It's still so painful for Aggy...

[SLC]

Hatfield talks about it and the 88 game

http://www.arkansasexpats.com/2009/9/10/1022739/q-a-ken-hatfield-part-2

Good find.

[WizardofhOgZ]

There is only two reasons not to answer 1969 and that is

1. you were not born
2. you were less than 3 years old.

All the other moments are candidates for second place.

My responses were in chronological order

You're excused.

My "excuse" for listing the 1987 Texas game was because no one else had mentioned it yet; I thought it unnecessary and redundant to list games already listed and discussed.

Of course, 1969 Texas is the ultimate answer - everyone knows that.  But why add yet another post saying the same thing?  There are others that are painful, and I thought it more useful to list one of them that hadn't been discussed.

[SLC]

My "excuse" for listing the 1987 Texas game was because no one else had mentioned it yet; I thought it unnecessary and redundant to list games already listed and discussed.

Of course, 1969 Texas is the ultimate answer - everyone knows that.  But why add yet another post saying the same thing?  There are others that are painful, and I thought it more useful to list one of them that hadn't been discussed.

That was my very reason for listing the Citadel loss. 

[Bacons Rebellion]

My "excuse" for listing the 1987 Texas game was because no one else had mentioned it yet; I thought it unnecessary and redundant to list games already listed and discussed.

It probably would be. My real point is that we can talk for years about the moment that is second place.

MY second place goes to 1966 Baylor -- the pooch kick game. We had our 20 something in a row regular season winning streak going and that went back to before I knew what Razorbacks really were -- that recognition having come sometime in the autumn of 1964 when I had just turned 5. I had gone to my first Razorback game a few weeks before the pooch kick game. Cut me and I bled red.

Saturdays were a tradition of Dad and I being around the radio and listening to Arkansas win. It was so and had always been so. On Friday nights we could go to the Pine Bluff High game and USUALLY the Zebras won, but not always. But you listened to the Razorbacks on the radio to hear us win and prove again that me and my parents and all my friends in my first grade class and on the street were in the greatest state ever. And then we lost. In the rain.

We had lost in the Cotton Bowl to LSU, but that had been different. That wasn't a fall afternoon. It wasn't Saturday. It was on TV (special enough). Just different.  We had always won on Saturdays. Forever.

[happyhawgal]

1969:  Arkansas 14 Texass 15

still hurts

[woopigsooie1222]

2008 Ole Piss. Dick hits Crawford late in 4th then the line judge calls offensive pass interfeirence and we loose to the Nuttster at home.

[atekido]

98 VS TN. 

[majestic]

November 4, 2006

Nutt reasserts control over the program by pulling Mustain and putting in Casey Dick.  The beginning of the end and the start of the renaissance. 

[DrSwineESQ]

1969 hogs v horns

[Steef]

Majestic,

That day was also the true beginning of the end for the entire old regime.

[WizardofhOgZ]

MY second place goes to 1966 Baylor -- the pooch kick game. We had our 20 something in a row regular season winning streak going and that went back to before I knew what Razorbacks really were -- that recognition having come sometime in the autumn of 1964 when I had just turned 5. I had gone to my first Razorback game a few weeks before the pooch kick game. Cut me and I bled red.

We had lost in the Cotton Bowl to LSU, but that had been different. That wasn't a fall afternoon. It wasn't Saturday. It was on TV (special enough). Just different.  We had always won on Saturdays. Forever.

I remember that game well; but living in far West Texas (El Paso), I never had the chance to see the Hogs in person until later that year - in Lubbock.  Wouldn't you know it - the very first time I get to see my heroes in person, they lost to Tech for the first time in history.  Cost us going to the Cotton Bowl for the third consecutive year. 

Hell, it cost us going to any bowl.  Unthinkable in this era of waaaaaaay too many mediocre bowls, there were only about 8 or 9 back then, so you had to be a legit Top 20 type team to go.  We actually turned down a couple of invitations because we were so bitterly disappointed in losing that game.

[Root66]

MY second place goes to 1966 Baylor -- the pooch kick game. We had our 20 something in a row regular season winning streak going and that went back to before I knew what Razorbacks really were -- that recognition having come sometime in the autumn of 1964 when I had just turned 5. I had gone to my first Razorback game a few weeks before the pooch kick game. Cut me and I bled red.

That bad snap on the pooch kick wasn't even the worst thing that happened in that game. Brittenum hit Tommy Trantham with a 37 yard TD pass in 4th quarter. But, hark, a yellow flag had hit the ground. Bring it back. Jim Barnes, an All American OL, was one step past the line of scrimmage in his pass protection. Something that goes on all day in every football game, high school, college or pro. But THAT TIME, the official called it, nullifying the tying TD.

Maybe the most frustrating game I ever sat through, in the rain no less.

[Bacons Rebellion]

I remember that game well; but living in far West Texas (El Paso), I never had the chance to see the Hogs in person until later that year - in Lubbock.  Wouldn't you know it - the very first time I get to see my heroes in person, they lost to Tech for the first time in history.  Cost us going to the Cotton Bowl for the third consecutive year. 

Hell, it cost us going to any bowl.  Unthinkable in this era of waaaaaaay too many mediocre bowls, there were only about 8 or 9 back then, so you had to be a legit Top 20 type team to go.  We actually turned down a couple of invitations because we were so bitterly disappointed in losing that game.

Claude Smithey's death also discouraged the team from voting to go to a bowl.

[josh_sec33]

Citadel 7 Ark 3

*shudder*

[Bacons Rebellion]

Citadel 7 Ark 3

*shudder*

It was much worse than that. 10-3.

Actually, coming after 3-8 and 6-6 seasons, The Citadel game wasn't too bad for me. It was kind of disgusting and definitely embarassing, but there wasn't any heartbreak involved.

[retired-rambler]

Your telling your age or youth if you don't pick the 69 Texas game.  The 98 Tennessee game comes in second and probably Fish's fumble in the Florida game would be third.  I can't wait for this years season to get going.

[EastexHawg]

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1602834&forum_id=5


Brings up the question...

1962:  Arkansas 3 Texass 7 ?
1965:  Arkansas 7 LSU 14 ?
1968:  Arkansas 29 Texass 39 ?
1969:  Arkansas 14 Texass 15 ?
1977:  Arkansas 9 Texass 13 ?
1988:  Arkansas 16 Miami 18 ?
1998:  Can't type it...
2006:  LSU then Florida ?

You've got three SURE national championships (1965, 1969, 1977) in that list if the Hogs pull out wins in devastating, close losses.  And you've got two more "maybes".

That COULD have meant six national championships in 15 years.  For the younger generation, that might give you an idea of how big a player Arkansas was on the national stage in the days of Broyles and Holtz...

And, I think, what the program has a chance to be with Petrino.

1969 is it for me.  From the early TD by my all-time (at least throughout my teen years) Razorback hero Bill Burnett...to the TD pass from the dynamic tandem of Montgomery to Dicus...to the second TD hookup between them that was called back by one of the convenient calls Texas always seemed to get at key moments against us...

And then there was the shortarmed interception from Montgomery when he had Dicus open...maybe too open...in the end zone for a clinching touchdown.  Fire that ball in or even just put a little more air under it and the Hogs had national championship #2.

The Hogs had that game all the way, or at least for the first 57 minutes.

I still have the Sports Illustrated issue that I bought a few days after the game, with James Street on the cover making his long TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter.  If I'm not mistaken Bruce James is in the background giving chase.  The story was "Texas By An Eyelash; #1 Texas Gambles Its Way Past Arkansas".

It was, still is, and always will be the ultimate heartbreaker.

I can still see the ball, inexplicably and unbelievably, finding its way through the hands of two perfectly positioned Hog defenders (Jerry Moore was one, I believe...can't recall at this moment who else was there) and into the mitts of Randy Peschel on a fourth and three pass that truly was Texas' last chance.  What I remember most about that play is the Texas cheerleader doing cartwheels onto the field after the catch.  I remember thinking at the time, "That should be a penalty!"

Montgomery moved the ball steadily downfield for a potential winning field goal, and was probably one more pass to Burnett in the flat away from a McClard kick when he tried to hit Dicus on the sideline and was intercepted.

[PigWig]

I'm not old enough to remember some of these, but 1998 was it for me.  I was 10 years old when Stoerner fumbled that ball, and I cried my eyes out for over an hour afterward.

A close second was the Fish fumble.  On the verge of our first SEC Championship, just to have the rug yanked out from under us for the second week in a row. 

Third was the PI call against Ole Miss in Fayetteville two years ago.  That cost us a bowl game, an extra month of practice, and turned Nutt's fate around at Ole Miss.  If we win that game, I don't think Ole Miss makes a bowl game that season, and they definitely don't get to the Cotton Bowl.

[SRFL]

Good post Eastex.  Disclosure, I was 6 in '77 and a Jr. in HS in 1988.  Miami '88 was brutal for me...thank goodness for turkey tryptophan.

Think back to 1975 for a second even.  Two close losses to OSU and Texass (is it any wonder we hate them looking at our history list?)  by 7 and 6 points played a big role at the end of the season.  We finish off Aggy 31-6 (#2) then absolutely spank UGA in the CB. 

So many chances...

[DeltaBoy]

The King of Pain for me is 1969

this quote below is #2

1988 Miami.  Foster goes 80 yards!!!  Yes!  Miami's driving at the end of the game.... NO!!!!  Atwater's got the pick!  YES!!!  Dropped it!  NO!!!!!!......

#3 is Matt Jones fumble against TX his Sr year.

#4 the Sternover.

[trollhog]

Stoernover.  Hands down.

[DeltaBoy]

Arkansas 31  Texas A&M 6

Texas A&M came into Little Rock for a nationally televised contest (moved just for TV ala the 1969 Big Shootout with UT, the last football game of the 1975 regular season) and brought with them a 10-0 record and a number two national ranking in the polls.  Most scribes, especially those from Texas, expected a rout  in this game. They got one. Just not the way they expected it.

To add just a little more fire to the drama already surrounding this game and on the morning of the game, the Aggie's All American linebacker, Ed Simonini, was overheard stomping up and down the veranda outside his teammate’s rooms chanting "HOG KILLING TIME, HOG KILLING TIME, HOG KILLING TIME" over and over.

The Hogs played the Ags to a scoreless first quarter and for 14 minutes and 26 seconds of the second period. A short Aggie punt gave the Porkers great field position at the Aggie 41 yard line. On the fifth play from scrimmage from the Aggie 28 yard line, Scott Bull found Teddy Barnes behind the Aggie’s All SWC defensive backfield led by Pat Thomas and  Lester Hayes, two future all-pros. Barnes leaped to get his 5’9” frame above the coverage and hauled in the biggest catch of his Razorback career. The Hogs went up 7-0 with 34 seconds to play in the first half.

For about 8 minutes of the third quarter both two teams played shutout defense. Then TE Doug Yoder got behind that secondary again and Bull found him for 35 yards and a first down at the 7 yard line. On first down Michael Forrest blasted seven yards into the end zone to put the Hogs up 14-0.  Little added a field goal at the 4:57 mark and Johnnie Meadors recovered  a fumble in the Aggie end zone for the next TD and the Porkers led 24-0.

The Aggies finally got on the board midway through the last quarter but Bull got it back at the two minute mark with a 4 yard run, after the Hogs recovered yet another of 5 Aggie lost fumbles, in one play from the four yard line.

The Aggies couldn’t wait to get out of Little Rock. In a nutshell, it was their equivalent of 12-6-69.

The Razorbacks shared the SWC title with Texas and Texas A&M but received the Cotton Bowl bid as the host team representing the Conference.  A&M lost to USC in the Liberty Bowl and Texas beat Colorado in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

The catch that blew up the dam...

Just mention that game at my Wife side of the family reunion  and they act like someone just died.   

[EastexHawg]

Just mention that game at my Wife side of the family reunion  and they act like someone just died.  

The Aggies deserved to lose for wearing those terrible, Harry High School uniforms.  I have very little use for Texas A&M football, but their maroon helmets with the aTm logo are a good look.  The white helmets and vertical stripes down the shoulders and sleeves were awful.

[razobak]

There is only two reasons not to answer 1969 and that is

1. you were not born
2. you were less than 3 years old.

All the other moments are candidates for second place.

touche'

I was not born.  So my most deflating defeats would have to be the usual 98 Tenn, 04 Texas, and 06 Florida.  That's just in football...Throw in 06 Bucknell (I was there) and 09 Mississippi State (the start of 2-14) as my most deflating basketball losses too.

[Pigsknuckles]

Stoernover.....That is all!!!

The horror, the horror

[hog49]

Just mention that game at my Wife side of the family reunion  and they act like someone just died.  

It is a pleasure to see that game is still causing pain to the Aggies.  It was even more fun inflicting the pain that December night in 1975!

[Root66]

It is a pleasure to see that game is still causing pain to the Aggies.  It was even more fun inflicting the pain that December night in 1975!

You are so evil, Tommy.    That has to be one of your greatest memories. I only watched that one on TV, and it surely is one of mine. I can't even begin to fathom what it must have been like to actually have played in that game. Pat Thomas...Lester Hayes both NFL HofFamers.

[WizardofhOgZ]

And then there was the shortarmed interception from Montgomery when he had Dicus open...maybe too open...in the end zone for a clinching touchdown.  Fire that ball in or even just put a little more air under it and the Hogs had national championship #2.


Don't forget about option #3 . . . simply toss the ball away . . . or even take a sack . . . and let McClard put us 9 points ahead.

I still have the Sports Illustrated issue that I bought a few days after the game, with James Street on the cover making his long TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter.  If I'm not mistaken Bruce James is in the background giving chase.  The story was "Texas By An Eyelash; #1 Texas Gambles Its Way Past Arkansas".

Funny the things you remember from your youth.  I was home sick (legit) the day that S.I. came in the mail; probably Thursday or Friday after the game.  In those days before SportsCenter, the internet, etc. it was usually a highlight of my week.  But not that week.


I can still see the ball, inexplicably and unbelievably, finding its way through the hands of two perfectly positioned Hog defenders (Jerry Moore was one, I believe...can't recall at this moment who else was there) and into the mitts of Randy Peschel on a fourth and three pass that truly was Texas' last chance. 

I think the other DB was Dennis Berner. 

One of the most succinct and painfully accurate accounts of that moment came from none other than Darrel Royal himself:  "Six hands went up for the ball, but only two came down with it".  I truthfully believe if you game Street 100 times to complete that pass, under those circumstances and with that coverage to that receiver, he maybe completes 2 or 3 - maybe.  Perhaps, just the one.  Hell - you could substitute Tom Brady or Drew Brees and it might be 5 out of 100.


What I remember most about that play is the Texas cheerleader doing cartwheels onto the field after the catch.  I remember thinking at the time, "That should be a penalty!"

I have read Peschel's account of the catch, and he himself pointed out that he could not believe that when he got up with the ball, the cheerleader was already well beyond him on the field.  First thing he saw.


Montgomery moved the ball steadily downfield for a potential winning field goal, and was probably one more pass to Burnett in the flat away from a McClard kick when he tried to hit Dicus on the sideline and was intercepted.

He was actually trying to hit Rees on that last pass. I suppose they were trying to fool the defense, since we had been throwing to Chuck all day.  One wonders if that might not have been the better strategy to keep with?

[71832]

You've got three SURE national championships (1965, 1969, 1977) in that list if the Hogs pull out wins in devastating, close losses.  And you've got two more "maybes".

That COULD have meant six national championships in 15 years.  For the younger generation, that might give you an idea of how big a player Arkansas was on the national stage in the days of Broyles and Holtz...

And, I think, what the program has a chance to be with Petrino.

1969 is it for me.  From the early TD by my all-time (at least throughout my teen years) Razorback hero Bill Burnett...to the TD pass from the dynamic tandem of Montgomery to Dicus...to the second TD hookup between them that was called back by one of the convenient calls Texas always seemed to get at key moments against us...

And then there was the shortarmed interception from Montgomery when he had Dicus open...maybe too open...in the end zone for a clinching touchdown.  Fire that ball in or even just put a little more air under it and the Hogs had national championship #2.

The Hogs had that game all the way, or at least for the first 57 minutes.

I still have the Sports Illustrated issue that I bought a few days after the game, with James Street on the cover making his long TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter.  If I'm not mistaken Bruce James is in the background giving chase.  The story was "Texas By An Eyelash; #1 Texas Gambles Its Way Past Arkansas".

It was, still is, and always will be the ultimate heartbreaker.

I can still see the ball, inexplicably and unbelievably, finding its way through the hands of two perfectly positioned Hog defenders (Jerry Moore was one, I believe...can't recall at this moment who else was there) and into the mitts of Randy Peschel on a fourth and three pass that truly was Texas' last chance.  What I remember most about that play is the Texas cheerleader doing cartwheels onto the field after the catch.  I remember thinking at the time, "That should be a penalty!"

Montgomery moved the ball steadily downfield for a potential winning field goal, and was probably one more pass to Burnett in the flat away from a McClard kick when he tried to hit Dicus on the sideline and was intercepted.

Check that edition of SI if I remember correctly clearly shows the ball dropping into Peschel's hands with his left foot already out of bounds and the offical standing right in position looking at it and did not call it. I hated officials for years after that play. THEY ROBBED US.

[WizardofhOgZ]

Check that edition of SI if I remember correctly clearly shows the ball dropping into Peschel's hands with his left foot already out of bounds and the offical standing right in position looking at it and did not call it. I hated officials for years after that play. THEY ROBBED US.

Sorry, but that's not accurate.  Peschel was easily in bounds.

Take a look at the 2:41 mark of this video (if you have the stomach to watch)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FszLa0AhBxI

[Root66]

I think the other DB was Dennis Berner

It was for a fact #36, Dennis Berner. It doesn't show up that well in this screen print off the video above, but you can definitely distinguish #36 upside down and you could see it well in the video itself. Berner actually made the tackle and all three (Berner, Moore and Peschel) rolled out of bounds. It was a legal catch.

I would still relish the opportunity to kick that sissy cheerleader's ass.

[hog49]

You are so evil, Tommy.    That has to be one of your greatest memories. I only watched that one on TV, and it surely is one of mine. I can't even begin to fathom what it must have been like to actually have played in that game. Pat Thomas...Lester Hayes both NFL HofFamers.

Thank you Root66..Love being evil to Aggies!! 

It is one of my greatest memories.  Jimmy Johnson prepared a great defensive game plan and we were able to execute it.  As I recall,  our offense turned the ball over 3 or 4 times(3 times on our end of the field) in the first half and we held them to -0- points and the defense also scored a TD later that night.  Fun, fun, fun and all against a great football team.   

The Aggies were unable to figure out blitzes that we were running.  Depending on the play, we would "run blitz" a weak corner or strong safety and would disrupt everything that they tried.  Jimmy's defensive play calls kept them off balance all night....  Then, Teddy Barnes and Scott Bull did their thing and opened the scoring flood gates...

Makes me think of my late, great friend, Hal McAfee.  At the coin toss, Hal stood opposite a huge offensive lineman he would have to face all night. Hal looked up about a foot and into the eyes of this lineman and said, "Welcome to Little Rock, you fool!!"  I just about busted a gut and told the other Aggies, "you're in for a long night."

The fans stayed in the stands for at least an hour after the game calling the Hogs!! 

[Root66]

I love these war stories...

[1highhog]

1969 game, nothing else comes even close to what that game meant.  If you are old enough to have watched that game as I was, you will know what I'm talking about.  That one game actually affected the whole state for a year or better, people just couldn't pick themselves up after that loss.  It was the 1929 Stock Market Crash all over again.

[HOGSWEAT]

Since i'm relatively young.... 98 Tenn, 06 LSU and Florida.

[WILL CLINTON]

200(5?). Matt Jones fumbling vs Texas on the 22 when all we needed was a FG. 

that was a helluva game....I drove from Camden to Fayetteville w/ no tickets, found a horns fan who sold me 2 tickets in the texas section and a parking spot w/in 2 blks of the stadium....Throughout the whole game it was back and forth between the Texas fans and my brother and I....These had to be the classiest Texas fans ever, because 3 or 4 rows in front of and behind us came up adn patted me on the back or shook my hand and said good game....

BTW, the ball was ripped out by Texas' standout defensive player on a great defensive play....

[1967 Grad]

Without a doubt, 1969 Texas game. Guess you had to be there to feel the pain, like I still do til this day.
In fairness, I was at the 1965 Fayetteville game also, and the better team lost that game too. Tommy Tranthum ran back an interception for a TD and we had a 20-0 lead. Their defense was anchored by Diron Talbert (10 time probowler with the Redskins) & Tommy Nobis (a high school teammate of Richard Cunningham starting OT) and wouldn't shake his hand after the game. With 4+ minutes left, the Horns took a 27-24 lead, only to have their hearts ripped out by Brittenum & Crockett with a series of 15 yard out patterns and our Hogs prevailed 27-24.

On the other side of that coin, some of the most thrilling victories were:

31-6 1975 Aggies ranked @ 2 going into the game
31-6 Orange Bowl vs OU with 3 starters sent home and we went from a 23 point dog to "off the board".
42-8 in Fayetteville vs the Shorthorns who were ranked #1 in the nation going into the game.

[1967 Grad]

B/T/W the 1969 Shootout was ours and we gave it away. Uncle Frank , for once in his career, did not play it safe. Third and goal on the Texas 5 yard line with Bill Burnett at tailback(232 carries w/o a fumble) with Bill McClard on the sideline to come in and kick a field goal if Burnett didn't score from the 5. Instead, he let Coach Breaux and Bill Montgomery talk him into the out pattern to Dicus that had been open all day and Bill underthrew it for Danny Lester's INT that lead to them getting the ball back with 4+ minutes @ 14-8, instead of 17-8. Not much consolation that Dicus did get open. Even with that it took a Hail Mary from inside their own 30 on a fourth down play to retain possession and go on to the winning TD. Can still visualize all of this like it happened last week.

[fanofthehog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkqPT5Vv7zw&feature=related

[Pigsknuckles]

1987:  UT 16  Hogs 14

Horns throw a TD pass as time runs out to win after the Hogs were ahead the entire game.

This led to the infamous joke:

Q:  Why did it take 6 hours for the bus to carry the Razorback players home from LR to Fayetteville after the game?

A:  Because Hatfield refused to let them pass.

This one doesn't get a lot of attention, but I can still see that final play. Felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest. Worse, you could see it coming.