College Football for Palm Nuts

[palmsrgreat]

Alright Bubba, what's it gonna be on this game?

[bubba]

Michael,You have every reason to smile.This has to be one of the strangest seasons I have experienced as a Gator fan.We were given every reason by the press and our own Coaches to believe we had something truly special.It feels that it has imploded into some strange vacuum.As my youngest son and I were leaving the Miami game,he said to me that it did not even feel like we won.

Perhaps our expectations were simply unrealistic.That stated,there is something nefarious in the complete regression of our Heisman winning QB.College football is a very uncertain commodity and nothing is certain anymore.A Gator forever no matter the weather....

[palmsrgreat]

I hear ya Bubba, but I've been waiting for this game all year. Florida happens to be my 2nd favorite team in the SEC. This should be another epic battle. We are going to have a big party here in Houston. Wish you guys the best of luck! Loser will have to treat the other to a dinner if we ever meet up.

[jenks]

Crazy season for sure.

Mustain might get some playing time this week. Looks like Sanchez is pushing to start - looked OK in practice yesterday. If he wasn't wearing that brace, his knee would be destroyed right now - I am surprised he didn't have more than a bone bruise.

Mustain looked ok when he came in for Sanchez in the last game. A little jittery at first maybe but the pick he threw - the receiver should have gone up and taken that one away from that all-American DB. He came back and made a nice audible for a touchdown pass on his next series.

[jenks]

Thought you guys might enjoy this. No real point to this - just thought it was an interesting look into football in the past. The terminology and phrasing is interesting. When I think sports in the 20's I think baseball. I really had no idea that SC packed 80k in the Coluseum back then.

KAER AND 1926 USC

By Ray Schmidt

It’s a fairly common storyline in the history of college football. An outstanding team of the past takes a small slip on the path to football immortality, and today it might not even rate a footnote in the school’s gridiron history books. Such is the fate of the 1926 Trojans of Southern California.

Under the direction of the legendary coach, Howard Jones, this was a team that featured speed and power; a devastating offense and a rugged defense. Yet by the mere margin of two points this magnificent gridiron machine has been relegated to the dust of time; forgotten even by the school’s historians.

By 1926 Southern Cal had come to expect outstanding football teams, as the decade of the Roaring Twenties had brought mostly successful seasons. Jones had taken over the coaching reins in 1925 with an 11-2 record, and it was with great anticipation that he welcomed a squad of 50 players to the first drills at Bovard Field in September of 1926.

With at least two full elevens of equal strength, the Trojans were loaded and everyone looked for them to seriously challenge for the Pacific Coast title. On a team loaded with outstanding football players, the big guns were expected to be in the backfield in the persons of Morley Drury and Mort Kaer. But there was an unknown speedster in the ’26 USC backfield who was ready to stun West Coast football fans. His name was Manuel Laraneta.

The Trojans opened their 1926 campaign with a crushing 74-0 romp over little Whittier at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The scoring parade was led by Kaer, who the sportswriters were calling the “Red Bluff Terror”, with four touchdowns, with quarterback Don Williams tacking on another three. Kaer’s tallies included a dazzling 60-yard punt return through the entire Whittier team.

The second week of the season brought a matchup against Santa Clara, directed by ex-Notre Dame gridder Adam Walsh, and a tougher test was expected as the Broncos had just been edged out by California 13-6 in their season opener.

But it was not to be, as the Trojans unleashed an offensive attack that trampled the Broncos on the ground, and then finished them off with a surprisingly effective passing attack good for 124 yards on nine completions in 12 attempts.

The Los Angeles Times sportswriter Braven Dyer wrote that USC fashioned its 42-0 win by “crashing up and down the field in one sensational smash after another, executing forward passes which completely bewildered their opponents and exhibiting a stonewall defense.” Drury scored a pair of touchdowns, and also led the blocking for Laraneta’s dazzling 41 yard TD gallop in the first quarter.

Week three brought the first serious challenge for 1926 USC in the form of Washington State, led into Los Angeles by its outstanding quarterback Butch Meeker. The game turned into a bruising struggle, and the Trojans were stopped no less than three times inside the Cougars’ five yard line in the second quarter alone.

A blocked punt had finally given USC a 2-0 lead at halftime, and in the third period the Trojans opened up their aerial attack to garner TD’s on passes to Drury and Morris Badgro, for a hardfought16-7 win. But it had come at a high price as Drury suffered a serious knee injury.

On the following Monday at practice Jones gave his squad a thorough tongue lashing, and began conducting harder practices. Next up was a scrappy bunch from Occidental, under coach Albert Exendine, and Jones was so confident that the Trojans were left in the hands of assistant coach Bill Hunter, while Jones traveled up to Berkeley to scout the Cal vs Oregon State game.

The well-coached Tigers of Oxy held USC four times inside the ten yard line, but Kaer eventually broke loose for three TD’s, including a 46-yard dash, to pace the 28-6 win. Laraneta set-up another score with a sensational 65-yard bolt up the middle. The Trojans then headed north to tangle with arch-rival California,

USC not having defeated the Golden Bears since 1915. Jones was emphasizing defensive preparations in the week’s practices, while Cal coach Nibs Price was referring to USC’s nationally ranked #3 scoring attack as the “doddering herd”.As it turned out, it was Cal that was “doddering along the route to a 3-6 record.

In the second quarter Kaer sliced through left tackle for a 36-yard run, that set-up his 10-yard gallop to paydirt moments later. Then in the third period, the dazzling quarterback broke loose on a winding 48-yard sprint to the touchdown that made it 13-0.In the final stanza Laraneta swept around end and set sail on a broken field dash good for 53 yards, to set-up his short TD pass to Don Williams Another scoring pass tossed by Williams rounded off the27-0 romp for USC, on a day when the Trojans piled up 608 yards of total offense, including completing12 of 17 aerials for 120 yards.

Next up was the long-anticipated showdown against Stanford, and things got off on the wrong foot for the Trojans with the news that Drury would not be able to play because of his injured knee. Then coach Glenn “Pop” Warner of Stanford tried to create a controversy with his accusation that the shift plays used by the Trojans were in fact illegal plays. Warner charged that the USC linemen shifting into position could not possibly be set, given the quickness of the snap of the ball. As the Trojans employed a shift on all their plays, Warner contended that a penalty should be called each time. Jones simply refused to comment on the matter.

It was a hot day on October 30, 1926 as the two teams took the field at the Los Angeles Coliseum before a crowd of approximately 80,000, which included several thousand who had crashed through a gate to get inside, and proceed to stage one of the greatest games of Pacific Coast history. In the words of Braven Dyer of the Los Angeles Times: “The very tenseness of the titanic struggle seemed to permeate the atmosphere from the very moment that the game started.

From the start the game was a ferocious struggle, with USC having a bit of an edge as Kaer and Laraneta ripped the Stanford line to shreds, often dragging two or three tacklers for a few extra yards. It finally paid off late in the first quarter as the Trojans staged a 60-yard scoring drive. The big play of the march was a pass from Kaer good for 30 yards to Jess Hibbs, who made a leaping catch and took the ball away from two defenders. Kaer then swept around end for the last few yards to the TD, and when Laraneta missed the PAT, it was 6-0 USC.

It was early in the second quarter when Stanford had the ball around midfield. Biff Hoffman slashed into the line, but the ball came flying out and right into the hands of USC’s Lloyd Thomas. With Bert Heiser leading the blocking, Thomas bolted up the field for a 50-yard gallop to the touchdown that made it 12-0, since Laraneta again missed the kick for the extra point.

Stanford came fighting back with its own scoring drive behind the running of George Bogue and Hoffman, and Hoffman’s touchdown made it 12-6 at halftime. In the third quarter Stanford again began to threaten behind the running of Hoffman, but the first march ended with a missed38-yard field goal attempt by Bogue.

Just minutes later a short punt by Kaer gave Stanford the ball at midfield On the first play Hoffman dropped back and fired a deep pass to Dick Hyland, who made the reception in stride and continued on into the end-zone to finish off the 50-yard scoring play. Bogue then drilled the PAT and Stanford led 13-12.In the fourth quarter USC got a final shot at winning, when Jeff Cravath recovered a fumble by Hoffman on Stanford’s 25 yard line.

But instead of using the powerful Trojan running attack against the tiring Stanford line, Williams took to the airways but a pass was intercepted by John McCreery of Stanford and that was the game. At the finish everyone in the massive LA Coliseum was spent from the excitement. Kaer had rushed for 114 yards and Laraneta added 67, while USC piled up a 237-179 edge in total offense yards with a 14-7 lead in first downs.

Paul Lowry of the LA Times wrote that “This pulsating battle saw attacks and counter attacks, thrilling forward passes, spectacular runs, desperate line play, throbbing touchdowns and all the other elements that go to make the American game of football the best game in the world.” Braven Dyer wrote: “No football game in these parts has ever been marked by more intense effort.”

In the post-game comments, Warner said that “Kaer is as good as any halfback I have seen in a umber of years.” Jones of USC observed that “I don’t know where the margin of superiority was, but I only know we lost. A hard battle.

On Armistice Day USC was in Portland, where they handed Oregon State a 17-7 defeat in a contest played on an extremely wet and muddy field that stalled the ground game of Kaer and Laraneta. But Kaer did manage to toss a TD pass to Laraneta, and then carried the ball himself for 60 yards on five plays to the clinching TD in the fourth quarter.

Over the next two weeks, the Trojans beat Idaho 28-6, as Howard Elliott scored three touchdowns while Kaer sat out with a charley horse injury; followed by a 61-0 stomping of Wild Bill Kelly and Montana. Laraneta and Elliott each scored three touchdowns while Williams added two more.

Then on December 4 Knute Rockne brought his Notre Dame eleven out to Los Angeles to begin oneof the great inter-sectional series of college football history. Despite a shocking loss to Carnegie Tech while Rockne was away at the Army-Navy game, Notre Dame had been initially established as a heavy favorite, but as game time approached it became an even money bet.

With over 75,000 fans jammed into every cranny of the LA Coliseum, the two teams fought through a scoreless first quarter. But early in the second stanza Notre Dame got moving and staged a scoring drive of 74 yards to take a 7-0 lead But the Trojans came right back, as Kaer ripped off a 30-yard run, and followed that up with an aerial to Al Behrendtgood for 41 yards to the Irish one yard line. Kaer plunged in for the TD, but the PAT attempt was missed this time by Brice Taylor.

Then late in the third quarter, after Kaer had been knocked out of the game by a hard tackle, Laraneta paced a 57-yard USC march, with Williams scoring the touchdown. This time the PAT was missed by Drury, who was supposed to be a good kicker. Finally in the waning minutes of the game,

Notre Dame came up with a pair of long pass plays to move to the touchdown that gave the visitors a 13-12 win. Braven Dyer wrote that “it was a football battle that has never been excelled for brilliance, thrills and pulsating drama.”After the game Rockne observed that Kaer was “every bit as good as the reports said he was. He compares highly favorably with Harry Wilson of Army, who is the best running back I have previously seen this season.” Later in the Trojans dressing room Rockne told Kaer that: “You’re a great player, Kaer, and you can play on my team any time.

For the 1926 season USC finished with a record of 8-2-0, and a #6 national ranking in the Dickinson Ratings. Kaer led the team in scoring with 12 touchdowns; while Williams tallied seven TD’s. From the six play-by-plays located to date, the Trojans have a total offense figure of 312.5 yards per game(234 rushing and 78.5 passing). A post-season article in the LA Times credited Laraneta and Kaer with yardage figures of 1,140 and 1,113 respectively, although these have not yet been proved. Kaer, of course, was named a First Team All-America halfback on every major team except the United Press.

Jeff Cravath was named Second Team center by INS and the A-A Board. For the success of the 1926 USC Trojans, coach Howard Jones was immediately awarded a three year extension on his contract by the Board of Athletic Control at USC. The first golden age of Southern Cal football was at hand.

Paul Lowry wrote in the Los Angeles Times that 1926 USC “had everything - speed, power, deception, wonderful forward passing, ball carriers of great brilliance.” What the Trojans didn’t have in 1926 was a reliable placekicker, and the price they have paid is their rightful place on the roll of college football’s greatest teams of the past.

[bubba]

Jenks,Great article!1926 and 80,000 fans in the Collesium! That is amazing.

Michael,It will be a great game if Florida shows up.I also have always liked LSU dating back to childhood and watching Florida tie LSU 3-3 in the tail of a Hurricane with my Dad.I hope it shapes up better than I feel and I will buy you dinner no matter the outcome!

[Shon]

Very cool Jenks thanks for sharing that.

[steve 9atx]

Just curious if any of y'all look at this ranking system:

http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

Also, with 5 teams in the top 12, it's funny how you

"bi-coastal" types in conferences not so well represented

aren't saying much about the Big 12. Not that I have

a dog in that fight (Michael Vick's famous last words),

but I'd still like to see the T-sips beat hell out of OU this

weekend in Dallas. Or as we say in Houston, "BIG D....

little a, little l, little l, little a, little s".

Steve

[_Keith]

Not sure what is going to happen with LSU-Florida, but I am sure neither side is gonna have an easy time of it.

[palmsrgreat]

Wow Steve, that guy's ratings are ridiculous. Ball St. just ahead of LSU, and Boise St in the top 10. ? Eh I don't put much stock in it even if they had LSU in the top 10. We'll have to see what the BCS says on the 19th.

I'll take you up on that offer Bubba!

[LJG]

Come FL, USC needs you to win.

[bubba]

Jenks,Going back to that article as juxtaposed to our miseries of today.Were the fans lured into the Collesium under the pretext of a breadline/soup kitchen?

Len, I do appreciate your support!

Michael and Keith,It will be interesting.Your Offensive line is a little scary among many other concerns.

Steve,Love the way you spell Dallas!

[jenks]

Bubba,good one but this was 26, not 29. You know those were true, hard core, socal footabll fans.

And yes, SC fans are pulling hard for Florida... this week.

[bubba]

Jenks,Our Depression in Florida started after the 1926 Hurricane hit Miami.I guess you could say we were trend-setters!

[steve 9atx]

Michael

Look carefully at the rating system I sent you - it's a statistical average of all of the other rating

systems in existence. Sometimes this yields some weird results, but sometimes, he's a lot more

accurate in terms of power rating than AP, USA Today, etc..

Steve

[tank]

Bubba,

Are you coming up to the game on Saturday? I'll be in Steinhatchee at a wedding on Saturday so I'm going to be out of town for the game. Should be fun.

Would have been nice to have Doe and Moody back for this one. Hopefully they can get Moore involved and hopefully he won't fumble! It sucks to have one mistake potentially cost the game as it did last year against LSU. The defensive line will be much deeper this week and it appears that Tartt will be back. I just wish we had more production out of our receivers. I think the injury to CI was more costly than expected.

Steve,

The Big 12 benifited by not having any serious challenges to their top teams until mid season. Other than Oklahoma beating TCU and Kansas losing to USF, they have not been tested. The next three weeks will see some major reshuffling of the rankings with some serious Big 12 movement. I do agree with you that Oklahoma needs to lose......and OkState beasts Missouri and then Missouri beats Texas.... or something like that.

I just hope UF doesn't manage to get reshuffled into the toilet. Our offense is suspect.

[tank]

I don't think OKState will beat Missouri, but one can still hope.

[_Keith]

Bubba,good one but this was 26, not 29. You know those were true, hard core, socal footabll fans.

And yes, SC fans are pulling hard for Florida... this week.

I think at this point, pretty much the entire country short of Louisiana is pulling hard for Florida, or more accurately stated, for LSU to lose.

[bubba]

Jason, Night games are tough for us down here in South Florida and the Miami game took the steam out of my engine.(my 9th grader tells me I am a wus)However,I have suddenly got a gut feeling that Tebow is going to do his own thing against Mullins orders(Who I am convinced has a large off-shore account/gambling bling)and suprise the Tigers. Think it will be better than I originally thought!Go Gators!

[palmsrgreat]

Bubba, I'm very anxious for this one, had a few drinks last night and took the Tigers money line +200, haha.

This TX/OU game is getting pretty good!

Steve, I'll have to take a closer look at that rating system. This weekend should give a godd indication of its validity.

[palmsrgreat]

Wow, not looking good, its a shame to get blown out. LSU sure didn't bring their game today at all.

I think the inexperience at quarterback has really been exposed. Well, I figured we'd drop one to Florida or Georgia. Let's hope not both

[_Keith]

14 pts will win many a game. I think a sucky defense, particularly secondary has been exposed.

As for quarterback, at least he is a freshman.

[palmsrgreat]

Yeah, well hats off to Florida, they came to play and we didn't.

Bubba you were right about Demps, he ate us up tonight.

[bubba]

I can tell you no one is more suprised about this than I was.Our Offensive Coordinator finally allowed Tebow to play his game and we used 1,2 and 3.I guess Meyer forced Mullen to flush!College Football will break your heart everytime!

[_Keith]

I can tell you no one is more suprised about this than I was.Our Offensive Coordinator finally allowed Tebow to play his game and we used 1,2 and 3.I guess Meyer forced Mullen to flush!College Football will break your heart everytime!

The only hearts that really get broken are on the field. The rest of us are living vicariously through them.

[LJG]

Why did no one hit Tebow? Everytime he ran the option he needs a LB to drop him. Everytime. Instead the LB would cover, then try to chase down the option back that runs a 4.4. Crack Tebow everytime.

Good week for USC Fans.

[_Keith]

Why did no one hit Tebow? Everytime he ran the option he needs a LB to drop him. Everytime. Instead the LB would cover, then try to chase down the option back that runs a 4.4. Crack Tebow everytime.

Good week for USC Fans.

Yeah, yeah. It ain't over till its over.

[palmsrgreat]

Yeah Len, I was asking myself that too. Our defense got exposed big time. We just did not get in and apply any pressure, nor did we force any turnovers. The polls will be interesting tomorrow, do you think AL goes to 1? I would put TX up at 1 with the win they had today, esp if they moved AL from 8 to 2.

Keith, you are right. We have a lot of games to go, unfortunately that consists of playing every weekend until the end of our schedule since we had to reassign the Troy game in our bye slot b/c of the hurricane. 8 games in a row will be tough. As long as we can make Saban's return to Tiger Stadium miserabele I will be pleased with the season

[palmsrgreat]

Oh, I also forgot to add I think Penn State might deserve to be up for #1 too. I'm not a huge UT fan even living in Texas but I would put them or Penn St. above Alabama at this point

[LJG]

No way Penn State. Just another overrated Big10 team. I think UT jumps because AL had bye and UT beat #1 on the road. But either can be there. I still think AL loses 2 - 3 games this year. Hopefully FL does not drop anymore and neither does USC. That would be one hell of a FAST game for NC.

[palmsrgreat]

Yeah I guess I could agree with that on Penn State. If FL plays with that kind of speed I dont see anyone stopping them. The large mixture of personnel with that speed is out of control. AL fans are singing like they're going undefeated on the LSU boards. It will be interesting to see what big time teams are able to claw their way back the ladder. If we pull off the win against Georgia and Alabam, both at home, I think we'll be fine.

We just have to be really careful we don't lay another egg when going to see the old ball coach next weekend.

[bubba]

There is no love whatosoever for Dick Satan in South Florida.God forbid the allowance of the Delusional Tide fans to ordain him as the second coming.Hope to meet up with you Tigers latter in Atlanta.Please take care of Alabama and Georgia.See how easy it is to get sucked in again!Reminds me of Tommy Petty and the "Heartbreakers".

[Shon]

Len Texas did not win on the road,the game was at the Cotton bowl in Dallas. PSU overated? Your best win is over a Big 10 team. The same PSU team that rolled Oregon ST by forty. I don't think your getting in. Alot would have to happen your schedule is awful. As it is you will play only one ranked team this year. PSU runs the table and a one loss Big 12 team or a one loss SEC team in the NC excuse me BCS championship.

[steve 9atx]

Look at Mr Massey's tally: 5 of the top 10 are from the Big 12!

http://www.masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

As I say, I don't have a dog in this fight (my poor old Coogs moved

up from to 62 from 65 with their blowout win on Thursday, and my

Owls dropped about 10 points on their bye week), I'm just enjoying

the apoplexy displayed by the east and left coasts are this season....

[LJG]

It was classified as an away game for Texas. But I forgot it was played in Dallas. But the win was still impressive none the less. Hence #1 right now.

PSU is overrated in my opinion - like all Big 10 teams. They would get blown out by SEC top teams or USC. If USC does not get in the NC game and we play PSU in the Rose Bowl, we will see. First lets see how they handle OSU in Columbus and that final home game against MSU. Then I will change my mind. Also, flying clear across the country after losing the week earlier to Sanford is a lot different then playing at home against a team you know how to beat. Got to love college football.

Hey, congrats to Miami for beating UCF.

[SubTropicRay]

Oklahoma is Overrated as previosuly mentioned. The Gators looked like the monsters of the midway.

[tank]

Hopefully UF will be able to keep up the tempo. The bye week will definitely help get folks healthy.

Oklahoma is Overrated as previosuly mentioned. The Gators looked like the monsters of the midway.

[jenks]

Wow - 1, 3 and 4 go down. Perfect. USC is sitting at #4 in the coaches poll and in the preliminary BCS - http://grjash.netfirms.com/bcs/bcs_rankings.html. If we can run the table, we have a good shot.

tOSU needs to beat PSU. AL will lose and I wouldn't be shocked to see UT get beat by Okie State or Mizzou. Going to be interseting down the stretch. We really need a playoff

[_Keith]

Mini-poll

So, with all of these #1,2,3,4 teams going down constantly, what are we proving?

1) Early seasion rankings are crap anyway

2) The level of competitions is so high on a given day nearly anyone can beat anyone

3) Both of the above

4) Write you own theory in

[tank]

I'd think a 1 loss SEC champion would move above USC if there is an unbeaten or 1 loss team ranked above both of them at the end of the year. The reason being that to get to that point, the SEC team will have to beat multiple top 20 or even top 10 teams, while USC doesn't really get to go up against another ranked team other than Cal. Oregon doesn't look that strong and Ohio State looks like they were overrated. If Ohio State wins out, this would go a long way in elevating USC, but I think they may lose another 2 games.