The title of this blog post could also be “How Jack Reynolds Got the Name Hacksaw”. I will get to that later and you’ll have to read all the way to find out.
The Tennessee Volunteers were probably the dominant SEC football team in the late 1960s. The won the conference championship in 1967, and they finished second in the conference behind Georgia in 1968. But, after they were crushed in the Cotton Bowl by Texas and the losses off of that team led them to be ranked only 15th to start the 1969 season. But, it didn’t take the Volunteers long to start climbing, or is it falling? That’s kind of confusing at times when writing about the polls.
Slapping around nearby home state Chattanooga was no contest, but the 31-0 win did not impress anyone, of course. The poll even punished them by moving the to 19th in the nation.
The Vols got totally serious and just came out and blew out 17th ranked Auburn, 45-19. Now, Tennessee was ranked 10th and with Memphis coming to town that wasn’t likely to change. This was a better than usual Memphis squad that finished the 1969 season with an 8-2 record, but Tennessee
just came out and blew them off the field, 55-16. The pollsters said so what, and they remained at 10th going into the Georgia Tech game.
The Yellowjackets were not a good team that season, but beating them dropped Tennessee down to 7th just in time for the Third Saturday in October game with 20th ranked Alabama.
This was not one of legendary Bear Bryant’s best teams at Alabama. In fact, this was one of his worst teams as they had just lost to Vanderbilt the weekend before. Yes, that Vanderbilt. The Commodores were not even a good team in 1969 even if they did beat Alabama.
The game was played at venerable Legion Field in Birmingham, but that made little difference as Tennessee rolled the Tide, 41-14.
Even though Alabama was having an off year, this win was good enough to drop Tennessee into serious national title position at 3rd in the latest poll. They were ranked behind Ohio State and Texas, only and looking to move up if they could beat 11th ranked Georgia next.
The defending SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs proved to be slightly more of a problem, but the Vols still pulled out a 17-3 win to improve to 6-0 on the season. South Carolina was next and it would be a mistake to overlook a team coached by Paul Dietzel because he once led LSU to the national championship.
I had forgotten that South Carolina was once in the ACC, but they were out by the 1971 football season and were an independent.
South Carolina proved to be a worthy foe before Tennessee pulled it out, 29-14.
Third ranked and flying high Tennessee was now 7-0 with Ole Miss next on the roster and a trip to Jackson, Mississippi where the Rebels played some home games back in the day.
In 1969, Ole Miss had a pair of its own legends. Head coach Johnny Vaught was the best coach in the history of the Ole Miss program and went toe to toe with Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant and Alabama in head to head match ups. Vaught was 6-7-1 against maybe the greatest coach of all time in the Bear and outside of Ara Parseghian and Darrell Royal, nobody else had all that much success against the Bear, which is why he is the Bear.
The Rebels also had a young quarterback you might have heard of by the name of Archie Manning. In the state of Mississippi, Archie is placed a little bit above a folk hero and just below a god. The man could quarterback and it passed down to his boys, as well.
I was only a kid back then, so I don’t have a clue why Archie did not win a Heisman. Jim Plunkett was great, too, but Archie was so exciting. He may have been something of an Archie Football of his day instead of Johnny Football.
The Ole Miss Rebels started the year off ranked 9th and they had little problem with nearby Memphis winning 28-3. Dropping a spot to 8th, the Rebels were upset by a single point against Kentucky and rumor had it that the offense did not run most of their plays to not give Alabama a chance to study them better.
Losing 9-10 to the Wildcats moved Ole Miss all the way up to the 20th in the weekly poll.
The Ole Miss/Alabama game may have been the best game of the 1960s with Ole Miss once again losing by a single point, 32-33. 1969 Thriller
The one time very hopeful Ole Miss program was reeling with a 1-2 record and they dropped out of the polls altogether.
But, they proved resilient and bounced back the following week against the 6th ranked Georgia Bulldogs, upsetting them, 25-17.
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Unranked and unwanted Houston was next on the schedule and they blasted Ole Miss, 11-25.
It was back out of the polls for the now 3-3 Ole Miss Rebels. Even with a legend for a coach and a legend for a quarterback, they were having their problems.
But, not to worry because there was another ranked team next on their schedule.
8th ranked LSU was up next for the now struggling Rebels. But, the game was in Jackson and not in Baton Rouge and the Rebels did it again with a 26-23 win over a very good Tiger team.
Back in the rankings again, the up and down Rebels beat up a non-major in Chattanooga, 21-0.
But, up next was a team that should be their biggest challenge of the season, Tennessee.
It was the 3rd ranked Tennessee Volunteers with a record of 7-0 versus 18th ranked Ole Miss with a record of 5-3. No contest, right?
The Tennessee defense was led by linebackers Steve Kiner and Jack Reynolds. Kiner was something of an early day trash talker, apparently, and he had the Ole Miss fans worked up after the Vols had squashed the Rebels the year before in Knoxville, 0-31.
Even though Ole Miss was more than anxious to play this game because of last year’s beat down, revenge can be an overrated motive for preparation. Nobody, not even Nostradamus, could have seen this coming.
The game was a blowout from the beginning with Ole Miss taking a 21-0 first quarter lead. It was 24-0 at the half and it didn’t get any better. With two more touchdowns in the second half, the Rebels left Jackson, Mississippi with an incredible 38-0 win.
Legend has it that Tennessee Linebacker Jack Reynolds was so angry that he sawed a car in half with a hacksaw and from then on, his name was Hacksaw Reynolds.
Stories vary and it’s probably more myth than truth at this point, but the name stuck. His wife
probably calls him Hack, for short, instead of Jack.
Obviously, all talk of a national title for the Volunteers quickly evaporated and they moved to 9th in the next poll. This was one of the worst beatings the Vols had ever received at that time.
They beat in state rival, Vanderbilt, and gained a bowl berth in the Gator Bowl agains the Florida Gators which does actually make sense. The Gators got by Tennessee by a single point, 13-14.
As much as the Jackson Massacre ruined the Volunteers’ season, it may have saved the Rebels’ season. Ole Miss improved to 6-3 and then they destroyed rival Mississippi State in the annual Egg Bowl, 48-22.
LSU won the SEC championship, but they were upset that they weren’t invited to play Texas for the national title in the Cotton Bowl when Notre Dame was invited. They chose not to play in a bowl game and the Sugar Bowl berth was given to Ole Miss.
Ole Miss took advantage and was given the Sugar Bowl berth where they played a highly discouraged Arkansas out of the Southwest Conference. 13th ranked Ole Miss upset 3rd ranked Arkansas, 27-22.
Ole Miss played 5 ranked teams and defeated 4 of them only losing to Alabama by a point in a shootout. They finished with an 8-3 record after starting off at 1-2.
The Jackson Massacre was one of the greatest games in Ole Miss’ history and one of the worst games in Tennessee’s.