, the Trojans and running back Don McCall controlled the ball early on while the defense keyed on Bradley and stymied the Steers in a sweltering first half. Southern Cal had quadrupled UT's measly production of 52 total yards before the break.
A former Trojan offensive tackle from four decades earlier named Marion Morrison, better known as John Wayne, roamed the Texas sidelines. Perhaps his presence inspired the Texas captains, all of them on the defensive side of the ball. Barney Giles and future NFL stars Diron Talbert and John Elliott were keys in stonewalling the Trojans on three big stands or the Cali boys might well have posted an insurmountable lead rather than a 10-0 shutout for intermission.
The home crowd was quiet. Spoiled by 7:30 pm kickoffs and the shade and ultimate darkness that came with night games in September and October, many Longhorn fans had retreated to the color TV in the air-conditioning. Only 50,000 of Memorial Stadium's 65,000 seats were occupied. Perhaps the infinitesimal chance of another sniper atop the tower was even playing on Texas fans' thoughts.
The Longhorn faithful were revitalized in the second half when an explosive star was born. Chris Gilbert, a slender sophomore tailback from Houston's Spring Branch, had made a couple of impressive runs in the first half and was tabbed by Royal to start the second. Southern Cal's defense had no real answer for Gilbert's slithering quickness. But SC was still making their own first downs, though they repeatedly resulted in no points. But the clock was eroding.
Texas drove more than 90 yards for a touchdown that cut USC's lead to 10-6. But later, after a superlative punt by Bradley backed the Trojans up to their goal line with half of the final period remaining, Winslow responded by leading his team on a masterfully deliberate drive hard to imagine today. The visitors carved out 74 yards and all the remaining sand in the hourglass, so the UT offense never saw the ball again. Of USC's late ball control, Royal said in post-game comments that it had made an emphatic case for just having to go to the 50-yard-line and shake hands with the better team.
Texas would bounce back and beat Texas Tech and Indiana in the next two weeks, then lose tight back-to-back games to its chief rivals, OU and Arkansas. After beating Rice, UT lost 13-12 to eventual conference champ SMU in Austin, and the season suddenly stood at 3-4. But the Steers soldiered on behind a steady defense and Gilbert's amazing balance and durability, winning their final three conference games and throttling favored Ole Miss, 19-0, in the Bluebonnet Bowl. Gilbert became the Horns' first 1,000-yard rusher, then did it again as a junior and senior to set an NCAA record.
For its part, USC went in the other direction. The Trojans rumbled to a 6-0 record, but then lost three of their last four regular-season games. Guaranteed the Rose Bowl as Pacific Eight champs, USC was manhandled by Notre Dame, 51-0, in the regular season finale. Then they fell to Purdue, 14-13, in Pasadena. Their final report card was a modest 7-4, same as Texas.
As a postscript, Southern Cal roared back to glory the next year, energized by a transcendent junior college transfer named O.J. Simpson. They beat Texas 17-13 in the '67 opener at the L.A. Coliseum and cruised to a national championship that autumn, setting up a Heisman season for Simpson the next year.
It took the Longhorns another year of 6-4 blues before they caught fire behind the wishbone offense in 1968, with Gilbert (and Bradley, on defense and punting) leading the way to what would become six straight conference championships and two national titles.
And then there would be a long gap before Texas scaled the summit again, besting a great, two-time defending national champ Trojan team behind a gliding phenom named Vince Young. It was 13 seasons ago. But to many long-suffering Texas fans, it might seem like half a century since consistent excellence brought wins each week.
They can hope that it starts again. A terrific victory over a big-time foe with a Hollywood profile used to riding waves of sunshine, confidence and publicity.
Larry Carlson saw his first Longhorn victories in 1960 and grew up in a bedroom that was painted burnt orange. He was the sports director and host of "Longhorn Locker Room" for KVET radio from 1977-79 and later co-hosted "Longhorn Pipeline" on San Antonio's ESPN Radio affiliate from 2008-2011. He has been teaching broadcast journalism at Texas State University since 1984 and resides with his wife in the Alamo City.
Write to Larry Carlson at lc13@txstate.edu