Ole Miss/LSU Rivalry Bedtime Stories- Part 3

Part 3:
We pick up the story as Y.A. Tittle lost the game and his pants to Ole Miss in
the '47 game. Ole Miss would go on to win Vaught's and our 1st ever SEC title.
The league had been formed in 1933 and LSU had already won 2 in '35 and '36
under Moore.
Another game of note during that year was Ole Miss' 1st ever win over Tenn and
General Neyland. The 43-13 stomping of UT in front of 28,000 fans in Crump
Stadium in Memphis was the worst whipping of the General's career. And there
were other impressive wins that year but probably none more impressive than that
one.
Vaught missed earning his 9th Sugar Bowl invitation during his career at Ole
Miss by agreeing to play in the Delta Bowl in Memphis' Crum p Stadi um before the
season started. Noboby would have dreamed that we were throwing away a bid to
one of the 4 major bowl games before that season but we sure did. TCU had been a
national powerhouse team and the offer seemed too good to pass up at the time.
And we won it 13-9.
'47 would be the beginning of great days in football with the hiring of Johnny
Vaught and a staff of great assistants who would remain faithful to Vaught and
Ole Miss until his retirement in '70. It would also be the end of one of LSU's
finest coaches as Bernie Moore would retire a big winner during his 13 years as
the Tiger's HC.
LSU's next HC, Gus Tinsley would be no match for Vaught. In his 1st year Tinsley
and LSU would get stomped by the Rebs 49-19. And Ole Miss behind another great
back and passer, Farley Salmon, would come up one close loss to a still great
Vanderbuilt program to posting it's 1st perfect season and 2nd SEC Championship.
But just as it seemed everything was going our way, Vaught's Rebs posted a
losing season in '49 and suffered thru a good whipping by Tinsley's only good
LSU squad.
By 1950, the Ole Miss/LSU game had become a very big game for both schools. LSU
was trying to prove that Ole Miss' success was just a fluke and Ole Miss was
trying to prove that we were LSU's equal. Expectations were high on the Ole Miss
campus after Vaught's 1st 2 great years as HC and a loss to LSU was now
considered something that shouldn't happen. Vaught was somewhat excused after
LSU's #8 ranked Tigers whipped us good in '49 but after a slow start in '50,
Vaught was on the hotseat. Tinsley's Tigers were no juggernaut that year and
word was that if Vaught didn't come back from Baton Rouge with a victory, he
would be replaced. But he didn't. LSU easily won and the pressure on Vaught
increased greatly.
A little perspective here would be helpful. LSU had become a big r ival in every
sense of the word but still LSU's #1 rival was Tulane, without a doubt, and
still Ole Miss' #1 rival was MSU. So in 1950, Ole Miss' biggest game of the year
was yet to be played. Although State's program was on a downhill slide after
McKeen's firing, they were still our bitter instate rivals and still were
playing pretty darn well within the SEC. I have heard from more than 1 good
source who knew what the real skinny was about Vaught in 1950 that had he lost
to State that year, he would have been fired. Thank goodness the game was played
at Ole Miss and we won 27-20. Vaught was saved by a TD that day.
As it turned out, that '49 season would be Vaught's only losing season in his 25
year career at Ole Miss and Tinsley and LSU would be dominated by the Rebs until
LSU could tolerate him no longer after the '54 season.
But if anyone wanted to pinpoint a year when Ole Miss and LSU became each
other's undis puted #1 rivals, well no one really knows but my opinion, with my
knowledge of this storied history, is maybe as good as anyone else's.
1952 was the year that the Rebs would establish itself as LSU's more than equal
and establish Vaught's football program as one of the better ones nationally. It
was one thing to be respected in the SEC. That respect for Ole Miss football was
already there before 1952 but it took a great victory over a #1 team to put us
on the football map nationally.
That victory came as #1 Maryland visited Oxford and Vaught's team led by his 2nd
AA QB, Jimmy Lear of Greenwood, beat #1 Maryland 21-14. We drubbed LSU 28-0 in
Baton Rouge and we would get our 1st Sugar Bowl invitation and collect $140,000
for being chosen. The Sugar Bowl held the most fans and gave the highest payout
to participating teams- that was a huge payout for 1953.
If "The Game" hadn't been Ole Miss/LSU before that year, maybe it was, but it < BR>surely was after that victory. 1952 would be the beginning of a string of 6
straight victories over LSU and by gametime, 1958 LSU would have to deal with
the fact that it had been 8 years since an LSU team had beaten Ole Miss- all
games at LSU. Ole Miss fans had begun referring to Tiger Stadium as Hemingway
South.
We had played every game at Baton Rouge since 1936. And Vaught had no problem
with it since by the early '50's he just believed "we can whip 'em". But as the
Ole Miss team got better and better and it became the most anticipated game on
LSU's schedule, the terms of that agreement changed as Ole Miss became the only
team that could come close to selling out the largest football venue in the
South [ 68,500 ]. The new agreement would be that we'd play the game in Tiger
Stadium every year but Ole Miss would get 1/2 of the gate every year. And LSU
paid the lion's share of the expenses. In short, LSU was wil ling to pay us a
fortune, maybe the sweetest deal that a visiting team has ever gotten in the
history of college football, to have the homefield advantage every year. On top
of that, we were guarenteed almost 1/2 of the seats.
There was a mindset amongst Ole Miss folks, established by this success we
enjoyed at Tiger Stadium, that we win in that place and I believe that to some
extent it is still very present till this day. I think most any Ole Miss fan
will tell you that it definetly seems that we still play better at LSU than in
Oxford. It defies all logic and it's something that involves too many variables
to prove, but I believe it to be historical fact.
'49 and '50 turned out to be minor bumps in the road for Ole Miss and Vaught.
The '52 season was when we turned the corner and silenced all the critics. From
that team, Vaught would build a program that from '54 to '63 would be arguably
the best football program in the country. In tho se 10 years Vaught would win 5
SEC Championships, 1 Recognized NC, 3 more where at 1 least legitimate ranking
service called us the best football team in America, invited to 7 Sugar Bowls, 2
Cotton Bowls [when it was 1 of the big 4 bowl games] and 1 Gator [when there
were only about 5 or 6 respected bowls total. That string of major bowl games in
that one 10 year period, I believe has never been matched by any other team.
LSU would not lay on the mat for long. By 1955 they had had enough of Tinsley.
He couldn't beat Vaught. And a new guy was hired named Paul Dietzel who would
become LSU's greatest coach [I think I can prove that]. "Pepsodent Paul" as we
liked to call him was very different from Vaught. Vaught was a quiet man, the
Madison Avenue type. Paul was personality + and all smiles. But in his 7 years
as the Tiger HC he would almost prove to be Vaught's equal.
This is going to get good folks. As a matter of fact, as pert aining to college
rivalries- incredible.