It doesn’t seem now that the Arkansas Razorbacks were ever in a Texas based conference called the Southwest Conference, or the SWC. That conference consisted of Texas, Texas A%M, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, SMU, Rice and then later, the University of Houston. Those were the Texas schools and then the one outsider was the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Arkansas left the SWC in the early 1990s for the greener pastures of the SEC, which was probably a better fit. However, they did occasionally win the conference in the SWC and they won a national championship way back in 1964 under a legendary coach named Frank Broyles. That 1964 team gave the world Jimmy Johnson who won Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and a national championship with the Miami Hurricanes. It also gave us Barry Switzer who won national titles at Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, it also gave us Jerry Jones, the controversial owner of the Dallas Cowboys.
Frank Broyles was larger than life in Arkansas and the most successful football coach they ever had. Over 19 seasons, Broyles won 144 games at Arkansas and lost 58 games while tying 5. He led the Hogs to 7 SWC championships and the national title. He gave up his coaching gig after the 1976 season and became the Athletic Director for his beloved Razorbacks.
Arkansas was very much in the limelight in the 1969 season. They were inches away from a national title opportunity in the famous Big Shootout game against Texas. It was top ranked Texas against 2nd ranked Arkansas and the Longhorns came back from 14 down to win 15-14.
The then 3rd ranked Arkansas Razorbacks finished their season out with a loss against Ole Miss and it’s folk hero Archie Manning in the Sugar Bowl, 22-27.
Arkansas came into the 1970 season ranked 4th on the strength of returning starters, particularly at quarterback with Bill Montgomery. They also returned his best receiver, Chuck Dicus, and their leading rusher, running back Bill Burnett. The Pigs also returned most of their defensive line.
Unlike today, schools weren’t afraid to play stiffer competition back then. Arkansas opened up with 10th ranked Stanford in 1970.
Like the Razorbacks, the Stanford Indians as they were called at the time, had a quarterback returning and he was a good one. Quarterback Jim Plunkett would go on to win the Heisman Trophy in 1970
and he returned his favorite receiver, too, in Randy Vataha.
Arkansas had no idea they were going up against the Thunderchickens defensive line. Led by future NFL player Dave Tipton, the Thunderchickens played tough all season and helped super linebackers Jeff Siemon and Matt Simone make tackles all over the field. Siemon and Simone would also go onto NFL careers with Siemon becoming a 1st round draft pick by the Minnesota Vikings.
This was expected to be a really good early season match up.
Nationally televised, this game may have been the one to win the Heisman Trophy for Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett.
Behind Plunkett’s quarterbacking, the Indians jumped out to a 27-0 lead over the hometown Razorbacks. It wasn’t just Plunkett, but the offensive line opened holes for 220 pound fullback Hillary Shockley who ran for a career high 117 yards over and through the Razorback defense. Shockley also broke a 43 yard touchdown run and scored 3 of the Indian’s touchdowns.
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Arkansas senior quarterback Bill Montgomery was struggling and he was replaced momentarily by super sophomore Joe Ferguson.
Ferguson should be the subject of another post because other than Jim Plunkett and the Thunderchickens, he is the real story here. He didn’t play long, but the fans got a glimpse of the future. The Shreveport, Louisiana product attended the same school as Terry Bradshaw. At Shreveport’s Woodlawn High School, Ferguson threw for national career records of 6,710 yards and 86 touchdowns. After Arkansas, Ferguson played for the Buffalo Bills and other NFL teams.
Montgomery had a bad game, completing just 10 passes out of 26 attempts for only 129 yards. But, somehow the Hogs began a comeback. It was 34-14 when Arkansas drove the ball 84 yards and scored.
After another Arkansas touchdown, the score was 34-28 when Stanford fumbled giving the
Razorbacks one more shot at winning.
There was 29 seconds remaining on the clock. Arkansas had the ball at the Stanford 4 yard line and it was 4th and 1.
Arkansas quarterback Bill Montgomery took the snap and spun like he was going to run a bootleg and Stanford linebacker Jeff Siemon grabbed one of his legs. One of Stanford’s other linebackers, Mike Simone came in and finished Montgomery off about a foot short of the first down line.
Game over.
Stanford came into Little Rock, Arkansas and beat the home team Razorbacks, 34-28, on national television. It was a great game and a sign of things to come for the Stanford Indians in 1970.
The Arkansas Razorbacks lost their first game, to Stanford, and then won 9 in a row before being crushed by top ranked Texas in their final game of the season.
This was a great early season game and almost a great comeback by the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett connected on 22 out of 39 passing attempt for 245 yards. This was a great chance for the 6-3, 205 Plunkett to showcase his talents for NFL scouts and Heisman voters.