USD Football 1994

ou Say You Want a VOLUTION

the nation in passing five con- secutive seasons (1962-66). With Rhome and Twilley lead- ing the way in 1964, Tulsa became the first team in histo- ry to throw for more than 300 yards a game (317.9). Rhome completed 224 pass- es for 2,870 yards and 32 touch- downs, was accurate on 68.7 percent of his attempts and threw 198 consecutive passes without an interception, all NCAA records. Twilley shat- tered the existing receiving records with 95 catches and 1,178 yards. Those numbers are impres- sive even by today's pass-happy standards, where 300-yard games elicit yawns, yet in 1964 they defied belief. After all, the typical team that season com- pleted 8.5 passes per game for 110 yards. Tulsa was tripling those figures week in and week out. "If we'd broken records in the mid-'70s or early '80s, it wouldn't have been nearly as significant as doing it back in 1964," said Rhome, now the receivers coach for the Min- nesota Vikings. "And we didn't just break them-we destroyed them. We jumped everything by huge margins. We did things nobody had come close to doing." No small thanks to Dobbs, a proponent of the pass since his playing days. He embraced the aerial game at a time when most coaches still harbored an aversion to any play that didn't involve a handoff. "People in those days would run the football and try to figure out a way to make three-and-a-third yards a crack. And if they didn't, they'd kick and play defense," said Dobbs. "I was fortunate to play for peo- ple who didn't necessarily believe in that approach. We continued

In 1964

the University of Tulsa trailblazed anew way to win and passed its way into

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the record books.

pass, three things can happen and two of them are bad, 11 said Twilley, a financial consultant

Rhome, and junior split end, Howard Twilley, broke

in .

20 NCAA records for total offense, passing, receiving and scoring that season and Tulsa eclipsed or equaled seven team e e

grams were built on the philoso- phy that our guys

can whip your guys and we're gonna play smash-mouth football." The game had evolved only negligibly since the 1930s, when Dobbs played high school ball in Frederick, Okla. Coaches disdained the pass, deviating from the run only as a last resort. "They were very careful about it," said Dobbs, now retired and living in Tulsa. "Everybody waited until third and long to throw. That's why nobody paid much attention to the pass, because even our mothers knew how to play defense against it on third and long. It just didn't work very well." All that changed at Tulsa, where Dobbs installed a sophisticated offense that enabled the Hurricanes to lead

"Back then the prevailing

T he dark ages ended about a thousand years ago, yet in college football terms they survived until 1964. The game had long been a defense-dominated battle of field position, with offenses clinging stubbornly to a three- yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust men- tality. But 30 years ago, the University of Tulsa revolution- ized college football. The Hurricanes launched a new era by launching passes- lots of them. Senior quarterback, Jerry

philosophy of football was, if you pass, three things can happen and two of them are bad."

HOWARD TWILLEY

e

II marks. While the rest of the country was still hugging the ground, coach Glenn Dobbs' team struck through the air with devastating effect. "Back then the prevailing philosophy of football was, if you