LITTLE ROCK — The Liberty Bowl’s search for better December weather prompted its moves from Philadelphia, where it was created in 1959, to a 1964 stopover in the Atlantic City, N.J., Convention Center, to permanent relocation at Memphis in 1965.
Presumably, it didn’t take the bowl game’s proprietors long to notice that, just west of the Mississippi River, the Arkansas Razorbacks kept an entire state enthralled with five Southwest Conference football championships in seven years, including an unofficial 1964 national title and a 22-game winning streak.
Virtually from its decision to switch to Memphis, the Liberty Bowl unabashedly yearned to book the Hogs and their obsessive fans as often as feasible. The first opportunity came Dec. 20, 1971, when circumstances combined to match Tennessee (9-2) and Arkansas (8-2-1) in the Liberty Bowl.
Arkansas seemed to be taking charge in the fourth quarter, 13-7, when Bill McClard kicked two field goals and lined up for a third attempt, a 48-yarder. He hit it and the scoreboard showed 16-7 a few seconds before reverting back to 13-7. Preston Watts, an SEC field judge, had called a holding penalty.
Discussing the incident in his autobiography several years later, Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles wrote: “In the technique of protecting for field goals, you don’t use your hands. You use your body. You take an inside step and everybody turns to the inside and shields the kicker and holder like a cup. ... You just don’t use your hands.”
On the next Arkansas possession, Jon Richardson was knocked loose from a screen pass from Joe Ferguson, and it took the officialsa long time to unwind the pile-up. Tom Reed of the Razorbacks got up with the fumbled ball and handed it to SWC referee MacDuff Simpson.
Still, Watts’ signal of “Tennessee’s ball” prevailed. “It was my argument that the referee should have overruled Watts,” Broyles said.
The Vols scored in three plays with 1:56 left and won 14-13.
(In those days, bowl games were officiated by split crews representing the conferences involved - SEC and SWC in the case of the Vols and Hogs. It wasn’t long, though, until all bowls except the Rose switched to “neutral” crews. For example, a bowl matchup of, say, SEC and Big 12 members would be officiated by a crew from some other conference. The 1971 Liberty Bowl game definitely had an impact on the change.)
During Ken Hatfield’s 1984-1989 coaching hitch at Arkansas, two more trips to the Liberty Bowl resulted in the Razorbacks losing 21-15 to Auburn on Dec. 27, 1984, and 20-17 to Georgia on Dec. 29, 1987.
Bo Jackson, who was to win the Heisman Trophy the following year, sealed Auburn’s 1984 victory at Memphis with a 39-yard touchdown run in the final six minutes.
The 1987 Razorbacks dominated the Georgia Bulldogs for three quarters before losing on the final play of the game. John Kasay, a backup place-kicker pressed into service with the regular kicker suspended, delivered the decisive 39-yard field goal.
East Carolina, the 9-4 Conference USA champion opposing 7-5 Arkansas in the Jan. 2 Liberty Bowl, has won once at Memphis in three tries. The Pirates lost 25-19 to Kentucky in last year’s game, lost 30-0 to Illinois in 1994 and defeated Stanford 19-13 in 1995.
Razorbacks athletes last played in the Liberty Bowl 22 years ago, meaning few if any of their current squad were even born at the time.
However, they needn’t offer lip service to avenging three ancient Liberty Bowl defeats not of their making. The next challenge is all about shaping the future.
Sports, Pages 14 on 12/22/2009