• This reflected a national trend in which 150 colleges abandoned football that season.
• Many military bases fielded football teams that competed against college teams. The most famous was the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

Bernie Moore's LSU squad consisted of two groups of players.

• Those who had been rejected for military service for some reason. For example, star RB Steve Van Buren failed his army physical because of defective vision.
• Students too young for the draft who could play for a year before entering the service.

LSU lacked the Navy V-12 training program that provided manpower for teams at other schools.

• The purpose of the program was to train future officers by providing them with a bachelor's degree as a stepping stone to attending a U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School for four months to obtain a commission as an ensign.
• Both Tulane and Georgia Tech participated in the V-12 program which benefitted their football teams because the Navy allowed its trainees to play sports.
• Some V-12 programs fielded their own football teams. The Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks finished second to Notre Dame in the final AP poll for 1943.

Led by Van Buren, the Tigers compiled a 5-3 record, going 2-2 in the SEC.

• How could LSU end up 2-2 in the SEC when there were only three other opponents? Simple - they played Georgia twice, once in Tiger Stadium to open the season (34-27 victory) and again in Athens (27-6 triumph).
• Another of the victories came at the expense of LSU's Army Specialized Training Program team. The Army program had a different purpose from the Navy's V-12 program. The primary goal of the ASTU was to turn out technically-trained personnel and not officers. The ASTU program was also of shorter duration (typically 18 months) since it did not lead to a bachelor's degree.
• The Tiger losses came in their last two games to Georgia Tech (42-7) and Tulane (27-0). Van Buren suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter of the Tech game and didn't play at all against the Green Wave. One of Tulane's stars was Dub Jones, who had played for LSU in 1942 before joining the V-12 program in New Orleans.

LSU's other defeat occurred in the third game against Texas A&M, another V-12 school, in Baton Rouge 28-13.

• Having won their first two, the Tigers entered the contest ranked #17 in the AP poll.
• Called by the Associated Press writer of the game report as "an eleven man track team in football toggery," the young Aggies, dubbed the "Kiddie Corps" by the press, beat the larger Tigers 28-13 before a Saturday night crowd of 25,000.
• Van Buren didn't enjoy the success he had against Georgia and Rice. His best work came when he started to pass, then ran, including a 38y jaunt down the sidelines for a TD.
• The key difference in the game was A&M's passing prowess: 110y to 37 for LSU. The Tigers had one more first down, 10-9, and outgained the visitors on the ground, 198-123.
  It was amazing that Texas A&M could beat anyone in 1943 after a whopping 77 members of Homer Norton's '42 squad entered the military during the summer. The Aggies coach was left with four players. So he threw out a wide net on campus, asking, Are there 11 men in the student body who can play football? The student newspaper made its own pitch. It is time for the twelfth man to rise up from the student body and offer his services to the corps. This is a necessary action to take in order that varsity sports will continue at Texas A&M. Turn out, twelfth man.
  135 students responded. Of the 75 Norton chose, only one had played college football. The rest were freshmen. The average age was 17.5. Sportswriters called the Aggies "a glorified high school football team." But some had not even played in high school.
  Four members of the Kiddie Korps made the All-Southwest Conference team: Marion Flanagan, M. E. Settegast, Goble Bryant, and Jim Hallmark.

The five bowls that existed at the time - Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, and Sun - faced slim pickings.

• The Sugar Bowl, which had chosen an SEC team seven of its first nine years (including LSU three times), selected Georgia Tech to face Tulsa.
• The Cotton Bowl went with Texas against Randolph Field, an army air corps base near San Antonio.
• With Van Buren the drawing card, the Orange Bowl arranged a rematch between LSU and 6-2-1 Texas A&M.
• Coach Moore was pleased with the bowl bid. All we hoped to do when the season started was keep football alive.

14-to-15-point underdogs, the Tigers hoped to exact revenge on the Aggies and win their first bowl game after three failures.

• Moore and his staff knew they had to do something different from the first meeting to help Van Buren get loose.
• So they moved 165 lb wingback from Eunice, Joe Nagata, to fullback. They didn't do this because of Nagata's blocking. The plan called for Joe to take direct snaps from center in LSU's version of the Notre Dame box. Joe stepped forward, pivoted left or right, and handed the ball to Van Buren. The intent was to freeze the A&M linebackers for a moment to give Steve an extra step.
• Nagata would occasionally keep the ball and run up the middle.
• Van Buren injured his ankle in the Georgia Tech game but was expected to be in top form by the New Year.
• The Aggies would play without the nation's top receiver in terms of yardage, Marion Flanagan. He injured a knee in the Thanksgiving game against Texas.

Traveling to Miami for the game was no simple matter thanks to wartime regulations that gave priority to troop movements.

• With trains not an option, the Tigers benefitted from the largesse of Baton Rouge banker Lewis Gottleib.
• He purchased eighteen used cars to transport the players. He later sold the cars at his automobile agency.

LSU Offense with Van Buren at TB and Nagata at his right early in Q1
(from video of 1944 Orange Bowl made from coaches film)

• Moore wasted little time in deploying his new offensive scheme. The result was two touchdowns before A&M awoke.
  After neither team went far on its first possession, the Bengals started at their 41 with a brisk wind at their back. The Tigers pulled one of several fancy plays they had prepared for the rematch. Van Buren passed 15y to Carroll Griffith who, as he was being thrown to the ground, lateralled to E Charley Webb who rumbled to the A&M 32.
  
  Van Buren throws to Griffith, who will lateral to Webb.
  Two plays later, Steve faked a pass and skirted left end to the 15. But the Aggies gave ground grudgingly, and the Tigers found themselves facing fourth down at the 11. Moore sent in QB Charley Barney with instructions to run another special play the Tigers had prepared. Nagata took the snap and handed to Griffith running left. Griffith then put the ball into the hands of Van Buren heading the opposite way. Steve raced untouched around right end across the goal. The extra point attempt failed due to a fumbled snap. LSU 6 Texas A&M 0
  During the period, LSU lost big T Earl Tullos for the rest of the contest.
• When LSU got the ball back, Van Buren unleashed a 51y rolling quick kick that "Red" Burnitt unwisely tried to pick up only to fumble it. Webb wrestled it away from him at the A&M 22. After two running plays gained only 2y, Barney reentered the huddle with more instructions from the sideline. Van Buren rolled right, stopped, and passed across the field to Burt Goode who snagged the ball as he crossed the goal. Steve's PAT try failed. LSU 12 Texas A&M 0
  
  Van Buren starts around RE, stops, and throws across the field to Burt Goode at the goal line.

• With Van Buren taking a rest, the Aggies wasted little time getting back in the game. They took the kickoff and, starting from their 30, unleashed the aerial attack that had knocked the Tigers for a loop in Baton Rouge. After three straight completions and a 15y roughness penalty, A&M found themselves on the LSU 20. TB Jim "Babe" Hallmark passed to Burnitt, who made a nice grab just inside the end zone to atone for his earlier miscue. Bing Turner added the point. LSU 12 Texas A&M 7 End of Quarter
  
  Jim Hallmark passes to "Red" Burnitt for the Aggies' first TD.
  Burnitt's story was typical of the 1943 Kiddie Korps. He recalled: For me personally it was a dream come true to be playing for the Aggies. My father was class of '21. From the day I can remember the only thing I ever wanted to do was go to Texas A&M and play football. But coming out of Abilene High School [where he graduated at midterm], I arrived at A&M in the spring of '43 thinking I had no chance to play. I didn't even come to spring practice because I weighed only 158 pounds. But that summer [A&M] put an article in the paper saying that he needed football players. I was pretty cocky and said, "Hey, give me a uniform and I think I can make your football team." I wasn't very big, but I had run a 9.7 in the 100-yard dash in high school. And I had a burning desire to prove I could play.
• Shortly after the second period began, the Aggies picked up where they left off on their previous possession. Burnitt took a flat pass and rambled to the LSU 30, but a Tiger took the ball away from him during the tackle.
  After failing to gain a first down, the Tigers lined up in punt formation. Van Buren took the snap and, with several rushers storming in, took off over the right side on a meandering run during which he broke three tackles. He seemed to run out of gas, slowing to a walk at the A&M 25 where he was easily tackled. Steve stayed down for a while before leaving the game to recharge his batteries.
  
  Van Buren on the loose after dropping back to punt.
  Red Knight took over at tailback and got off a perfect pass to Griffith who raced inside the 10 before the safety tackled him at the four. After trying left end, then right end, the Tigers went up the middle twice but were stuffed a yard from the goal.
  A&M immediately punted out of danger, Van Buren returning the boot to midfield. The Tigers pushed to the 15 before running out of downs.
  After a clipping penalty pushed them back, the Aggies again punted from their end zone, Steve returning to the 16. But after four downs, the Aggies reclaimed the ball at that spot.
  Staying on the ground deep in their territory, the Lone Star boys ran out the clock.
  LSU had dominated the period but had no points to show for it.
  Halftime score: LSU 12 Texas A&M 7
  A cast of hundreds filled the field at halftime for another of the Orange Bowl's spectacular pageants. This one saluted the United States and her World War II allies.

 
Steve Van Buren runs against Texas A&M .