Re: "The Defense Will Be Weak....Because Of Inexperience" - A Look Back At 1979
WHO’S NUMBER ONE?
On December 4, 1979, the state of Ohio was the lead story on the front page of both news and sports pages nationwide. The most horrific was the tragic death of 11 attendees at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, where concert goers heard the rock band The Who warming up and charged the doors in a concept then known as “festival seating” (e.g. first come, first served). The episode would result in a quick change of the law and a controversial episode of the CBS comedy “WKRP In Cincinnati.” The other story shocked college football fans nationwide: Ohio St moved past Alabama into the #1 spot in the AP poll. To say this was a stunning development in the state of Alabama is an understatement, but the month-long debate began along predictable or partisan geographic lines.
What happened exactly will remain a mystery since voters maintain secret ballot. But what moved Ohio State into the #1 spot despite not having played a snap in two weeks was the fact that no less than eight voters had the Tide ranked third or lower. In fact, Ohio State took the top spot by 1.5 points because of the two voters that put the Tide as low as #4 and the single voter that had Alabama at #5. This kind of sudden drop gave rise to conspiracy theories and thoughts of dirty pool, and in the mind of a number of Tide fans, it brought up the painful memories of 1966 and an unbeaten but unrewarded season. Buckeyes first-year coach Earle Bruce now had some leverage, and he decided to use it. Bruce used the new ranking to say that he now held the view that “whoever wins the Rose Bowl will be the national champion.” Tide fans feared that very scenario. After all, if USC beat #1 Ohio State then it was likely the voters would pass over Alabama using the argument of the last two years: “the team that beats number one in the last game becomes number one.” But Alabama had their own defenders, namely, their upcoming opponents. Arkansas AD Frank Broyles and head coach Lou Holtz attempted to outdo each other in their praise of Alabama. Broyles, who was also an ABC television college football announcer (conflicts notwithstanding), lambasted the AP vote, charging that the voters had taken it upon themselves to create their own national championship playoff game. He went further, pointing out that anyone who did not think Alabama was one of the top three teams in the country didn’t know enough to be ranking teams. He asked rhetorically, “What did Alabama do wrong?” Of course, in the limited sports debate of the late 1970s, there were plenty of folks ready to pile on the Tide and not always with consistency. And the UPI vote also had Tide fans on edge as well because 13 coaches abstained from voting in the final regular season poll. In other words, it was entirely possible that Alabama could run the table, thump Arkansas, and still wind up without a national championship.
The point of contention for a number of the polemicists was Alabama’s schedule. Compared to 1978 (for example), it has to be admitted that Alabama did not have a particularly challenging schedule. But then again, who did? Although it is an unreliable barometer of determining SOS, look at the pre-bowl game records of the opponents of the primary contenders in 1979. The records are based on their opponents going into the bowl game:
1) Ohio State 52-70-2
2) Alabama 49-73-2
3) USC 56-64-5
4) FSU 51-70-3
5) Oklahoma 57-67-0
6) Arkansas 62-59-4
7) Nebraska 59-64
8) Houston 55-64-5
9) Pitt 66-58
10) Texas 67-56
In other words, using opponent records, Ohio State’s opponents were all of 3 games better than Alabama’s. And the only reason Alabama’s was so low is because Florida, Vandy, and Wichita State went a combined 2-30-1. Among the top ten, only three schools faced opponents with an overall winning record, the two SWC teams (Arkansas and Texas) and Pitt. But even that analysis fails when you remember that 20 of the wins Arkansas faced came from just two teams, Houston and Texas. Nearly half of the wins Texas faced came from those two opponents plus Oklahoma. One really good or one really bad team can skew the opponent record. And yet the analysis was sorely lacking and based more on desired outcome than reality.
Pundits boasting Ohio State’s team would impugn Alabama’s schedule, note that the Buckeyes scored more ppg (a whopping 1.4 more), faced more bowl teams (4-3, but only because 8-win Auburn was on probation), and that Alabama had barely beaten 8-win Auburn. These same pundits would never mention Ohio State barely beating 1-10 Northwestern (16-7 at home no less) or the fact they needed a blocked punt in the 4th quarter against 8-win Michigan to win that rivalry game by fewer points than Alabama won their rivalry game. And the most damning point against the Buckeyes was that Alabama was a 9-point favorite over a 10-1 Arkansas team while Ohio State was a 7.5-point underdog to USC.
The arguments in favor of USC were little better. In fact, they would boast how much better USC’s schedule was than Alabama (which it was) and cite going into LSU and winning by 5 as proof of being able to win the tough ones on the road. But these same analysts would dismiss Alabama’s win in a Baton Rouge quagmire as merely surviving, conveniently forgetting the massive number of injuries Alabama had to endure or the fact that USC was trailing LSU, 12-3, and never took the lead until the final 32 seconds of the game. And the main focus of everyone disparaging Alabama’s schedule was, of course, Wichita State, which was threatening to become the 1979 version of 1966 Louisiana Tech. Of course, there was a major problem with USC: the simple truth was that they had played to a tie with a 5-5-1 football team on their own field. It’s one thing to disparage a lightweight foe, but it’s another thing altogether to fail to beat a lightweight foe. USC was not tied by an 8-win team hoping for a better bowl game because of the tie, they were tied by a team that had lost to 2-8-1 Army and 1-10 Oregon State, both teams capable of doing what USC could not. And finally, if schedule really did not matter then why were unbeaten FSU and BYU getting a combined one first-place vote among them? Bryant said it best when he mused, “They’ve done it to us again.” Sports Illustrated summarized the “who played the tougher schedule” argument quite well in their November 12 issue: “Alabama isn't the only high-ranked team with a weak schedule. Ohio State's opponents are just marginally better, with a 28-40-2 record, which means the Buckeyes are playing only the 103rd hardest schedule in the country. Nebraska opponents are 28-30-1, and Devaney admits, ‘We can point to Alabama's schedule but we can't really defend ours.’” But it was Jim Bunch who had the best (and most prescient) take of all. Bunch said that Alabama was going to have to beat Arkansas in such a way as to leave no doubt who was the better team – not necessarily on the scoreboard but statistically, and the Tide would also need USC to barely beat Ohio State.
As it turned out, Jim Bunch was better at prognosticating than most.
One other thing happened during the month break between the Iron Bowl and the Sugar Bowl: Alabama assistant Bill Oliver was named head coach of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Moccasins starting in 1980. Oliver even had the temerity to announce that he might take some Alabama assistants with him to Chattanooga. Otherwise, there was a calm before the storm as Alabama prepared to open a new decade by closing another.
THE SUGAR BOWL
The 1979 Arkansas Razorbacks were co-Southwest Conference champions, losing out on the Cotton Bowl only because of one bad quarter against Houston on October 27, where the Hawgs blew a 10-7 lead and lost when kicker Ish Ordonez, who had made 16 straight field goals, had a 42-yard tying FG blocked. They had a stout defense as well, having surrendered more than 14 points only once – to the same Baylor that was ranked #17 at the time and a “good win” for Arkansas but was proof of a “soft schedule” when routed 45-0 by Alabama. Ordonez was the best field goal kicker in America, but Arkansas had three good running backs – Roland Sales, Darryl Bowles, and Gary Anderson – and some excellent receivers that included Bob Farrell and future NFL receiver Bobby Duckworth. Mike Massey and Teddy Morriss were excellent linebackers, and a very good defensive line was anchored by Jim Elliott and Greg Kolenda. Historical revisionism has reduced Arkansas to just another creampuff on the Tide schedule, but the Hawgs entered the game surrendering only 9.8 ppg and scoring 24.1 ppg. Lou Holtz was, at the time, considered an up and coming coach that already had had Arkansas in the national discussion for championship honors. Oh, and then there was quarterback Kevin Scanlon. How good was Scanlon? He had attended the same high school as Joe Namath and broken all of the legend’s passing marks.
The night before the Sugar Bowl – in the last college football game of the decade – Ohio State’s hopes received a boost and Alabama’s another hit when Purdue beat Tennessee, 27-22, in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
The new decade dawned with overcast skies in Dixie. Keith Jackson called the Sugar Bowl, and his pregame comments summarized the poll situation as it had unfolded. Ara Parseghian was the color commentator and, as always, he had a nice tie. But the story of concern for Alabama (behind the polls) was the continuing bad luck of Steadman Shealy, who stepped on a pine cone and wound up having knee surgery – and then pulled a hamstring during one of the workouts. And the game didn’t exactly start off well for Alabama, either. Don McNeal took Steve Cox’s short kickoff and returned it only to fumble it away and give the Hawgs possession at the Tide 25. Scanlon threw a wide receiver screen to Gary Stiggers, who picked up nearly nothing on the first play, smothered by three Tide defenders. An inside handoff to Roland Sales put the ball at the Tide 18. On third and four, Scanlon fooled the TV camera but not the Tide, as Sales was stopped short of the first down. Ordonez kicked the field goal, and the Razorbacks had a 3-0 lead with only 2:06 gone. McNeal downed the ensuing kickoff, and on first down, Major Ogilvie went up the middle for 2. Whitman ran a power off tackle that set up third and short. Whitman left to get a new jersey, and his replacement, Charley Williams, was stopped short of a first down, sending in the punting unit. Umphrey bobbled the snap, but he got away a 27-yard punt that put the Hawgs at their own 44. An inside handoff to Darryl Bowles picked up nine into Tide territory. Scanlon went for it all, and he hit Jim Bob Harris right in the hands for an interception. Well, it would have been had Harris, a former high school quarterback, held onto the ball. On third and short, Arkansas went back to the inside handoff, and the defensive line blew right into Bowles, hitting him for a loss and forcing a punt. It was strong enough to get Jackson’s first reference to the Goal Line Stand of the previous year. Ogilvie called a fair catch at his own 18 and collided with his own man but held on.
Alabama appeared to be exhibiting a lot of jitters, but the jitters soon disappeared. Billy Jackson got three on a halfback delay. Shealy got four on a keeper after a fake handoff to Whitman. A pitch to Jackson gained 11 and a first down. A middle screen to Jackson with a deep rush got eight, and Whitman up the middle put the Tide at midfield with a ten-yard rush. Just when Shealy appeared to be going down with a sack, Shealy tossed to Ogilvie, who turned the sure loss into a huge gain – with 15 yards tacked on for a facemask. Suddenly, the Tide was at the Arkansas 22. Another option left to Ogilvie, and Major split the defenders and ran right through them for a touchdown behind a great block by Vince Boothe. The PAT made it 7-3 with 6:37 left in the first quarter. Ara made sure to point out the Tide got away with a clip on the key block.
Gary Anderson returned the kickoff to the 19. An inside handoff to Bowles got 3. Anderson got 7 for the first down on the next play. Scanlon retreated for a pass, and Wayne Hamilton sacked him for a huge loss at the 24. Scanlon then fumbled the snap that Thomas Boyd recovered at the Arkansas 21. On the first play, Jackson went off tackle for ten and a first down. On the same play, Jackson picked up eight more to the three, Ogilvie got two more, and after calling timeout while Ogilvie got a new shirt, he flew over the pile for a touchdown to make it 14-3, Alabama.
The first quarter numbers aside from the time of possession were overwhelming in favor of the Tide, who had 96 rushing yards, 104 overall, and six first downs compared to Arkansas’ solitary first down and 29 yards overall, all but one on the ground.
Starting the second quarter at their own 48, Scanlon handed off up the middle to Bowles. He got three more and a first down on the next carry. Scanlon then tossed wide left to Stiggers for a gain of two. Bowles got a pitch deep in the backfield for a gain of three. Hamilton then sacked Scanlon on third down that forced a punt from the Tide 41. The punt was excellent, and Arkansas put Alabama at their own one-yard line. Billy Jackson got three on a run left of center but an illegal motion penalty against Keith Pugh set the Tide back at the half-yard line. Jackson ran off tackle for a gain of four. On the next play, Shealy went for the home run on play action. Pugh beat both defenders and couldn’t have been stopped by Deion Sanders – except Shealy’s toss was a few yards too long, reducing the play to an incomplete pass resulting in third and long at the five. Bryant then decided to change the calculus. Shealy pitched to Major Ogilvie, who stunned everyone with a quick kick that gave Arkansas the ball 43 yards up the field at Tide 49 and released some of the Tide pressure. Scanlon’s toss to Anderson picked up 17 on first down. Sales got seven on the first down carry from the 32, but the next two plays netted nothing. On fourth and one at the Tide 23 trailing by 11 in the first half, Arkansas passed up a reasonable shot at a field goal and went for it. They weren’t even close, and Alabama took over. Ogilvie gained five on first down and then hit Keith Pugh for 22 yards and a first down. Charley Williams and Jeff Fagin had the next two carries as Bryant chose this drive to rest some of his seniors. On 2nd and ten at the Arkansas 28, Fagin was hit for a five-yard loss, and on 3rd and 15, Shealy simply got rid of the ball just before he got planted. Alabama downed Arkansas at their own five after an effective punt by Umphrey. Sales lost one on first down and then Scanlon, like Shealy, went play action from his own end zone. Unlike Shealy, his receiver, Bob Farrell, caught the ball and was tackled at his own 41. McNeal opted to play safe instead of go for the pick, which prevented a long play touchdown. A screen picked up two, but Scanlon retreated to pass and was buried for a loss of ten on the sack by Boyd, Scott, and Lyles. On 3rd and 17, Scanlon dropped and let fly. He hit Bobby Duckworth with a play that would have gained a first down, but on the way to the ground, Duckworth was nailed by Jim Bob Harris and lost possession of the ball. Lahey punted, but he outkicked his coverage. Ogilvie took the ball at his 18 and went left with plenty of room. The last guy with a chance to tackle Major (Steve Clyde) got him just inside the Arkansas 30, but the Tide was now in prime scoring position with two minutes left in the half. On the first snap, Major gained 14 yards on a right toss. Shealy stayed with Ogilvie in the double wing formation, tossing left and gaining two. Nix replaced Ogilvie for a rest and gained one on the same play. Shealy then came out for a new jersey, so the Tide stayed with the running game to Nix. Fourth and short, but Bryant opted to put points on the board and make it a two-score game. McElroy’s kick was true, and the Tide went into the half leading, 17-3.
The halftime interview with Bryant was, as usual, a treat, with Bryant responding to Bill Fleming’s observation that the offensive line looked spectacular with the trite and amusing comment, “Well, they’re supposed to, they’re all seniors.” The return interview by Holtz, not yet polished as a speaker, was entertaining as well: “Well, they’re a good football team, they keep the pressure on you all the time, ya know, offenth, defenth, kickin’ game. We knew that. We’ve been inthide their territory five times, had third or fourth down and two yardth or leth and didn’t make it, and you can’t do that againth their football team.” Asked about the questionable ruling on the Duckworth drop, Holtz said, “I can’t thee anything, thath why I wear glathes.”
Alabama kicked off into the end zone to start the second half at the 20. Scanlon hit a quick first down on a ten-yard toss to Stiggers. A toss left to Anderson picked up three. Scanlon then faked the pitch and ran a draw up the middle that appeared for all the world to be a broken play. Broken play perhaps, but it gained 20 yards. Scanlon then dropped back and fired to Mason, hitting him for a 17-yard pickup with five tacked on because of a facemask on the tackle by Ricky Tucker. At the Tide 15, Arkansas went back to the run and lost a yard on the toss to Anderson. Scanlon then rolled right and appeared to have Steve Clyde open for the touchdown, but Don McNeal leaped and got just enough of a fingertip to prevent the score. Then Scanlon hit a wide open Bob Farrell on the slant route to put Arkansas in a first and goal at the Tide four. A run up the middle gained one. Then Scanlon attempted what anachronistically might be called the Tebow jump pass and damn near had the ball picked off by Thomas Boyd. Scanlon went right on an option and was buried at the line of scrimmage by Wayne Hamilton to set up fourth and goal from the three. Holtz called a timeout to contemplate whether to try the field goal or go for the six. From a two-back set, Scanlon took the snap and when Don McNeal tripped over his own two feet, Bob Farrell was wide open, and the Hawgs finally had a touchdown. Though the subsequent two-point conversion failed, Arkansas trailed by one score just one possession into the first half, and the outcome was by no means certain. To make it worse, Byron Braggs was shaken up on the play. The Tide was up, 17-9, but Arkansas had moved 80 yards on the drive and quite successfully. Color commentator Ara Parseghian noted that Holtz’s choice to play for the two signaled he was playing for the win and not just a tie.
The man had zero sense of irony to put it mildly.
Maybe Alabama was vulnerable to an aerial attack after all. Eleven plays, 80 yards in just 3:26 was the best drive any team had made all year on Alabama. The ensuing kick went through the end zone, and Alabama took over at the 20. Jackson got three on a run up the middle to the left, Ogilvie got four up the middle to the right, and then Shealy went to the air. Arkansas went blitz and appeared for all the world to have Shealy dead to rights. Steadman escaped the rush, stepped forward and then fired upfield to a wide open Keith Pugh for a 26-yard gain that was promptly wiped out on a clipping call against Jim Bunch. Now the Tide was in a third and 19 at their own 11. Shealy then took the snap, pitched pack to Joe Jones – and Jones let fly another quick kick that was downed by Alabama at the Arkansas 40. Parseghian realized what was coming before the snap based on the alignment, but Arkansas didn’t notice it at field level. Still, the Hawgs had momentum and the ball, and they had shown they could move against the Tide’s stout defense. Scanlon evaded the rush of two linebackers and made a quick toss to Darryl Mason for six yards on first down. A run up the middle to Bowles netted two more and on third down called the same run which was just good enough for a first down just inside Tide territory.
Scanlon went back to the air, rolling right with a sideline toss to Farrell that was a tad too high and bobbled out of bounds. Scanlon went back for the quick middle toss and Bama made him pay when freshman Tommy Wilcox picked off the pass and headed for paydirt. Well, he would have – and might have made it – but in his excitement he dropped the football, making it just another noisy incompletion. This didn’t get in Scanlon’s head, however, as he came right back with a slant pass across the middle to Mason that was just short of first down at the Tide 41. With momentum in their favor, Arkansas decided to play it cautious and punt the Tide deep. Wilcox made the fair catch at his own 14. The Tide drove well into Arkansas territory and then on 3rd and 7 at the Arkansas 30, Shealy got planted on a sack that resulted in an Umphrey punt that put the ball at the Arkansas 5. The Hawgs went up the middle with Bowles on first down for five yards, and Scanlon pumped one to Stiggers at the 20 to clear out from the shadow of the end zone. The handoff to Bowles gained two and Scanlon went back to the short pass to Anderson, who fell just short of the first down. Scanlon then ran a QB keeper to get the first down. Then he went deep over the middle and threw to Clyde in triple coverage but nobody came down with the ball. Clyde caught it and got hit from three directions, dropping the ball for an incompletion. Scanlon was cutting the Tide defense with his bullets, and he went back to a 13-yard toss to Stiggers. Scanlon now went for the bomb to Stiggers but Don McNeal reached over Stiggers and knocked the pass away without interfering. Scanlon then ran a QB option to the 49, and the third quarter was over.
Although Arkansas had pretty much owned the quarter, they wound up punting the ball to the Alabama 2.
And Alabama began its drive to a championship just six feet outside their own goal line.
Whitman up the middle for six followed by Ogilvie on a toss for six more and first down. Shealy then faked to Whitman, who was pancaked, darted left and flung backwards to Jackson just as Shealy was hit. Jackson hauled it in on the nine and cut back across the grain, running all the way to the 50. Jackson then went off tackle right for fourteen more yards, and it was becoming clear that the Arkansas D was tiring. The carry put Jackson at 117 yards on only 11 carries. Ogilvie then went up the middle for three and then Shealy faked a perfect handoff to Whitman and took off left, picking up 22 yards with Major Ogilvie trailing the play and drawing attention. Alabama was now at the Arkansas 11. A pitch left to Major got four yards and then Shealy went right and made an ill-advised pitch to Jackson, who had enough wits to make sure he held onto the ball, but the Tide lost a yard. A penalty flag for a false start moved the Tide back to the 13. Third and long, and Shealy handed it to Whitman, who tore through the blocks and right into the end zone, running over the defender for good measure for the touchdown that sealed the Sugar Bowl win for Alabama, 24-9. Arkansas had more possessions, but the game was as good as over. On their late drive, Arkansas did convert a fourth down with a tip catch by Mason to keep their dying hopes alive, but Tommy Wilcox picked off the very next pass and ran it all the way back to the 48. In an effort to impress the pollsters, Shealy threw a bomb to Pugh on first down that was just barely tipped else the Tide would have made another touchdown. At this point, however, Bryant pulled his starters. Ara Parseghian began defending Bryant’s effort for the touchdown because of the necessity of impressing the pollsters. This is the same Ara Parseghian that six years later would decry Miami running up the score against Notre Dame in an effort to get into the national championship game.
Let’s just say Ara was not known for consistency of thought.
Alabama, whose schedule had been derided in national media, had knocked off a top ten conference co-champion decisively. They’d won 21 in a row and completed what appeared to be a successful defense of their national championship. But now Alabama and their fans – for the third consecutive year – had to sit through the belaboring misery of awaiting a vote while rooting for USC to narrowly beat Ohio State.
THE ROSE BOWL
NBC televised the Rose Bowl with Dick Enberg (his first ever) and Merlin Olsen. Frank Sinatra was the grand marshal. O J Simpson proceeded to murder color commentary by using weak analogies that made every single player in the game a reminder of someone somewhere else. (Baseball analyst Joe Morgan would later adopt this juvenile level of commentary). The day before the game, John Robinson signed an extension guaranteed to keep him at USC for five more years or until the NFL came calling, which they did in 1983. USC drove to midfield and promptly threw an interception to Ray Ellis. Had Ellis not tipped the ball, he would have gone the distance with a pick six. On the Buckeye’s very first play, Ohio State’s Art Schlichster fired across the middle and was intercepted by Herb Ward. Two turnovers less than two minutes into the contest. The Trojans marched right down the field. Inside the Buckeye ten, USC passed up a field goal on fourth and one and went for the touchdown. Their biggest reason for passing up a 23-yard field goal was certainly the fact their field goal kicker, Eric Hipp, was only 5 of 13 for the year. A play action fake to White with a rollout left and Paul McDonald flung it to Vic Rakshani but Mike Guess knocked it out of his hands, and the Trojans came away empty-handed. A three and out followed by a punt gave USC their third possession at midfield. Hipp kicked a somewhat surprising 41-yard field goal to give USC a 3-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, USC intercepted a pass that was ruled a Buckeye reception. Schlischster threw a bomb to Perry, and on the final play of the first quarter, USC had their own goal line stand. OSU went for it on fourth and goal and was stopped on the first play of the second quarter. Ronnie Lott. Indeed, this encounter was as important as the previous year’s Sugar Bowl – but since it did not occur in the fourth quarter, it is barely remembered save by the fans of the teams.
After forcing a punt, Ohio State hit Ty Hicks on an excellent pass, and he fumbled it over to USC. On third and long, McDonald unloaded a bomb to Kevin Williams, who beat the defender and scored a 53-yard touchdown that gave the Trojans a 10-0 lead. Kievsky hit a 35-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to narrow the lead to 10-3. Just before the half, Heisman winner Charles White made a sensational cutback run that brought the Trojans in field goal range, but Todd Bell stripped the ball from White, and Ohio State recovered. Schlichster then rolled the dice and hit a bomb to Gary Williams behind the defense, and he went 77 yards for the touchdown. The PAT tied it with 21 seconds left in the half. USC had owned the half and had a tie to show for it.
Ohio State took the second half opening kickoff and wound up with a 37-yard field goal that gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game. USC countered with an excellent drive but missed a 42-yard field goal wide left. But the Trojans then got a reprieve thanks to a roughing the kicker penalty. First down in the red zone, and USC drove close but came up short and lost everything thanks to an offensive pass interference on fourth down that gave Ohio State the ball at the 20. Heading back upfield, Schlichster was a high roller who had thrown for 212 yards on only 9 completions out of 15 attempts. OSU reached midfield and then punted into the end zone. USC’s next drive reached just into Buckeye territory trailing, 13-10, as the fourth quarter began.
After two misfires into the end zone from the 22, USC attempted yet another field goal and was very wide left. Ohio State drove quickly back downfield, but USC stiffened and turned first and goal into a third and goal from the 26. The Buckeyes wound up with another field goal, but #1 Ohio State led, 16-10, with 9:42 left in the game. On the next drive, McDonald hit Williams open in the middle of the field, and as he turned upfield, he was hit from behind and fumbled forward. USC gained about eight yards from the fumble when they recovered. The drive continued, and an incompletion left USC with fourth and 5 at the Ohio State 24. With an unreliable kicker and needing a touchdown to tie or take the lead, USC went for it. But McDonald overthrew Garcia in the end zone, and a TD for Ohio State with only 7 minutes left was likely to net the Buckeyes the national title. OSU went to the running game to kill time. On third and six at midfield, USC rose up and sacked Schlichster, forcing a punt that enabled USC to take over on their own 17.
On first down, White darted through the Buckeye defense for 23 yards to put the Trojans at midfield. On the next play, White picked up another 27 yards, a carry that pushed him over 200 yards for the day. On first down with White resting, Michael Hayes picked up five yards followed by Marcus Allen picking up enough for the first down at the 12. White came back into the game and got four on first down, five on second, and though stopped short of a score, he picked up the first down at the one to keep the clock moving and the ball out of Ohio State’s hands. With 98 seconds left in the game, this failure to score early worked in USC’s favor. White vaulted over the pile into the end zone for a touchdown to tie the game at 16 and set up the most important kick of Hipp’s lackluster career. It is debatable what Alabama fans must have been thinking at this point. A tie would surely eliminate USC, but it might also keep Ohio State on top (1966 all over again). A loss would eliminate Ohio State, but it might also give USC the national title (1977 and/or 1978 all over again). The kick was true, and Ohio State – with the nation’s best quarterback – had 92 seconds left to get their solid field goal kicker close enough for a game-winning attempt.
The stakes had never been higher, but Schlichster quickly threw three incomplete passes to set up fourth and ten. His final pass was nearly picked off when he was flushed out of the pocket and threw into full house coverage, but it didn’t matter. White took the toss for first down, and the clock kept moving. Ohio State called timeout on third down with 17 seconds left, but White converted the first down and the clock ran out. It was a truly spectacular contest, and both team’s stars gave stellar efforts.
John Robinson was classy after the game. Rather than making an unrestrained pitch for votes, he allowed that he would have to watch Alabama, noted the Tide had a great team, and said that maybe some people thought there were two number ones. Robinson’s “pitch,” if we want to call it that, was mild at best and lifted up the game and efforts of the Rose Bowl participants – AND college football – more than it campaigned for an outcome to his liking. O J Simpson, by contrast, may as well have been wearing a pair of cardinal and gold Bruno Magli shoes, as he lifted up Charles White and USC while stopping short of proclaiming them national champions. Enberg’s commentary that “OJ did a terrific job of restraining himself throughout the day” is a comment laced with both tragedy and irony when viewed four decades later. After the cameras were off and the pens and notebooks were present, Robinson expanded his politicking to saying USC “deserves consideration” as the national champion while Ohio State’s Earle Bruce endorsed USC as champion as well. But in a moment of preposterous candor, Bruce then said he had not even seen Alabama play in 1979. Jim Bunch, by contrast, said that maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers would beat Alabama, but he had no doubt who was number one in the land, and it wasn’t USC. Paul Bryant said he thought his team deserved it, and he was validated in this view by Lou Holtz.