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Christmas Festival 1924
USC 20 |
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Notes: Elmer Henderson coached USC from 1919 to 1924. His teams compiled a 45-7 record, putting Southern Cal football on the map. He left USC after the ’24 season after losing to the University of California for the fifth time in a row and being upset by St. Mary’s. The Trojans finished 9-2 in 1924.
The Missouri Tigers were champions of the Missouri Valley Conference in 1924. The had defeated the University of Chicago, champions of the Big 10 and were considered the best eleven in the West. It was the first Missouri Valley victory over a Big Ten team since the leagues were organized. They were scored upon by three teams of the nine they played that season. They lost only to Nebraska at Lincoln. The Tigers were rated two touchdown underdogs to USC in the 1924 Christmas Festival held at the LA Coliseum on Christmas day.
A combination of close and open attack in the third period, when they scored all their points, gave the California men victory after they had been outplayed by the middle-western team throughout the first half. Forward passes gave the Trojans two of three touchdowns they scored in the third period.
The lone Missouri touchdown came in the last thirty seconds of play and resulted from a fumble by Kiddle which John Walsh picked up and ran the twenty yards which saved the Tigers from a blank score.
The Tigers fought a brave fight and displayed a daring attack until they wilted in the third period and fell prey to the long distance passes of Newman. They came within scoring distance twice during the first two periods. The remainder of the game saw them making desperate attempts to stop the charging Trojans. Then with less than a minute to go, the Trojans made their first serious break. Riddle fumbled and Walsh grabbed the oval and sped 20 yards to a touchdown.
Chief Newman. the big Indian halfback who played his last game yesterday for U.S.C., thrilled the crowd of nearly to 10,000 that witnessed the game, with long passes that were more than sensational. On the first one he raced back twenty yards behind the line of scrimmage and hurled the ball like a bullet forty-two yards into Morris Badgro's hands, who ran over the goal line untouched. Just a few minutes later, the big back tossed one forty-five yards to Hayden Phythian who crossed the Missouri goal line.
Gus Henderson sent Newman in as the surprise of the day. In the game against California, the big Indian made a very poor showing and had been kept out of the game since. But he is a senior and the Trojan realizing that he was a wonderful pass if right, built his attack on him. As his work was bad in the last game, football coaches and fans, especially Missouri, had forgotten him, and when he entered the lineup, many wondered who he was.
When right, Newman is the best of the bunch on passes, and he was surely right yesterday, critics declared after the game that no passer during the season could surpass the work of the "Chief" in his final appearance in a Trojan grid suit. Figures for the game show that USC made 11 first downs to 10 for the Tigers and gained a total of 371 yards, while the visitors gained but 142. The Tigers completed seven out of twenty-one passes they attempted for a total of 67 yards while the Trojans completed four out of nine for a total of eighty-seven yards.
In the punting department, only were the Missouri men superior. Here the Tigers averaged 32 yards while the Cardinal and Gold boots were good for but thirty. There were three fumbles throughout the contest, two of them being charged to the winners.
The game brought the Trojan grid season to an auspicious close, it being the second post-season intersectional contest this year which has resulted in a Trojan victory. The Missouri team will be guests of the motion picture studios and the United States battle fleet today and will start home tonight, returning to Columbia via San Francisco.
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Missouri's Pete Jackson carries against the Trojans. |
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USC back is hit by Missou's James Palermo. |
John Walsh (left) scored Missouri's only points . USC's Mooris Badgro caught a TD pass.
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The 1924 USC Trojans (above) and Tigers (below) pose for a team photo in the Coliseum before the 1924 Christmas Festival. |
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Missouri team tours movie studios. |
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Missouri team captains Sam Whiteman, Art Bond, and Clyde Smith and practicing in the Coliseum (right). |
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Attendance: 47,000
Scoring Summary
Third Quarter USC- Lefebvre 1 run (Hawkins kick) USC- Badgro 42 yard pass from Newman (Hawkins kick) USC- Phythian 45 yard pass from Newman (kick failed)
Fourth Quarter MU- Walsh 20 yard fumble return (Walsh kick)
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