re: LSU vs USC

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They have payback coming their way from 30 years ago as far as I'm concerned.

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I don't think I've gotten over the '79 game yet and I was 11 years old when that was played. They have payback coming their way from 30 years ago as far as I'm concerned.

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Last Saturday evening 78,322 such zealots arrived in a frenzy and worked up from there as their Tigers whipped USC all over the field—until 12:23 remained in the final quarter. Then the Trojans, behind 12-3 and surveying what looked like the wreckage of their anticipated national championship season, found life in Death Valley . They scored two touchdowns—including the game-winner with 32 seconds left—in the noisiest stadium in America , to triumph 17-12. That ran their record to 4-0 and prompted USC Coach John Robinson to say, "We have the heart of a champion."

That was no overstatement, especially considering that Southern Cal had the misfortune of encountering an LSU team which, pumped up beyond belief by its raucous fans, went out and played the entire game without its feet ever touching the ground. That was the only way the Tigers could've stayed with the Trojans, who already have been proclaimed by three football coaches as the best college team ever. Now, that might just be an overstatement. "Flattery is seducing," says Robinson . "That's a lot to live up to." Had the Tigers been able to hang on for the victory, it would have been their biggest win since 1971 when they whipped Notre Dame 28-8. Former Governor John McKeithen , a fan of properly wild devotion, says, "For that game, we got 'em in the stadium, locked the gates and kept 'em there until we beat 'em."

Southern Cal narrowly escaped a similar fate and knows it. And have no doubt, the spectators played a big, big role in the near upset. "Nothing is done at LSU to inhibit the spirit of our fans," says Athletic Director Paul Dietzel . "And they will get cranked up." That's a tradition in Cajun country, where life's main preoccupation seems to be finding new and better ways to keep the good times rolling. Indeed, the sainted Billy Cannon , now an orthodontist, laughs and says, "Great fans. Great. They're with you through everything, win or tie." But he's joking, because nowhere are the rooters as loyal in defeat.

It all makes a body tingle. These folks go berserk when the band marches on the field. A huge roar is heard for the Invocation, for heaven's sake. They not only know the words to the national anthem, they sing them, loudly. And, when the Tigers win the toss—as happened Saturday—there are tears of ecstasy.

Then, with 5:52 left, USC fumbled again, the Tigers' Alvin Thomas recovering on the Trojan 26, and it looked as if LSU would survive, maybe even prosper.

But an offensive-interference penalty and a delay-of-game call resulted in the Tigers having to punt from their 44. The ball was fair-caught at the USC 21, where Southern Cal went to work with 4:16 remaining. Helped by a face-mask penalty, the Trojans inexorably marched toward the Tiger goal line. The drive culminated with McDonald throwing from the eight, off a rollout, to Kevin Williams , running an out pattern, and USC was in front 17-12. It was Williams ' 33rd reception of his USC career. Sixteen of them have been for touchdowns.

The Tigers had 24 seconds to regain the lead after a 20-yard runback of the kickoff and a holding penalty called on the Trojans spotted the ball on the LSU 42. A 28-yard pass from Ensminger to Robert Delee got the Tigers to the Trojan 30, but Safety Dennis Smith broke up two Ensminger passes in the end zone—and the LSU rooters' hearts.

The defeat was an especially trying one for LSU Coach Charlie McClendon , who at the end of this season—his 18th at Baton Rouge—is being fired as head coach, despite having won 70% of his games. In fact, it was only the return of Dietzel to LSU in the summer of 1978 that enabled McClendon to coach this year. The Board of Supervisors had given him the gate, but Dietzel worked out a plan to give his old friend one more season. Last year the signs around campus read "Help Mac Pack." But last week, what with the Tigers' start in which they had averaged 45.5 points a game, the sloganeers were testing a new one: "Bring Mac Back."

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