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Cotton Bowl 1959
TCU 0 Air Force 0 |
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By Bill Rives / The Dallas Morning News
The 23rd Cotton Bowl classic will be remembered as the Battle of the Fruitless Field Goals and Fumbles.
The die was forged early when TCU missed a chance to score the second time it had possession of the ball.
The Cotton Bowl crowd hadn't been settled very long before the Horned Frogs got a break which might have broken the game open.
Steve Galios, the fine Air Force fullback, was hit by TCU Guard Sherrill Headrick at the scrimmage line – the Falcons' 23. Galios lost the ball and the Frogs' right guard, Ramon Armstrong, recovered. But in three plays, TCU lost four yards and decided to try for a field goal on fourth down.
Quarterback Hunter Enis put the ball down on the 35 and Fullback Jack Spikes tried to boot the ball the required 45 yards. The ball was short, though, and the Air Force Partisans breathed easier.
The most exciting play of the game came early in the final period when TCU pulled off a trick play which almost produced a touchdown.
TCU had the ball on its own 28-yard line, third down and five to go. Enis handed off to Halfback Marshall Harris, who swung out to his left and sneaked the ball to the other half, Marvin Laster. Laster faked a right end run and then threw the ball to End Bubba Meyer, who had gotten into the clear behind the Air Force secondary.
Meyer, who had turned, of course, to look for the ball, didn't know that he had a field free of enemies dead ahead and to his right. Figuring he might pick up blockers if he cut over to midfield, he did that, and ran into a posse of Air Force players, who downed him on the Falcon 35.
Other than that, most of the game's thrills were furnished by Spikes' bolts through the line on trap plays, most of them through the right side.
The teams played Alphone and Gaston, exchanging fumbles after the first field goal failure of the Frogs.
Early in the second period, the Air Force took the initiative, sweeping 52 yards to the TCU 6. Oddly enough, only one pass was employed by the smallish Falcons in that drive, one for 14 yards from substitute Quarterback Eddie Rosane to End Tom Joswiak. After TCU slowed the attack, Halfback George Pupich tried a field goal from the 12 but was wide to the left.
In defense of the unsuccessful kickers on both teams – Pupich and Spikes – it should be noted that the 10-mile-per-hour wind – played some tricks.
In the third period, Air Force made another attack which looked as though it might pay off. The Falcons moved 47 yards to the Frog 17. There, once more, the Frogs stiffened and Pupich tried another field goal. This time, the ball was put down on the 23 and the kick was wide to the right.
On the last play of the third period, the dogged Pupich tried again. This was superman effort. The ball was held on the TCU 42 – which was 52 yards from the cross bar – and Pupich's try was short, into the end zone.
TCU took the ball then and drove 86 yards – with that double reverse-and-pass picking up 37 of them. But after they got to the 8, Enis fumbled and the ball was recovered by Dave Phillips, the Air Force left tackle who later was voted the outstanding lineman of the game.
The Frogs forced the Falcons to punt and then, taking the ball on the midfield stripe, tried once again to break the ice. Spikes' roaring blasts into the line highlighted the assault.
But Ennis, on a pass play, Slipped and fell after the Frogs had reached the opposition's 16-yard line, and lost seven yards. Spikes got them back, with one to spare, but Enis fumbled the ball back to the 21. The strategy called for another field goal try by Spikes, who kicked it from the 29. The ball went short, and to the left, of the goal posts.
With the minutes ticking away, the Falcons tried to yank out a victory. They managed to make a pair of first downs and moved from their own 20 to the TCU 42, but Harris intercepted a pass by Rich Mayo, the star Air Force bombardier, and there ended the last Falcon surge.
TCU and Air Force Academy each will get a check for approximately $175,000. Air Force will be able to keep all of its share but will have to pay about $80,000 expenses – $40,000 each for bringing the Cadet Corps and the remainder of the Academy Contingent here.
TCU will get to keep about $76,000 – the $60,000 the Southwest Conference permits each bowl representative to keep and an equal share of the remainder. Each SWC school except Texas Tech will get about $16,500.
Note: Ben Martin's 1958 team, his first at Air Force, is still considered one of the top teams in college football history. The Falcons went 9-0-1 in the regular season before battling to a 0-0 tie with Texas Christian in the Cotton Bowl to finish 9-0-2. The undefeated team is still the only one in Academy history. That team featured the school's first consensus All-American, tackle Brock Strom. He and starting quarterback Rich Mayo went on to be inducted into the Verizon Academic All-American Hall of Fame in the 1990s
Note: The game was a disappointing final for both clubs. The Horned Frogs were 8-2 and the Falcons were unbeaten in 10 games with a tie with Iowa for a 9-0-1 record. The Frogs fumbled the eight times and Air Force lost it three times. And, TCU punted nine times and Air Force seven. The field, covered by tarpaulin during the snow fall earlier in the week, was damp and contributed to the uneasy handling of the ball. The defensive performances were outstanding. The defenses stiffened in the red zone and five field goals were attempted.
Note: When Ben Martin replaced Buck Shaw as Air Force in the Academy’s third season, many college football fans had not even heard of the Air Force Academy at the time, but the record and the bowl game against a talented TCU team put the Falcons on the map in a hurry. Air Force was such an unknown that it had to get a special waiver from the NCAA to play in the bowl game because it had yet to graduate a senior class. Martin is still considered a genius among coaches and he was ably assisted in 1958 by Pepper Rodgers.
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Air Force's George Pupich attempts field goal from the 12 in the 2nd quarter, one of 5 missed between the two clubs. |
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Air Force's Charlie Rodgers picks up six yards on a short pass. |
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TCU defender corrals Air Force receiver. |
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TCU halfback Marvin Lasater (23) is thrown for a loss by AFA end Tom Jozwiak. |
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Attendance- 75,504
Individual Statistics
Rushing TCU- Spikes 17-108, Moreland 3-35, Harris 7-24, Terrell 3-15, Lasater 4-15 AFA- Galios 13-52, Quinlan 7-33, Lane 5-16, Pupich 7-12
Passing TCU- Lasater 1-1-37 AFA- Mayo 9-19-70
Receiving TCU- Meyer 1-37 AFA- Lane 4-27, Rodgers 2-17, Jozwiak 2-11, Rickey 1-19, Quinlan 1-10
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After
that, the teams simply sparred and in the dying seconds, Coach Abe
Martin of TCU decided not to risk and interception. So instead of
passing from his own 40, he ordered a punt, gambling that the Falcons
couldn't get off a touchdown pass and that the game would end in a tie.
That's what happened. Air Force ran one play but lost nine yards as Mayo
was thrown while trying to pass. 
