Vamp

I did the coin flip for the Ga game in '06 but never for Ole Miss/LSU games. It cost to have that honor and as much as I love the Ole Miss/LSU games, I'm not willing to pay the price [would probably cost over $3000 for Bama and LSU games].

I too would love it if the SEC and NC championships were settled in Oxford or Baton Rouge [instead of Alabama] every year like the good ole days when our games were the #1 college football games in America in terms of viewership.

We've been kinda sleeping for a 1/2 century but we may have a HC who can recruit well enough for us to start holding up our end of the bargain again.

Part 10:
Both Ole Miss and LSU finish off the '62 season with wins in the Sugar and
Cotton Bowls and '63 looked like the same ole same ole heading in with both
teams loaded and headed for another Halloween showdown for a possible NC going
to the winner. But LSU's team was surprisingly off average and as it turned out
Ole Miss would be the only team coming into that game with real hope of another
NC.
Oh, it was just as loud and exciting, at first anyway. But not long into the
contest there was no doubt who would win. Ole Miss was favored pretty good going
in but no one would have predicted a 37-7 rout- no one. This was the game that
Ole Miss's future AA guard, 220# Stan Hindman, caught LSU's All SEC, little 175#
scatback RB Joe Labruzzo from behind after a bri lliant 81 yard punt return to
the Ole Mis s 1. LSU then ran 4 successive running plays beginning at the Ole
Miss' 1 and was thrown for a loss each time and Ole Miss took posession at the
5. Everything went our way that day. It was a very unusual lopsided game that
wouldn't happen much ever whenever these 2 teams played.
The two teams would continue playing highly emotional and intense games for
years and years. Both teams would produce top 20 and better caliber teams for
the rest of the decade which ended with the Archie years and Vaught's
retirement. I covered those years pretty well last year and in the interest of
my remaining time before "The Game" this year, I've decided to skip maybe the
2nd most exciting group of years Ole Miss and LSU would get together.
But before I move on to my next Bedtime Story, pause with me here after the '63
game and let's reflect on what has just occurred in college football history.
I 've done a good bit of research on the greates t college football rivalries in
history and come up with some very interesting conclusions.
Considering all factors I could think of including final rankings, NC
implications of the games, importance of games within conferences, etc., there
was never a rivalry up until it's time, between two schools as imporant and
exciting in the history of college football as the Ole Miss/ LSU series between
1958 and 1963. I would challenge any unbeliever to statistically prove me wrong.
Amazingly, almost every great rivalry series in the history of college football
lasted exactly 6 years. Here is a picture of what I've used to compare the
rivalries:
Year- O.M. Ranking [Bowl]- LSU Ranking [Bowl]
1958- 11 [Gator] - 1 [Sugar]
1959- 2 [Sugar] - 3 [Sugar]
1960- 2 [Sugar] - NR
1961- 5 [Cotton] - 3 [Orange]
1962- 3 [Sugar] - 7 [Cotton]
1963- 7 [Sugar] - NR [Blue bonnet]

There are only 4 college fo otball rivalries, all time, that have lasted 6
consecutive years that were statistically [but I'd argue not qualitatively]
better. Here's my list of America's all time best rivalries:
[1] Okla/Neb ['71-'76]
[2] Miami/Fla Stste ['87-'92]
[3] Mich/Ohio State ['71-'76]
[4] Texas/Okla [2000-2005]
[5] Ole Miss/LSU ['58-'63]
Just a few comments here:
There was no significant span of years that Notre Dame, USC, Penn State, Army or
any other national powerhouse program had an opponent worthy of listing in this
ranking of mine.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Okla/Neb rivalry series of that time was
#1. In fact that one, and only that one lasted a good decade longer- almost as
good.
Had Ole Miss or LSU not been handicapped by very biased AP and UPI systems of
ranking, we would have probably come in third. Had we been located in the Nor th,
Ole Miss could have had 3 #1 rankings an d LSU had 1 more. Had we been #1 in the
'60 poll, the rivalry would probably have finished in 3rd place.
There just simply has never been a rivalry series in the South like Ole
Miss/LSU. I'm not shy. Auburn simply wasn't a strong enough opponent of Bama.
From 1959 through 1963, Ole Miss came within 2 narrow losses to LSU of posting 5
consecutive undefeated seasons. Every game played between '58 and '63 decided
who would win the SEC Championship and weighed heavily or decided who would win
the NC.
I would love to speak on games played between our schools between 1964 when we
were everyone's preseason #1 pick and '70 when again we were preseason #1 [I
will mention some in my favorite games story]. All those Ole Miss/LSU games were
glorious to me. Even the '70 blowout win over us after disaster had struck our
hearts twice in that one year with the loss of the best college QB I' ve ever
seen and one of the 3 best coaches al l time in the SEC.
But I'd like to end this chapter with a fitting tribute to one of college
football's great coaches by posting Vaught's W/L record as compared to all
active coaches who had coached for at least 15 years at the time of Vaught's
retirement in 1970.
Darrell Royal, Texas [135-42-4] 76.2%
John Vaught, Ole Miss [185-58-12] 76.1%
Woody Hayes, Ohio State [167-54-12] 75.6%
Dan Devine, Missouri [119-41-8] 74.3%
Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame [133-51-6] 72.3%
Paul Bryant, Alabama [199-66-16] 71.3%
Ben Schwartzwalder, Syracuse [167-76-2] 68.7%
Ralph Jordan, Auburn [137-66-5] 67.4%
I think that pretty much sums it up about Vaught.
For the sake of our LSU friends, I combined the career W/L records of Paul
Dietzel and Cholly Mac until 1970 and found that they had combined for a 70.7%
winning %, just under the Bear on that list.
Next up, favorite games.

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THE STORY OF THE LSU CHINESE BANDITS

Back in 1958, Paul Dietzel who was coach then had a problem. He had a lot of talent, especially in the backfield. Back then, substitution rules were very different. There was a new substitution rule that allowed any player -- not just starters -- to come off the field and go back in again once each quarter. The rule stopped short of permitting a return to two-platoon football, so Dietzel went with the next best thing—three platoons: a two-way unit of his best players, an offensive second team, and a defensive second team. If a player came out, he could not go back in for a while. So, most teams would platoon players in, eleven at a time. The first string would go both ways, offense and defense, the second string was offense only, and the third string was defense only. In the first few games, when LSU was leading by quite a few points, the 3rd string would go in on defense. Now, it was not that the 3rd string was not good, on most teams, they would be starters. Well, they would smother the offense of the other team. A lot of the defense was made up of big fast backs. They were the defensive ends, and line backers mostly. And even the defensive line was very fast. Very seldom would you see a single player making a tackle, it was usually gang tackling. And, since they were still third string, they played with the idea of moving up, so I think they played with more heart.

Anyway, after one game, the reporters were commenting and asking questions to coach Paul. He made the comment that they played like a bunch of Chinese Bandits. Now, a very popular comic strip back then was "Terry and the Pirates". He was always in conflict with, what else, Chinese bandits.

Folklore said that Chinese bandits attacked and plundered with that same reckless abandon. The defensive subs were known as the "Chinese Bandits" and their inspired play (they didn't give up a touchdown all season) symbolized LSU's remarkable 11-0 campaign. The Tigers reached No.1 the seventh week of the season and went on to win their first Sugar Bowl in five tries.

The name stuck, thanks to the reporters. So, the first string was the "White team", the second string became the "Go team" and the third string became the "Chinese Bandits". The "Bandits" were getting more press than just about anyone else. It was sealed when "Sports Illustrated" did an article on them. In those days they would always list minutes each kid played in a game and seldom did any member of the Bandits play more than 10 minutes.

Below is the fight song inspired by the Chinese Bandits played till this day:



LINK

Part 8a:
Last time I listed the QB's Vaught had found which had earned Ole Miss the
reputation of being QB U. But there was one I left out from that '59 team who
was probably good enough to start for most SEC teams that year but was 4th team
on that Ole Miss squad. This was one of the all time great college football
teams as the sports editor for the NY Times would later write. I don't have the
exact quote but the article said that the best college football team in 1959 was
Ole Miss' 1st team; the 2nd best team in America that year was Ole Miss' 2nd
team and the 3rd wa s Ole Miss' 3rd team. Billy B rewer was not a quite good
enough QB to crack the 1st 3 teams but was a valuable player that year. Brewer
was the man assigned by Vaught to shadow Heisman Award Trophy winner Billy
Cannon who was arguably the best RB, considering his day, ever in the South. In
the '60 Sugar Bowl, the only bowl matchup between Ole Miss and LSU, Cannon was
held to a total of 7 yards rushing and Brewer was the main reason. And of course
Billy Brewer was the coach who would later restore respectability to Ole Miss
football.
To better understand the intensity of the rivalry, the recruiting battles
between Vaught and Dietzel should be mentioned.
Paul Dietzel was a very personable and impressive fellow. He was talkative and
had a good sense of humor. He was a great college football recruiter. Dietzel
lost very few battles to Vaught during his career at LSU from his home state.
On the Ole Miss side Tom Swayze was Ole Miss' ace. And Swayze was instructed by
Vaught to primarily recruit Miss boys who were tall. athletic and possessing
good character. During the '40's high school football in Miss lagged far behind
that in states like La and Texas but by the '50's high school football in Miss
had caught and even surpassed that in both of those states. Vaught wanted Miss
boys and felt that he could win NC's with Miss talent supplimented by some
talent from Eastern Ark and Western Tenn. And by 1960, Vaught basically owned
those 3 areas.
But for the same reason Vaught owned Western Tenn, Dietzel and LSU remained
strong competition in South Miss. State pride was a much bigger factor in those
days and that coupled with the fact that Ole Miss had looked like the best team
in America for several years, Ole Miss and Vaught was able to keep the best
players from Miss in red and blue.
Two of the more notable recruiting battles between Ole Miss an d LSU in South
Miss involv ed two of the most highly recruited players ever from this state.
Glynn Griffing was from Culkin, Miss, a small town only a few miles from
Vicksburg and an hour + change to Baton Rouge. Paul Dietzel had spent a great
amount of time recruiting him to LSU. One morning just weeks before national
signing day, Dietzel appeared at Glynn's house just before breakfast. Mrs.
Griffing fixed bacon and eggs for them all and by the time Dietzel had left,
Glynn was sold on LSU. Dietzel said as he was leaving "I've got a bunk with your
name on it at LSU". Glynn responded "I'll be there".
Later that day Glynn's father was informed of the decision that he and his wife
had made but he successfully talked Glynn into checking out the Miss schools
before making a final decision. Glynn's father was a strong State alum and I'm
sure was hoping he'd choose State. But after visiting both schools he choose Ole
Miss and the rest is history.
Anoth er story is that of probably the most highly recruited player ever from
Miss- Perry Lee Dunn. Perry Lee was being heavily recruited by every major
football program in America. Dietzel had practically lived in Natchez, Miss his
senior year, had done a fabulous job of swaying him away from Vaught and Ole
Miss and coming into the final week in Dec before signing day, virtually had the
biggest fish ever from Miss all wrapped up in purple and gold. Dietzel was cagey
and resourceful just as his counterpart at Ole Miss. They both had spies
everywhere reporting in on each other's whereabouts and schedules, constantly
looking for some chink in the other's armor, some place to take advantage of the
other.
Dietzel was literally living in Natchez the week of signing day. 3 days before
signing day his spies had reported that Vaught was in Oxford and would be there
for at least another day. Dietzel wanted to take a day off, go home and meet
with some important La recruits and saw his chance. The next day Vaught had
talked Perry Lee and his father into visiting him on campus. They took a brief
tour, heard Vaught's best shot and were invited by Vaught to go deer hunting
with him at one of the best hunting clubs in Miss near Jackson. The Dunn's were
avid deer hunters and decided to go. They remained at that club with Vaught for
2 full days and at 12:01 AM on national signing day, Perry Lee Dunn signed the
dotted line and became a Rebel. At the same hour Dietzel and his entire staff
were sitting in 2 cars in front of Dunn's home in Natchez.
This time, Vaught had snookered Dietzel but he had his victories over Vaught too
and to be honest, had it not been for pride in their home state, Vaught might
have lost them both.
I added those sideline stories because the reader needs to understand that this
was not just a great rivalry in terms o f equality of programs but was a nd
continues to be a great natural rivalry where the same athletes are battled over
and local interest is stirred.
And when the great Ole Miss team of 1961 rolled into Baton Rouge with a #1
national ranking, it was not just another group of great players LSU would face.
The Chinese Bandits would be playing against Ole Miss' 1st team AA QB, Glynn
Griffing, Doug Elmore whose attempt to cross the goal line in the '59 game fell
1 foot short and whose 3rd team QB was none other than the most ballyhooed high
school QB ever in the South who had grown up less than 1 hour from LSU's
backyard. And yes there were many more stories of players from both teams
similar to the ones I mentioned.
It seemed impossible to wedge more people into Tiger Stadium each year but every
time the Rebs showed up, there was a new, higher capacity figure. And there
seemed to be no way that the magic and mystique of an Ole Miss/LSU Halloween
night spen t together in Tiger Stadium could ever again be equal to that '59 game
but many say it was.
LSU came into the game with 1 loss to a mediocre Rice team the 1st game of the
year- a game they should never have lost. But they were rated in the top 10, had
lost early and still very much in another NC hunt. Griffing, who in many Ole
Miss fan's opinions was the greatest passing QB in our history was again great
that night, but a couple of turnovers was all the brilliant LSU team would need
to pull the upset. In the end, the Chinese Bandits who were on the field every
time Glynn was, were at their NC best and LSU and AA RB Jerry Stovall and All
SEC WR Wendell Harris did enough to win the game 10-7.

No it was 3 plays in either 8 or 10 seconds. You're getting way ahead of me. That was '72.

I will. I love this stuff. And don't worry about the less than friendly responses I'm getting. There are tons of Ole Miss fans who wouldn't give any LSU fan visitor the time of day. Doesn't bother me in the least- just part of it. But I'll bet they are enjoying it.

OK

For I59.

Anybody want more?

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.

I am Vampireb.