Clash of Titans

Darrell Mudra took over a Florida State program that had just gone 0-11 in 1973. Faced with a daunting schedule put together by former Athletic Director Clay Stapleton to help defray the athletic department's $300,000 debt, Mudra coaxed some competitive performances from his new team.

The opening game brought Pittsburgh to Tallahassee as the back end of a home-and-home contract. The Panthers sported sensational sophomore RB Tony Dorsett. The Seminole defense held Tony to 81y while FSU freshman Larry Key gained 63y. Pitt broke a halftime tie with a third quarter field goal and hung on for a 9-6 victory.

During the game, Mudra unveiled his unique in-game coaching style. He sat in the pressbox because he believed he could better understand the game with the improved view. He didn't even call plays but just relayed advice to his assistants.

Mudra's team fought valiantly to break the losing streak. Colorado State prevailed in Doak Campbell Stadium, 14-7. A trip to Kansas resulted in a dispiriting 40-9 loss. The Week 4 opponent was Baylor, which would win the Southwest Conference and play in the Cotton Bowl. The Bears were happy to escape with a 21-17 victory after trailing 17-0 at the half.

Next came a Stapleton special—an October 12 trip to Tuscaloosa to play Bear Bryant's #2-ranked Crimson Tide. The game was considered so lopsided that there was no national betting line on it. The bookies in Alabama pegged the Tide a 34-point favorite.

Figuring he needed a gimmick to throw Bama out of kilter, Mudra accepted assistant Bob Harbison's suggestion of an unbalanced line. The strategy worked as FSU dominated the first half with twice as many first downs and twice as much yardage as the Tide. The home crowd of 58,000 never expected their boys to trail 7-0 as the teams left the field at halftime.

Key scored what turned out to be the game's lone touchdown with a 6y slant off left end to culminate a 78y, 9-play drive on FSU's opening possession. The key plays were a 14y scamper by QB Ron Coppess, a 26y pass from Coppess to Jim Everett, and a 13y pass to Rudy Thomas as Bear's defense tried to adjust to the Noles' new formations.

Another ingredient of FSU's success was deploying freshman Aaron Carter as a rover on defense. He played defensive back, linebacker, and end, utilizing his great quickness. "Our defense did an exceptional job of stopping their triple-option game," Mudra said later.

Playing without starting QB Richard Todd, out with a knee injury, Alabama was lucky to trail by so little. Ahmet Askin, Florida State's soccer-style kicker, missed a 26y field goal and had a 33-yarder blocked.

Long-time Alabama radio announcer Richard Forney later wrote, "I don't think I've ever seen an Alabama team as flat as Bama was that day."

L: FSU defense surrounds Jack O'Rear. 73 is Randy Coffield, and 53 is Brian Schmidt.
R: John Harmeling zeroes in on O'Rear.
(University of Alabama Corolla Yearbook Class of 1975)

Needless to say, Bryant expressed his unhappiness to his team at the intermission. Still, they struggled to move the ball in the second half.

The Tide finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter when Buckey Berrey kicked a 44y field goal following a fumble recovery at the FSU 31.

The Seminoles held on until only 1:27 showed on the game clock. Facing a fourth down at his own five, Mudra had punter Joe Downey run out of the back of the end zone to take a safety that narrowed the lead to 7-5. The coach explained afterwards that Bama had come close to blocking several punts earlier in the game.

The strategy backfired as the free kick traveled only to the Alabama 45 and was returned 7y. Jack O'Rear hit WR Ozzie Newsome for 32y to the 16. It was the third-string quarterback's only completion of the day. Alabama lost 3y on the next three plays to create 4th-and-13 on the 19 with 33 seconds remaining.

Enter Berrey, a 6-1, 200 lb sophomore from Montgomery, who booted the field goal to give the Tide its 32nd straight victory at Denny Stadium.

The Seminoles could boast of being the first team to hold Bama without a touchdown in its own stadium since Bryant took the helm in 1958.

I glanced into the command headquarters from where Darrell Mudra had almost directed the upset of the year. There were gaping holes in the wallboard. One of the Alabama sports information department student assistants told us later that as the winning field goal passed through the uprights the FSU coaching staff had gone into a frenzy, kicking and punching holes in the walls.
I ran into Coach Bryant sometime later that year and asked if he had seen the holes left by the Florida State staff. He hadn't seen them, but he had heard about them, he said as he gave that hard, hard look. "And I sent Coach Mudra a bill for $600," he said.

The statistics favored the Noles.
-- 19-13 edge in first downs
-- 207y rushing to 157
-- 138y passing to 72
-- Each team lost two fumbles, and neither had an interception.

In his team's silent dressing room afterward, the Bear, with a Bandaid on his nose and sweat dripping from his brow, praised the Seminoles to the media.

If I were you, I would be in the other dressing room. I've never in my life seen a team that was so much better coached than our team than Florida State today. We didn't have any offense, of course. There's bound to have been someone who played well, but I couldn't name one now. I did see Leroy Cook make some big plays.
We underestimated them badly. Not only the players, the coaches as well. I don't blame the players as much as I do myself and the staff. We didn't take them seriously because they hadn't won in such a long time.

It was frightening. You better believe I was scared to death. I was thinking our offense could get close enough for Danny [Ridgeway, the short-distance specialist] to kick it, and I wouldn't have to go in. When I started to go in I was trying to tell myself to calm down. Then when I got under it, I just knew I had hit it bad. When I looked up it was just dropping over. It was the biggest moment I've ever had since I came here.

It was a hell of an effort by our team. It was a heartbreaker. I just hope we can get this one out of our system. We caught Alabama hurting a little at quarterback, and it's too bad we couldn't pull it out. I don't think I've ever had a team that was quite so prepared both offensively and defensively. That's about as satisfying an effort as you'll get without winning.

The Seminoles would not build on their super effort in Tuscaloosa. They finished with a 1-10 record, with the lone victory coming at Miami 21-14.

When his second Florida State team finished 3-8 in 1975, Mudra was canned in favor of the West Virginia head coach, a 36-year-old guy named Bobby Bowden.