More indicative of the way T-day games tend to go than the vaunted agy 1965 "Texas Special" was the 1963 "Agy Choke" that took place just before the end of that game. Leading #1 Texas 13-9 with just a few minutes left, agy intercepted a Texas pass, and that would almost certainly have put away the Longhorns and left #2 Navy and Roger Staubach in the #1 spot. But agy John Brotherton, instead of simply going down with his interception and sealing the agy win, not only took off with a runback - which is certainly understandable - but... when the Longhorns closed in on him... he attempted to lateral the ball to a teammate! The pitch went wild, the Good Guys recovered it, marched it down the field and scored to pull out a narrow 15-13 victory and set up a monumental ***-kicking of Staubach and the Middies in the Cotton Bowl. Many agy claim another interception in the muddy end zone during that final drive, but the refs, as happens so often to agy, apparently were paid off by wealthy 'sips, and called it incomplete. Duke Carlisle ran the ball into the endzone a few plays later, with about a minute left, and the Good Guys won.
Interesting thread. I've seen this 63 game referred to on Texags, but it is of course from an aggy slant. I didn't realize there was a hair-brained lateral that led to Texas getting the ball back. THat usually isn't mentioned when it is brought up on delusion.net
Why was the game so close that we had to pull it out like that? Why weren't we stomping a mudhole in them if we were #1 in the nation?
Varsity, Texas won five games that year by 7 points or less. Of course, the Aggies leveled, should we say, the field a bit when they left the tarp off during heavy rains the couple of days before.
Many Aggies blame Bill Litttle for the "interception that wasn't". If you watch the game film, you'll see a person behind the endline vigorously signalling incomplete immediately after the play. Indeed, he was signaling before the back judge made the call. Not sure that he influenced the back judge, but it gave teh Aggies something to whine about other than their team wasn't worth a ****. That person was our very own Bill Little.
No missing tarp. In 1963, our friends in College Station soaked their field. Whether Bill Little influenced that call or not is one of questions that gets answered in end times.
I was sitting just a few rows up from where that aggy bobbled the ball as he went out of the end zone. The ref immediately made the correct call. I still have my ticket stub from that game - was sitting on row 13 - admission price was $4. Varsity - Here are the scores from that season: 1963 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Coach: Darrell Royal Season: 11-0-0 SWC: 7-0-0 (1st) Final Ranking: 1st, AP; 1st UPI Sept. 20 (#5) @ Tulane W 21-0 Sept. 28 (#4) Texas Tech W 49-7 Oct. 5 (#3) Oklahoma State W 34-7 Oct. 12 (#2) vs. #1 Oklahoma W 28-7 Oct. 19 (#1) @ Arkansas (L.R.) W 17-13 Oct. 26 (#1) Rice W 10-6 Nov. 2 (#1) @ SMU W 17-12 Nov. 9 (#1) Baylor W 7-0 Nov. 16 (#1) TCU W 17-0 Nov. 28 (#1) @ Texas A&M W 15-13t Jan. 1 (#1) vs. #2 Navy W 28-6#
