", BASCHNAGEL: "I didn't see the ref. My dad was kind of a cheap guy, he didn't like to fly. I guess I was too busy trying to get up. Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in. All I had to work on was Tim Fox. '", GREENE: "I think they have something out stating that's the No. MSU's Terry McClowry dove in front and appeared to intercept the pass. About two weeks ago, I reached out to Dan Jenkins for some help. 1 in the country. And then you really find out that football really is a game of inches. Henson got the call on a draw play and powered his way to the 1. Evidently not.". It feels like yesterday. HENSON: "Yeah, I remember it. Just to see everybody come up and start cheering, it seemed like there was silence. We aren't loosened up. THEN PLAYERS BEGAN TO HEAR ABOUT THE CONTROVERSY – AND A POTENTIAL TRAGEDY. The guys on the sideline – coaches, players, managers – knew that it was a chance. ", HENSON: "They were holding us down by the jerseys. We were thinking we won, they were thinking they won. ", JACKSON: "After the game was over, we were jumping up and down, they were up and down. ON THE MSU SIDE, THE CELEBRATION HAD STARTED. The defensive end kept overplaying, overplaying – he would jab toward me, then go outside with Charlie. They had nobody there. ", BASCHNAGEL: "We really had control of that game throughout the game until late. 'My guys can beat your guys – let's play. No. I know he made that (interception).". Tom Skladany's booming 51-yard punt yielded only a 2-yard return, and the Spartans took over again at their own 12. All the tie-breakers vanished and it came down to the athletic directors' vote, and our athletic director voted for Ohio State. We must have ran it eight or nine times. Was he in? Here is the roster of seven former players (and what they're up to now) who relived and helped me recreate that magnificently warm November day, the thrilling ending and the chaotic 46-minute wait to sort out which team really won: * MSU RB LEVI JACKSON, a retired steel company executive living in Detroit. OHIO STATE CALLED ITS FINAL TIMEOUT WITH 40 SECONDS TO PLAY. I was like, 'OK, that's something I don't normally do.' I get another break. ", HENSON: "You know, (MSU coach Mark) Dantonio's bringing back that old-time, Big Ten football with how physical they play. ", TAUBERT: "I was on the sideline, and watching it was just a remarkable thing. I had been at Southern Illinois, and we had won a national championship with Ray Dempsey as coach. MSU, not permitted to go to a bowl game due to conference rules at the time, finished with five straight wins for a 7-3-1 record. He was met with a crash. But during the regular season, that was our only loss in our first three years. Former Michigan football star Gerald Ford had taken over as President three months earlier. ", BASCHNAGEL: "I loved coach Hayes. Them and all their guys in their platoon stayed in and watched on TV. ", What happened next, Stolz said, is "what makes it a legend.". FINALLY, COMMISSIONER WAYNE DUKE WENT TO THE OHIO STATE LOCKER ROOM. All of a sudden, we were able to line up. That by far was the only game that got away from us. But Pat McClowy, that was one hell of a hit on the goal line.' We were well prepared. I don't know where he got that, if there were facts that he had, but he wasn't shy in making those kind of comments, at least to us as players. Articles to be expanded from December 2012, Articles with invalid date parameter in template, Big Ten Conference football champion seasons, http://cfreference.net/cfr/school.s?id=227&season=1974, http://www.heisman.com/winners/hsmn-winners.html, https://americanfootballdatabase.fandom.com/wiki/1974_Ohio_State_Buckeyes_football_team?oldid=151364, Upchurch 36 yard run (Sims pass from Dungy). TO ALL OF THE PLAYERS WHO WERE PART OF THAT GAME ON NOV. 9, 1974, THEIR MEMORIES OF IT REMAIN FRESH AND VIVID. ", TAUBERT: "They left us in the game, and that was their problem. ", HENSON: "I think Woody and Duffy (Daugherty) had respect. It was kind of crazy. It was crazy. BASCHNAGEL: "The running back, Levi Jackson, had that long run against our defense, which was a very good defense at the time. They were ahead 13-9 at the time. IT FORESHADOWED THE CONTROVERSY TO COME. ", JACKSON: "It was a '44 Dive.' and I said, 'Quit!' Levi didn't play that game. And when you only have five of them in four years, you remember every one of them. Everywhere you go – 'Levi Jackson? I'm looking up at the clock, and I'm calling out and audible and going, 'Get up! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. Away the zebras darted off into the wilderness, as Spartan Stadium's floor became a jungle of fans. ", JACKSON: "Man, I almost got killed. "This ACTUALLY happened by a Big Ten commissioner. None of that worked. © 2020 www.lansingstatejournal.com. Are they gonna give us time to stretch and warm up?' I can't get it out of my mind! THE ABC TELEVISION BROADCAST LEFT VIEWERS WONDERING WHO HAD WON. Of course, I'm a college student – I'm thinking we lost the game … but did we REALLY lose the game? They were a little bit confused and didn't know which way to go. HENSON: "Yeah, I figured the game's over. You had to fight through the crowd to get to the locker room. It seemed like the entire crowd swallowed him whole after he scored, with his teammates not far behind. "I think much of the hype had to do with them being undefeated and No. I don't know if that was true, but that was what we were claiming as such. It was weird because, the year before, the way they were playing us, we were reach blocking – sort of like zone blocking they have today. '", JACKSON: "A nervous wreck. You can blame the officials all you want¸but in reality, that game never should have been that close," Henson said. Troops the players' ages were finally returning home from Vietnam. DURING THAT ERA, ONLY THE BIG TEN CHAMPION WOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO A BOWL GAME. '", TAUBERT: "I want to tell you a story about what happened 10 years later. That wasn't gonna happen. JACKSON CAUGHT A PASS FROM BAGGETT ON MSU'S ENSUING 2-POINT TRY BUT FELL TO THE GROUND AT THE 2-YARD LINE, SHORT OF THE END ZONE, MAKING IT 13-9 WITH 5:30 TO PLAY. This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you. Final score: Michigan State 16, No. That dampened it a little bit, but we were celebrating. '", McCLOWRY: "Ohio State went into a full-house backfield, they did that on short-yardage situations. If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them. 1974 Birmingham Americans Roster World Football League (WFL) Team Record: 15-5 Finished 2nd in the WFL's Central Division : Won Championship Coach: Jack Gotta (15-5) 1974 Birmingham Americans Statistics 1974 Birmingham Americans Game-by-Game Results. We were having a banquet, and they asked Woody Hayes to come in – this was the winter of 1984. My memories, at least up in East Lansing, weren't the best of memories.". Archie Griffin went to my left, his right, so I had to fill the guard-center gap. Their team was similar to Florida State's team last year. If Archie went straight, I went to the middle. "I had two cousins over there in Vietnam, and it was the Game of the Week. At the 25, Jackson gave a hesitation fake that left OSU safety Bruce Ruhl grasping at air. ", McCLOWRY: "Cornelius Greene was one of the hardest players to tackle. After Archie Griffin's kickoff return gave them the ball at their own 29, quarterback Cornelius Greene dropped back to pass on first down and spotted the running back breaking free to his right. '", JACKSON: "Charlie rode me in there, and I think I might have just TOOK the ball off of him. I'm originally from New York, so my family got to see the game on television, too. MSU WOULD HAVE GONE TO THE ROSE BOWL IN A THREE-WAY TIE-BREAKING SCENARIO. And Brian, we felt, scored within the time frame. ", Henson, now a county commissioner in Ohio, still contends he crossed the plane. 'When you ran that touchdown, my wife was in labor, and I was looking at the TV! On the next play, Griffin — the eventual Heisman Trophy winner — broke free for 31 of his game-high 140 yards, with Pat McClowry dragging him down from behind in MSU territory. We knew that was what they were gonna come with, because they were a power offense. HENSON POWERED HIS WAY TO MSU'S 1-YARD LINE. THE CLOCK STARTED WHEN THE BALL WAS SET. Michael Jones, that was a great catch. They were looking at us, we were looking at them. A couple big turnovers in the red zone, so we ended up tying. ", JACKSON: "I could see it before it happened. With 3:17 remaining, Spartan Stadium had turned into a cauldron of celebration. The Birmingham Americans of the World Football League ended the 1974 season with a record of 15 wins and 5 losses, finishing second in the … You can't change it, coach. You do not need a Facebook profile to participate. It's on paper that we lost the game. * MSU OGCHARLIE WILSON, Olivet College associate professor, living in East Lansing. Rivalry just means, here's a team you love to play because you want to destroy them and you want to beat them the best way you can. That's what they told me to do.