No. 2 vs. No. 4 in Cotton Bowl
LITTLE ROCK--The Cotton Bowl historian tied together Joe Theismann, Steve Worster, Darren McFadden, Chase Daniel and the defense that changed the face of college football.
The Notre Dame quarterback and the Texas fullback were Nos. 2 and 4 in the Heisman Trophy balloting when they squared off in Dallas in 1971, same as the Arkansas running back and the Missouri quarterback who meet on Jan. 1.
The wishbone was the rage in 1970 and nobody did it better than Texas, which beat Arkansas 42-7 for No. 30 in a row. Eddie Phillips had replaced James Street at quarterback, but it still started with the give or fake to up-close fullback Worster.
Shredded for 333 yards rushing in the 1970 Cotton Bowl, Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian drew up something he called the mirror defense. The wishbone was predicated on reaction to the defense, but Parseghian turned the tables by assigning a linebacker to shadow each of the Texas backs, forcing them to be the decision-makers.
The supposedly unstoppable Worster made 42 yards on 16 tries a year after netting 155 on 20 attempts. Texas ran for 216 on 55 attempts in the rematch and No. 1 went down 24-11. Theismann completed 9-of-16 for 176 yards and a touchdown and ran for two TDs.
During the next few years, Parseghian used a similar scheme to twice knock Alabama out of the national championship.
Eventually Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama, Oklahoma and other practitioners of the wishbone began breaking or flexing the bone.
These days, the "in" thing is the no-huddle spread, and few teams do it quite like the Missouri Tigers with huge splits between linemen and receivers from one sideline to the other.
The offense has evolved the past three years under coordinator Dave Christensen, who last year began scripting more plays to start a game. Sometimes, the number approaches 60 and he says each is unique in some way.
He also has a stash of far-out plays, some that are so unconventional head coach Gary Pinkel has to apprise officials beforehand to avoid penalties for procedure and such.
Alignments and trick plays aside, Missouri's offense comes down to quarterback Chase Daniel. Thinking about bowl-game promotions, the Cotton Bowl man said he thought there were two players in the country capable of putting a team on their shoulders -- Daniel and McFadden. He's biased, but he has a point.
Daniel threw 34 or more times in 12 of the Tigers' 13 games, and his completion percentage dipped below 60 only twice -- it was 59.1 in a rout of Colorado and 59.0 in the loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. He had 33 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions, three of them in the two losses to the Sooners.
His numbers are so solid that ESPN projects him to complete 29-of-41 for 321 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas.
"I've always felt football is the greatest team sport there is, they all have different skills and they make it work," Pinkel recently told The Associated Press. "Except for one position, quarterback. He's (Daniel) got it all."
Arkansas fans know all about McFadden and how he carried the Razorbacks against South Carolina and LSU, and how his 42 yards against Auburn might have cost him in the Heisman race, but there are other numbers to consider:
* McFadden made 173 on 29 attempts vs. Kentucky, but he only had five carries for 13 yards in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats scored the final 21 points and rallied from 29-21.
* McFadden had six carries for 25 yards in the first half vs. Tennessee when the Razorbacks fell behind 20-3. He wound up with a respectable 117 in the 34-13 loss.
If Casey Dick performs as well as he did vs. Mississippi State and LSU, McFadden will get his yards.
Then, it will be up to interim coach Reggie Herring and defensive coordinator Louis Campbell to devise something to slow down Daniel. Oklahoma did it, but the Sooners had superior players.
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. e-mail:
hking@arkansasnews.com.
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