Ruffled Feathers

Some dates are etched in your mind.  12/7/41.  11/22/63.  9/11/01.  For me, 10/10/81 is one of those.  On October 10, 1981, I was there when we tied the Bear.

Southern Miss (as we were then known in Alabama, but not yet in Hattiesburg, where it was still USM or Southern exclusively) travelled to Birmingham’s once legendary Legion Field, which in those days served as Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Crimson Tide’s primary home field, to take on 7th-ranked Alabama.  College football was a different game in 1981, as TV broadcasts were yet to be torn from the iron grip of the NCAA.   ABC owned exclusive live rights to broadcast games in those days.  One of the familiar locations from which you heard Keith Jackson calling the action was Legion Field.  For a 13-year-old college football fan, it was treading on hallowed ground.

A subtext of the game was Bryant’s pursuit and ultimate catch of Amos Alonzo Stagg’s coaching record of 314 wins.  The Southern Miss game was supposed to produce victim #311.  In 1980, Bobby Collins fielded a 6-0 team, ranked for the first time at #20 only to be overwhelmed by the Tide in Tuscaloosa by a score of 42-7.  The Golden Eagles came into Birmingham 4-0, having beaten a less-than-impressive lineup of Southwestern Louisiana, Tulane, Richmond and Texas-Arlington.  In short, few expected an upset.

However, there was one wild card- one Reggie Collier, the junior quarterback from D’Iberville.  The previous week, against Texas-Arlington, Reggie had 164 yards rushing after two carries.  That is not a misprint.  Reggie went on to become the first Division 1 quarterback to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in a season.  10/10/81 would be just another Saturday lost in the shuffle for Southern Miss fans if not for Reggie Collier.

27 years on, details of the day and game are harder than I expected to recall, but I do remember getting up early to meet Token, his father and a mutual friend to drive to Birmingham.  It had been raining earlier, but stopped in time for the game.  I remember getting to the stadium early and watching warmups.  Bear Bryant walked around the field, watching his Tide warm up.  When he stopped and leaned against the goal post, everyone in the stands stopped what they were doing and watched him watch his team.

Game details are hard to recall, but I do remember it being a close, hard-hitting game all the way.  I do recall that in the waning seconds of the game, Reggie Collier drove the Eagles, trailing 13-10, down the field from his own 20.  The drive stalled, and on came sophomore placekicker Steve Clark, who booted a 40-yard field goal to tie the game.  Alabama failed to move the ball and it was over, a 13-13 tie.  The headline in the Hattiesburg American on 10/11/81 read “Much Better Than Kissing Your Sister- USM 13-Alabama 13″.

A tie may be like kissing your sister, but that day, it felt like a win, and all the Southern Miss fans in attendance celebrated that way.  Token and I have been through many Southern Miss football days since, but the first one will always be remembered by me as the best one.

So tomorrow night, when #10 is so deservedly retired, my thoughts will run immediately to 10/10/81, when I saw Reggie Collier tie the Bear.  Congratulations on an honor that is a long time coming, Reggie.

1) No punts in the UTEP game.

2) Offense ranked 20th in total yards per game.  Last year?  64th.  Anyone who cannot see improvement in the offense is blind or loyal to a man over a school.

3) Coach Fedora, after a tough loss, walked out and greeted fans on Loyalty Field, thanking them for their support and asking them to hang in there.

Here’s an open invitation to all the Toters who can’t let go of their bippy to follow wherever the bippy goes. It will be good riddance for true Southern Miss fans, I can assure you.

Here’s how it goes around my house on an off day.  Since the temperature has moderated, that means football on the deck.  Unfortunately I haven’t gotten a way to do HD setup there, so my little LCD flat screen will have to do.

I’ll start on ESPN and ESPN2 at 11:00 with Michigan State/Indiana and North Carolina/Miami.  Army/Texas A&M and Ole Miss/Florida join the fray at 11:30.  I’ve found some Leinenkugel’s Summy Shandy brew left to enjoy while watching the early games.

At 2:30, the evil-but-entertaining SEC game of the week is on CBS- Tennessee at Auburn.  Hate ‘em or hate ‘em, they are fun to watch, especially with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in hand, and I have those in the beer fridge.  I’ll fire up the gas grill for the first time and have some grilled Conecuh sausage for an appetizer.  Also at 2:30, Arkansas/Texas is on ABC.

At 6:30, the charcoal grill smokes up, and some friends are coming over to watch Georgia/Alabama on ESPN, with sneak peaks at MSU/LSU over on the Deuce.  We’ll burn some red meat and have some good red wine and smoke a few stogies.

The old song is wrong.  Christmas isn’t the most wonderful time of the year.  College football when the air is getting crisp and the games are getting hot is.

“Give Marshall a lot of credit. They were the better football team today. Their coaches did a great job of preparing them to play at our place, and they beat us. We were outplayed and outcoached in every phase. We have a lot of work to do as a team.” - Coach Larry Fedora’s post game remarks, quoted on southernmiss.com

Duty calls louder than normal at work in recent days, so blogging is limited due to brain overload.  Just a couple of thoughts on the Auburn game:

• The never give up attitude in the fourth quarter was encouraging
• The stage fright of the first quarter was alarming, but understandable
• The conservative play calling?  I think all of our team was nervous, coaches included
• Playing better at the end than the beginning was refreshing
• Seeing Austin Davis and DeAndre Brown mature in front of our eyes was nice
• Seeing the defense rise up after the shaky start and play well despite being tired
• Shawn Nelson looks like a motivated player right now

Arkansas State looms.  It will not be an easy game.

A couple of other random thoughts:

• Ed Orgeron couldn’t coach, but he could recruit
• A flag should, by the rules, have been thrown on Jake Locker
• The rule is the problem, not the guy throwing the flag
• Mark May is still a moron, saying that Locker “flipped the ball over his shoulder”
• ECU should enjoy Skip Holtz while it can.  He talked to WVU before they inexplicably hired Bill Stewart to provide clueless expressions on the sideline.
• Vandy is 2-0, but isn’t certain to make a bowl
• Our friends at MSU still are unhappy with Crooms
• Renewing with Louisville is a nice addition to the schedule

Will resume more normal blogging as time allows…

Today, football is new at Southern Miss.  New coach, new schemes, (practically) new stadium with new suites and new club seats.  The last time someone other than the recently retired coach roamed the sidelines was November 10, 1990- some 6,503 days ago.  The freshman class members were in diapers then.  Saddam was in Kuwait, Bush 41 was in the White House, and Clinton was still roaming the trailer parks of Little Rock.

So remember that you are seeing a rarity- meaningful change at Southern Miss.  Savor and enjoy it, because it does not happen very often.

We’ve heard and read many times that Coach Larry Fedora is influenced by “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, a (according to Wikipedia) purported Chinese military leader from the 6th century B.C.  Two questions are why, and what does that reveal?

A link to one translation that dates to 1910 of the work is here:  http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html 

There are thirteen chapters:

• Laying Plans
• Waging War
• Attack by Stratagem
• Tactical Dispositions
• Energy
• Weak Points and Strong
• Maneuvering
• Variation of Tactics
• The Army on the March
• Terrain
• The Nine Situations
• The Attack by Fire
• The Use of Spies

Essentially, Sun Tzu’s philosophy summed up in the introductory chapter about planning.  The successful general will know his troops.  He will plan in copius detail.  He will discipline his army.  He will tediously select and train his command staff.  He will seek to learn his own strengths and weaknesses.  He will seek to learn the strengths and weaknesses of his enemy.

Sun Tzu believed in rigorious planning, but he also believed that when the plans go into action, situations in actual battle dictate that the plan be immediately adapted to take advantage:

“All warfare is based on deception.  Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

“Hold out baits to entice the enemy.  Feign disorder, and crush him.  If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him.  If he is in superior strength, evade him.  If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him.  Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”

“If he is taking his ease, give him no rest.  If his forces are united, separate them”

 Sun Tzu believed in (who’d have guessed) attacking, quick and hard.  The more times you attack an enemy with quick strikes aimed at his weaknesses, the better chance for success.  Also, you must learn from each of the strikes and adapt to the situation to give the next strike a better chance of succeeding.

Read through “The Art of War” at your leisure and you will see that Coach Fedora’s statements reveal that he borrows heavily from the philosophy of quick-strike warfare first written about by Sun Tzu.

After the snoozing ending the baseball team gave us sent me into summer stupor, it’s time to get back to blogging.  Stay tuned…

- State of the art facilities are in place

- Outstanding attendance, growing yearly

- Fan support- Dugout club raises tens of thousands of dollars yearly

- No BCS impediment to compete in championship

- CUSA is a strong baseball league

Draw your own conclusions.

THEN: Arkansas State 2007

NOW: Spring Game 2008

Thank you, Richard Giannini and Dr. Martha Saunders. Thank you very much.