USD Football 1995

f AREWELL REW LL TO THE SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE CO NTINUED

their glorious performances can now be rolled into one neat memory ofa conference that once oozed with so much flair for the spectacular. Teafflooks back fondlyand says, "If you've ever lost a friend or relative after a long illness, you know it's human nature to remember the good and forget the rest. That's the way I feel about the SWC. But I'm also glad that everything seems to have worked out well for all of the conference teams." Indeed, the nine public and private universities that over the years composed the mighty Southwest Conference have plunged into new frontiers. So long, Southwest Con- ference. You lived the good life. And even when you're gone, some of us will still remember a time when autumn afternoons in Texaswere chock- full of mind-boggling drama, as described by the great Kem Tips. "Doyle Traylor, theman under ... takes the ball, and it's button! button!who's got the button?" STEVE PATE IS A FREELANCE WRITER LIVING IN DALLAS. AS A CHILD GROWING UP IN HOUS- TON, HE, TOO, LISTENED TO KERN TIPS, THEN RAN OUT· S IDE TO IMITATETHE ELUSIVE MOVES OF JIMMY SAXTON, JACK SPIKES AND TOUCH• DOWN

well, and a late touchdown by Tommy Ford. The Big Shootout in 1969 was the biggest game anybody could imagine. Both Arkansas and Texas were undefeated and playing on the final day of the season. The rest of the NCAA schedule had been com- pleted a week earlier. James Street's frantic fourth-and-three pass to Randy Peschel late in the game led the 'Homs to a 15-14 victory in Fayetteville and Texas went on to capture the nation- al championship (repeating in l 970 in the UPI coaches' poll). From 1959 to 1975, either Arkansas or Texas won at least a share of the SWC 14 times. Theirs are rich memories. Of course, spectacular per- formances continued to be an SWC staple. In 1990, TCU's Matt Vogler passed for an eye- popping 690 yards in o ne game, only to have his record erased a month later by Hous- ton's David Klingler (716 pass- ing yards against Arizona State). 0 1' Sam Baugh sat back in his recliner in Rotan, Texas, 54 years removed from his TCU playing days, and cackled without remorse, "'Boy, I wish I'd a come along today. They sure do throw the ball,

And run with it, too. Baugh in the '30s and Houston's Run 'N Shoot (Andre Ware was the SWC's last Heisman winner, in 1989) served as aerial book- ends for a plethora of great running backs and meat-on- the-hoof rushing teams. Those

A&M's John David Crow in the '50s will argue the point long after the SWC has played its final game, but as a pure run- ner none may have been any greater than Earl Campbell, the "TylerRose," Heisman win- ner in 1977. All of

who wi tnessed Heisman winner Davey O'Brien at TCU in the late '30s, Doak Walker's hero-

THE TEXAS-TEXAS A&M GAME HAS

OF THE MOST

EAGERLY

SEASON.

don't they?"