QB Buddy Lee runs in the first quarter.

Art Cantrelle

Wayne Dickenson

Andy Hamilton

Mark Lumpkin

Gerald Keigley

Chris Dantin

Lee and Jones encourage the defense

Bill Norsworthy

McClendon talks to Lee in Q4

Mike Anderson

Buddy Millican

Ralph "Shug" Jordan

AUBURN, Oct. 24, 1970 - Foul weather, a pass interference penalty in the end zone, and an ornery LSU all visited umbrella-domed Cliff Hare Stadi­um Saturday afternoon.
And LSU won a football game 17-9 – an upset in weather perfect for same.
Auburn's 5-0 1970 start and Ralph Jordan's 19-year homecoming vic­tory string were other casualties on a rainy, muddy, gloomy afternoon for most of a record 62,392 folks surrounding the dark arena.

LSU fans remember the game because of the late goal line stand by their Tigers and, in particular, the tackle in the breach by LB Mike Anderson.

Charlie McClendon's squad entered the fray on a four-game winning streak fol­lowing a shocking 20-18 upset at the hands of Texas A&M in the opener at home. However, with virtually their entire starting lineups back from 1969, Auburn was a 13-point favorite.

• Quarter 1
  A record home crowd of 62,301 didn't let the chilling rain that began that morning dampen their enthusiasm.
  LSU returned the opening kickoff to their 31. Senior QB Buddy Lee (Zachary LA) repeatedly handed the ball to junior RB Art Cantrelle (Lake Charles) to work the ball to the Auburn 45. From there, sophomore Wayne Dickenson (Hattiesburgh MS) lofted a lazy punt that slithered to a halt on the six.
  The Plainsmen's first snap resulted in a fumble when QB Pat Sullivan and FB Wallace Clark misfired on a handoff and junior LB Richard Picou (Gonzalez) recovered on the eight.
  After a 2y gain by junior WR Andy Hamilton (Ruston), Lee rolled to his right and lofted a pass over two defenders into Hamilton's hands in the end zone. Lake Charles senior Mark Lumpkin's PAT made it 7-0 just 4:10 into the contest.
  Undaunted, Sullivan brought Auburn right back with an effective short pass­ing game. However, when he reached the LSU 35, senior DT John Sage (Houston) deflected a pass, and junior S Tommy Casanova (Crowley) made a diving interception at the 37.
  After LSU punted to the 26, Sullivan gained 38 with one flick of his strong right arm, completing a sideline pass to his favorite receiver Terry Beasley. But a 4y run and two incompletions forced a punt that died on the LSU seven.
  On second down, a jarring tackle separated Cantrelle from the ball, and Johnny Simmons recovered at the 16.
  LSU got a break when Sullivan threw behind a wide open Beasley on first down. Then a draw and a screen netted only three. So 5'6" Gardner Jett drilled a 29y field goal to cut the lead to 7-3 with 1:15 on the clock.

 
Auburn's Bob Brown tries to stop a pass from Buddy Lee in the rain.

• Quarter 2
  Two minutes into the period, Sullivan cranked up a drive from his 33. He did most of the damage with passes to his running backs sandwiched between runs by Clark and Mickey Zofko. But the drive bogged down at the 18, bringing on Jett for a 34y three-pointer to whittle the lead to 7-6.
  Led by backup QB Bert Jones, the visitors embarked on an 85y drive to ex­tend their lead. Three running plays gained 14 before Jones found sopho­more SB Gerald Keigley (Greenville MS) for 23. A screen to junior SE Ken Kavanaugh Jr. (Fort Washington PA) got 14 more to the AU 34. Jones lofted the ball into the end zone for either Hamilton or Dickinson, but they and three Auburn defenders went up for the ball together. The pass fell incomplete, but the home team Tigers were slapped with an interferene penalty to put the ball on the one. It took two tries, but Cantrelle slashed off the left side for a 13-6 lead. Then came perhaps the weirdest play of the strange afternoon. Holder Paul Lyons (sophomore, Midland TX) fumbled the snap. So Lumpkin picked up the pigskin and rolled to his left. He threw the ball into a crowd where a couple of players batted it until Lyons grabbed the ball at the one and dove over for two points. LSU 15 Auburn 6 with 4:21 remaining to halftime. Auburn fans had to wonder if it just wasn't going to be their day.
  LSU reached the Auburn 24 in the remaining time on a 21y Lee-to-Kava­naugh aerial, but Ken lost the ball on a fumble.

• Quarter 3
  Auburn took the kickoff and drove 86y in ten plays before settling for their third field goal of the afternoon. The key play was a long pass to Beasley streaking down the right sideline. He made one of his patented sensational catches to the 12. But with their backs to the wall, the LSU defense rose up again. Under a heavy rush, Sullivan threw two incompletions. Then he found Beasley open in the end zone, but the ball squirted through his fingers. So Jett made the score 15-9.
  As the period drew to a close, the rain finally stopped, but the field remained a muddy gumbo.
  A favorable exchange of punts put LSU in business at the Auburn 40. A third down piling-on penalty produced a first down at the 22. Jones then handed to sophomore RB Chris Dantin (Baton Rouge) eight straight times, including a fourth-and-inches conversion from the 13.
  
  
• Quarter 4
  LSU continued its march toward what looked to be an insurmountable lead. But on fourth-and-two at the three, the defense stopped Dantin a yard short.
  LSU added to its lead anyway two plays later. Trying to throw out from the end zone, Sullivan was tackled by Sage and junior DT Ronnie Estay (Larose) to make it 17-9 with 14:05 remaining. It was the first sack of Sullivan all year.
  A pair of interceptions and a couple of punts moved possession back and forth until Auburn reached the LSU 47 with six minutes to go. But Sullivan threw a poor pass that senior S Bill Norsworthy (New Orleans) picked off at the 31.
  Midway through the period, the sun came out, and the mud began caking on the players' uniforms.
  But after failing to make a first down, LSU lined up to punt. A disastrous snap caused Dickinson to try an ill-advised pass that fell incomplete and turned the ball over to Auburn on the LSU 31.
  Sullivan pounced on the opportunity and fired a 23y to Beasley to the eight. AU then tried to run the ball down the throat of the nation's #1-ranked rush de­fense that had not yielded a rushing touchdown all season. Clark carried twice over the left side for 3 and 2y. On third down, Zofko tried the middle but lost his footing after a 1y gain. So the game came down to 4th-and-one. Sullivan fed Clark the pigskin off right tackle, but senior LB Mike Anderson (Baton Rouge) met the ball carrier in the hole and, helped by senior DE Buddy Millican (Baton Rouge) and Sage, stopped him for no gain to give LSU the ball with 2:40 left.
  The Bengal Tigers gained one first down to use up precious time before having to punt to their 49. Sullivan connected with Beasley to the 21, but time ran out.
  
  Anderson stuffs Clark in the hole.

• Cantrelle set a new school record with 32 carries, splashing for 95y. Dantin added 54 on 18 attempts.
• LSU ended with only 14 passing attempts thanks to the weather conditions and the fact that they played with a lead the whole game.
• The Tiger defense held Auburn to 296y total offense, almost 200 less than their SEC-leading average.

Postgame

• McClendon: I'll tell you this. Auburn has a great football team. If you can beat Auburn, you can beat anybody. This is the greatest win we've ever had because this win is now. Charlie said the LSU dressing room "was the most exciting I've ever seen." Our kids had been confident all this week. They respected Au­burn, but they felt they could beat them, and they went out and done it. Mac's news conference abruptly ended when his players pushed him into the showers, clothes and all.
• "Shug" Jordan: There is no point in talking about the rain or the field. LSU played on the same field we played on. Both teams had some problems, but LSU just went out there, went to work, and beat us. There were two keys plays. One was the fumble on our first play from scrimmage. The other was the pass inter­ference call in the end zone. I'm not questioning the call. I'm just saying it was a key play. LSU did a great job of ball control. And when we backed them up, we couldn't keep them there. We didn't have much field position, but that was be­cause they didn't let us have any.
• Auburn LB Mike Neel: I just knew right up until the final minute we would win it. All we needed was one break, but the weather conditions made it impossible for us to come up with that one big play.

The 1970 LSU Tigers won the SEC championship, walloping Ole Miss in the finale 61-17 for a 6-0 conference record.

• Their only other defeat in the regular season was 3-0 at Notre Dame.
• The #5 Tigers lost a 17-12 battle to #3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

Jerry Stovall's first year as LSU coach started shakily.

• To start with, Jerry wasn't supposed to be the Tigers' head man for the 1980 season.
• AD Paul Dietzel had chosen Bo Rein, the head coach of North Carolina State, to succeed Charlie McClendon, who was forced out by the Board of Supervisors after 18 seasons.
• But just 42 days after his hiring, Rein died in a plane crash returning from a re­cruiting trip to Shreveport.
• So Dietzel turned to his former player, Stovall, to take over. Jerry inherited the staff that Rein had hired.
  As director of LSU's Varsity Club, Jerry had accompanied Bo on every night recruiting trip outside Baton Rouge until the fateful one.

The 1980 Tigers started 2-2.

• They lost to Florida State 16-0 in Stovall's debut, then beat Kansas State 21-0.
• The Bengals edged Colorado 23-20 in their third straight home game.
• A trip to Houston brought a disappointing loss to Rice 17-7 - the first victory by the Owls over the Tigers since 1966.
• Throughout the four games, LSU was plagued by an astounding 20 center-quarterback exchange fumbles.
• Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas coach and current AD who doubled as a TV commentator, expressed disgust that a team in a televised game botched three snaps from C. That's the kind of thing that should be as natural as blinking your eyes, sneered Broyles. When told what he said, Stovall agreed. I agree with him, and you can believe that we're working to eliminate the problem.

The Tigers couldn't afford to botch snaps, even if they recovered the ball, in Stovall's SEC debut against the undefeated Florida Gators in Gainesville.

• After an 0-10-1 disaster in Charley Pell's first season in '79, the Gators had beaten California 41-13, Georgia Tech on the road 45-12, and Mississippi State 21-15 to rise to #18 in the AP poll.
• LSU would have one break in that Chris Collinsworth, a two-time all-SEC flanker and a pre-season All-America pick, was not expected to play. He had been on crutches all week because of a technicolor bruise suffered when a Bulldog DB planted a helmet into his thigh. I don't see how in the world he would be able to play, said Pell. I know he won't be able to practice, and I don't see how he could do anything in a game without practicing.
• But the Gator quarterback figured they really wouldn't need him. Southpaw Bob Hewko, one of eight sophomore offensive starters, said, Georgia Tech covered Chris; so we threw to the TE [Chris Faulkner]. Mississippi State jumped all over Faulkner; so we threw to the wideouts. We have plenty of receivers. We'll throw to whoever they don't cover.

One LSU assistant looked forward with extra relish to meeting the Gators.

• Assistant head coach Pete Jenkins had coached the Florida D-line the year before.
• But he leaped at the chance to come to Baton Rouge. I've dreamed all my life of coaching at LSU. In 1967, I sat up here in Tiger Stadium when Alabama played LSU. One of my dreams then was to coach at one of those schools. I think LSU has got to be one of the greatest places on earth to be a football coach. If it hadn't been for Jerry Stovall and LSU, I wouldn't have left Florida.
• His top two D-lineman tried to talk him out of leaving. I told them it was LSU and that it might never come around again. And that Jerry Stovall was a very special person to me. I wanted to help him do what he wanted to do at LSU.

It isn't often that a team fumbles 12 times, losing five, but wins - on the road no less, and handily.

• Eight of the fumbles came in the first half, five on snaps.
• Gene Lang fumbled the opening kickoff at the goal line, then recovered and got out to the 14. Then QB Robbie Mahfouz, making his first collegiate start, couldn't get the handle on the first three snaps.
• At that point, Stovall looked to the sky. I was thinking, Lord, I don't understand this. We've been working so hard. It can't be happening again.
• Jerry substituted Alan Risher at quarterback and replaced C John Watson with freshman Mike Gambrell after the first series.
• Fortunately, the defense, rechristened the Chinese Bandits by Stovall, domina­ted a Florida offense that averaged 33 points per game.

The Bandits recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass in Q1 to put LSU up 10-0.

• Three plays into UF's first possession, Ramsey Dardar pried the ball loose from Hewko, and George Atiyeh recovered at the 31. With Risher and FB Hokie Gajan gained the bulk of the yardage, LSU moved to the 13 from where David Johnson booted a 30y field goal with 8:21 on the clock.
• Minutes later, Hewko dropped back to pass at his 36. But the rushers deflected the pass which traveled end over end into the hands of nickel back Tommy Boudreaux at the LSU 45. He returned the ball to the 25 but a clipping penalty moved the pigskin back to the UF 40. Two plays later, Risher lofted a 31y pass into the corner of the end zone where Tracy Porter caught the ball between two de­fenders. It was a corner route, a kind of delay, Alan explained. I stepped up in the pocket, and Tracey kind of broke the route and went behind the DB. I just tried to lay it up and let him get it. Porter: The CB pushed me. But we're taught to make the catch no matter what, so I just made sure that I got it in my hands. ... I knew I didn't have much room, but as I was falling down, I saw the end line go past, and I knew I just had to drag my feet.
• That play was the only highlight for either offense in the first 30 minutes of action.
• The best the Gators could do was missed field goal attempts from 49 and 62y. To com­pound matters for the home team, Hewko left the game with a knee injury when hit by DE Lyman White during the scoreless second period.
• Pell's backup, Larry Ochab, was only 5-10 compared to Hewko's 6-3 and was also slower. So all he could do was drop back and pass.
• LSU D-coordinator Greg Williams responded by inserting a fifth D-back and ro­tating the down linemen to keep pressure on Ochab. The five D-backs lined up in a row deep in the secondary. We did that to keep the quarterback from getting a prerread on our defense, explained Williams. It was a little thing, but it worked well.

The Tigers put the game away with a 10-play, 78y drive in Q3.

• RB Jesse Myles, held to 0y on two carries in the first half, sparked the advance with a 21y dash. Risher connected with TE Malcolm Scott for another 24. In be­tween, Risher fumbled at the UF 41 when tackled by Dock Luckie. But a face mask penalty on Luckie negated the turnover. He gave it a pretty good yank, said Risher while rubbing his neck after the game. The ball came loose then. Myles did the scoring honors from the 2 behind FB Mike Montz's block to make it 17-0.
• But Florida capitalized on still another turnover to get on the board. After the Tiger D held after the kickoff, freshman Eric Ellington let the punt ricochet off his chest at the 9 where David Norwood recovered. One play later, Ochab looped a ball over CB Alvin Thomas into the hands of Collinsworth, who didn't start but saw extensive action. 17-7 with5:42 to go in Q3.
• The Gators' momentum continued when Jude Hernandez fumbled on the first offensive play after the kickoff, and Florida recovered at the 20. But the Bandits forced a 36y field goal that sailed wide right.
• The Tiger offense quickly marched down the field to the 10 in four plays, the chief of which was a 44y scamper by Myles. But Jesse fumbled the ball away at the 8.
• After forcing a punt, the Tigers took over in good field position. Then, you guess­ed it, Risher fumbled the ball away at the UF 47 after scrambling 6y after trying to pass.

As Q4 began, the Gators had moved to the LSU 32.

• But a pair of super defensive plays by CB Chris Williams forced a 48y field goal try that missed.
• Risher then led the clinching touchdown march, Myles taking the pigskin the last 6y, part of the 148 he compiled on the ground in the second half.
• Florida managed only 164y despite getting five turnovers. The Tigers awarded a game ball to Pete Jenkins.

Postgame

• Stovall: I'm not surprised with the outcome of the game. I told the coaches this morning that I felt that the team was in the best frame of mind theyhave been in all year. ... We made a lot of mistakes, and it wasn't a pretty win, but it was a big, big victor, to say the least. It was the first time that we've had some consistency offensively, though we did make some mistakes. Defensively, well, this is the best they've played this year.
• Risher: I can't believe that we fumbled as much as we did and still scored 24 points on Florida. We had some good breaks and some good defense. Alan revealed his feelings going into the game. I can't lie to you. I was feeling pretty down eary in the week when I found out I wasn't starting, but then I just decided to stay ready. May­be I would get a chance to come in and be the spark. Risher completed 8 of 12 for 65y and carried the ball 18 times for another 33. The offensive line had just a su­per game. They were really firing off. I thought they handled Florida's defense pretty good. Did he give the offense a quick pep talk when he first entered into the game? Nah. I didn't say anything about it. I wasn't sure myself. That thing [the snap] has to be automatic. I wasn't thinking about it anymore.
• Myles explained why he was able to break loose in the second half. We started going to more of our cutback stuff. The offensive line was really knocking people off with that. They opened some big holes in the line. ... THis was our first Southeastern Conference game and we really got ready for it. This feels good. It feels great.
• Dardar: The defensive line was pretty fired up to play Florida. Coach Jenkins coached here last year, and we just wanted to show him that he didn't go from good to bad. He went from good to better. ... He really had us prepared. Our game plan was perfect. Everything they told us Florida would do, they did. That gives you a little confidence ... I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We're got ourselves one smart defensive line coach.
• Pell on the Tigers: They've fumbled 39 times and they're 3-2. So they must be pretty salty. ... They're probably the best 3-2 team in the country.
• Collinsworth: I would never have believed that anybody could fumble 12 times and still defeat us. We've been taking advantage of those kind of mistakes all year. But not today.

The 1980 Tigers also won their next three SEC games before losing to Alabama and Mississippi State on their way to a 7-4 record that wasn't good enough to earn a bowl invite.

Jerry Stovall

Charley Pell

Bob Hewko

Pete Jenkins

Gene Lang

Alan Risher

George Atiyeh

Jesse Myles

Chris Williams

• Young was already a legend in the Houston area while still in high school.
• Always a rebel, he chose LSU over all the Texas schools that salivated at the thought of him in their backfield.
• Young played on the Chicago Bears' 1941 NFL Championship team before joining the Navy.
• His unit participated in the landings in the Philippines in 1944, during which a Japanese shell hit his landing craft. His body was never found.

Bussey was born into a large family in 1917.

• The youngest of seven brothers and three sisters, all of whom idolized and spoiled him, Bussey excelled in everything he undertook.
• As his biographer, Ralph B. Cushman wrote, Pick a sport, any sport - football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, baseball, or track - and Young would beat you. Basketball was his favorite.
• After his father died when he was 11, Bussey made money singing at wed­dings and social events.
• By age 12, Young had developed physically so far ahead of his age group that his teacher had to rig the softball teams during recess to keep him from dominating the game. She gave him the least talented boys, but his team still won. As a result, he developed into a champion of the underdog, protecting kids who were bullied.
• Highly intellligent (he would earn an engineering degree at LSU), he exhibi­ted all the signs of what today would be diagnosed as ADHD, which made him a restive student whose mind wandered. On the athletic field or court, he would do things on a whim, to the despair of more than one coach.

• He went 10-0 on the mound with a blazing fastball and wicked curve.
• On the court, he liked to play what a later age would call "run-and-shoot" basketball.
• He didn't develop as quickly in football until his older brother "Frog" taught him how to pass and kick.

Young wanted to attend Jeff Davis High School in Houston.

• The head coach was an old family friend, Roy Needham, whom Bussey revered.
• When he heard Young was coming to his school, Roy made it clear to him that he would never play for him until he changed his showboat attitude and became a team player.
• Young's response was basically, OK, coach. I'll go someplace else and beat your team every chance I get!
• What Needham may not have known was that Young had become acquainted with Dizzy Dean, a young P on the Houston Buffs, the Texas League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, while hawking drinks and peanuts at the ballpark during the summer of 1931.
• Naturally attracted to someone so self-confident, Young admired the way Dizzy wrapped the press around his little finger with a steady stream of quotes. And Bussey certainly agreed with Diz's dictum that It ain't braggin' if you can do it.

Young Bussey on his high school team

Dizzy Dean, Houston Buffs

Young Bussey

Bernie Moore

Jack Torrance

Mike Chambers with his namesake

Joel Hunt

• The Texas schoolboy legend not only expected to achieve greatness on the gridiron but also looked forward to being treated like royalty by the campus community.
• After spending a week with Bernie Moore, who coached him in the Texas All-Star game less than a month before, Bussey couldn't find the LSU head coach on his own campus. Young told friends this was what you'd expect "for the yoyo champion from Bobo, Texas."
• The freshman's attitude presaged a difficult relationship between him and his head coach.

• An end from Little Rock, Ken came to LSU because Moore promised him he could play baseball, which Ken considered his best sport. In contrast to his roommate, Kavanaugh was not recruited by Huey Long and in fact never met the late Louisiana Senator. Ken insisted he didn't receive anything above the regular scholarship offered at SEC schools.
• Ken admired his roommate's wardrobe, which ranked as one of the finest in Louisiana. However, since LSU students wore ROTC cadet uniforms on cam­pus, the togs stayed mostly in the closet.

• "Baby Jack" Torrance, a 325-lb giant, had lettered as a tackle at LSU in 1931-32-33. He was also part of the five-man LSU track team that won the NCAA championship in 1933. (Glen Davis wasn't the first LSU athlete to be called "Big Baby.")
• After winning the Gold Medal in the shotput at the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin, Jack came home to Baton Rouge and held a press conference at which he announced that he was launching a career as a heavyweight boxer.
• Torrance's manager/PR man, Herb Brodie, left the conference and went directly to the Athletic Dorm where he offered $3 per round to anyone who would get in the ring with his fighter.
• Finding no takers, Brodie was leaving when someone mentioned that Bus­sey would make an excellent sparring partner. When Young arrived, he turned down the offer but changed his mind when some barracks mates called him chicken.
• Promised $12 if he lasted four rounds, Young immediately spent $10 on a pair of alligator shoes that he charged at a local store.
• The next day, a large part of LSU's student body crowded into the hot and humid gym to see the cocky Houston freshman get his comeuppance from Baby Jack.
• The bout didn't last two rounds. Young battered the slow moving giant with a barrage of blows that bloodied Jack's nose and open a cut over his eye. A vicious right in Round Two dropped Torrance to the canvas, at which point Brodie jumped in and stopped the barrage.
• Herb sent Bussey into a rage when he refused to pay for more than two rounds. It took Young's brother and several freshman teammates to keep the victorious pugilist from inflicting the same beating on the manager.
• Young thus ended Jack's boxing career before it started.

Another giant who clashed with Young was 300-lb trainer Mike Chambers, so popular that the school mascot brought to campus in October 1936 would be named for him.

• Chambers ruled the locker room by intimidation. He was unimpressed by Bussey's reputation and the triumph over Torrance didn't earn his respect either. Mike told several players that Young wasn't worth a fraction of what Senator Long promised him.
• Bussey described Big Mike as a "cruel, sadistic, and cowardly bastard" in a letter to his sister. It was inevitable that two strong egos would not get along.
• Chambers refused to tape Bussey's ankles before freshman football practice and wouldn't let his assistants do so either. Assistant coach Joel Hunt, Young's self-appointed guardian, did the taping to avoid a showdown.
• When freshman Coach J. B. Whitworth (later Bear Bryant's predecessor at Alabama) complained to Moore and AD T. P. Heard about Chambers' bad treatment of Young, Heard assembled the entire coaching staff and trainers in his office to work out the difficulties. It was decided that Hunt would look after Young and try to improve his attitude.
• A former All-American running back at Texas A&M and a Lone Star State legend in his own right, Hunt worked with Young to improve his punting. He also taught Bussey the art of moving laterally. In high school, Young simply ran over tacklers, but he wouldn't last long doing that in college.
• The irrepressible Bussey soon started asserting himself on the freshman team just as he had in high school. During a lull in practice one day, Young directed several teammates to lie up and run passing patterns. When Whit­worth blew his whistle to assemble the team, he breathed a sigh of relief when Bussey joined the group without hesitation.

Even after the staff meeting in his office, AD Heard continued to worry about the disruption Bussey might cause.

• He told Coach Moore to move Kavanaugh out of Young's room so that the "worldly" Texan wouldn't corrupt the "innocent" Arkansan.
• Given no explanation for the switch, Ken wondered if his friend Young had asked for the change. Meanwhile, Bussey, finding his roomate packing up, imagined Ken wanted to get away from him.
• Only when Kavanaugh's father came to Baton Rouge and demanded an ex­planation from Heard did the two players learn the real reason for the transfer.

Bussey started at TB when the freshmen opened their season in Hammond against Southeastern Louisiana. An above-average crowd of 800 turned out that evening.

• Bussey engaged in a punting duel with his SLC counterpart during the first half.
• Early in Q3, a blocked punt on the Baby Bengals' 25 led to the first score of the game.
• During the final period, a series of passes from Young to Jabbo Stell moved LSU to the 6, where a fumble derailed the onslaught.

The Tiger frosh played their second and final game two weeks later against Tulane in New Orleans.

• Nearly 2,000 fans at Old Tulane Stadium saw LSU gain a hard-fought 13-0 victory.
• "Bussy," as several LA newspapers referred to him, was mentioned as one of the standouts for LSU although Young wasn't directly involved in the two touchdowns. He did punt out of bounds on Tulane's 9.

The 1936 LSU varsity won their second straight SEC championship, finishing the regular season 9-0-1 before losing to Santa Clara in the Sugar Bowl.

Tiger fans looked forward to the ballyhooed freshman class joining the varsity in '37.

• The two first-year varsity men who attracted the most buzz were E Ken Kavanaugh from Arkansas and triple-threat TB Young Bussey, a Texan.
• Kavanaugh took over a starting terminal position immediately while Bussey backed up Pinky Rohm at LH.
• Moore planned to substitute his players in units, giving the A and B teamers equal time.

• After a scoreless Q1, the Bs started Q2. Bussey took a punt at his 10 and returned it 28y. Then his unit moved smartly down the field with Young finishing the march with a 2y plunge over RG. However, his PAT boot failed.
• In Q4, Bussey, under a heavy rush, flicked his wrist and fired a dart to his buddy Kavanaugh who leaped high to snare the ball for a 37y gain to the 2. Young did the honors from there, then kicked the final point in the 19-0 victory.
• The following week, LSU defeated the Texas Longhorns in Baton Rouge 9-0. Young was more conspicuous for his defensive play in this contest.

• Louisiana Governor James Leche arrived a day early and took a taxi to Young's home to surprise his mother. The Governor also asked the Rice Athletic Department for help in meeting Bussey's demand for 100 free tickets, promising repayment when the teams met in Baton Rouge the following year.
• The Houston newspapers beat the drums for the return of the local hero. The day of the game, the Post ran a full-page picture of Bussey under the caption Bussey's Comin' Home. No other visitor to the city, be he president of the U.S. or a military hero, received such an honor.
• The Post also included Young's brother Glynn in a story. A member of the Tiger team as part of the "Bussey package" Huey Long promised the Texas star for enrolling at LSU, Glynn was only 5'7" 140 lb.
• The B Tigers scored both touchdowns in LSU's 13-0 victory over the Owls.
• Bussey rankled his coach when he decided to stay with his family in Houston and not travel with the team back to Baton Rouge. He didn't return to school until late Monday night.

The Tigers continuing rolling for another week.

• LSU pitched their fourth straight shutout, Ole Miss the victim in Baton Rouge 13-0.
• The following Saturday, the Tigers traveled to Nashville to meet Vanderbilt in 39° weather. The Commodores scored early in the game on a "hidden ball" play that become illegal in the future. Trailing 7-0 with three minutes left, Bussey went on a passing rampage, finally hitting Jabbo Stell on a 19y scoring play. But a bad snap from C prevented Bussey from putting the ball down for the tying kick. The defeat ended a streak of 13 straight conference wins for the Bengals.
• A loss always emboldens the second guessers. Fans and the press question­ed why Moore didn't play Bussey more.

The Tigers vanquished their remaining five foes.

• Bussey threw three touchdown passes in the 52-6 romp over Loyola of New Orleans. He also intercepted a pass and punted beautifully.
• Against Mississippi State, Young threw a 39y scoring strike to Kavanaugh and scored himself on a triple lateral play. He topped off the evening with a long pass to Ken, then hit Jabbo Stell for the final touchdown of the 41-0 romp. Two days later, the Morning Advocate gushed: Bussey has one of the most power­ful passing arms football has ever known - he tossed one 63 yards to Kava­naugh ... against Mississippi State. The play gained 48 yards from the line of scrimmage, but Young was 15 yards back when he cut 'er loose.
• LSU held off Auburn the following week. With the Louisiana Tigers nursing a 3-0 lead early in the fourth quarter, Bussey punted to the Alabama Tigers' six, where it hit an Auburn player before being recovered by a gold-shirted Tiger. Two plays later, LSU led 9-0. But aided by a string of penalties, Auburn quickly drove to a touchdown to cut the lead to 9-7. When LSU couldn't get a first down, Young boomed a punt to Speck Kelly at the Auburn 26. He broke loose and raced all the way to the LSU 20, where a great defensive play by Bussey saved the game. He drove through two blockers and cut down Speck. The LSU defense pushed the visitors out of field goal range on the next three snaps.
• After coasting over Northwestern State 52-0, the Tigers traveled to the Big Easy for the annual clash with Tulane. The Bussey-Kavanaugh combo struck again for 31y to the TU nine to set up the go-ahead touchdown. Later, Young hit Ken in a group of Greenies in the end zone in the 20-7 triumph.

The Tigers' 9-1 record earned them an invitation to the Sugar Bowl.

• The players were unhappy with the selection since this was the third straight year LSU played in the Sugar Bowl. To make matters worse, they would be playing Santa Clara, the same foe who beat them a year earlier 90 miles down the highway in New Orleans..
• The result was another lackluster performance that resulted in a 6-0 loss. Moore gave the first team most of the playing time, claiming that he wanted to reward his seniors.
• The large Bussey family contingent who journeyed to the Crescent City for the bowl game complained to their host, Seymour Weiss, owner of the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Seymour, a big LSU supporter, promised, "If Young doesn't get to play more next season, we'll be looking for a new coach."

Bussey put away his football gear and turned to his favorite sport, basketball.

• He joined the team a month late. After a week of practice, he suited up for a game against Tennessee.
• By the time Coach Harry Rabenhorst told Bussey to enter the game in the second half, LSU trailed by 21 points. Young refused. "It's too late. I can't pull it out for you."
• The dumbfounded coach launched into a tirade in which he vowed that Bus­sey was through at LSU. Young smiled and said, "I don't think so."
• Rabenhorst tried to make his promise stick, but AD Skipper Heard and Coach Moore stuck by him. In fact, Bernie was happy that Young wouldn't be playing basketball any more.

Young Bussey

Pinky Rohm

Coach Bernie Moore

Young Bussey 1938

Ashford Simes

Governor Richard Leche

• Young Bussey today was formally dropped from the varsity football squad of Louisiana State University for breaking squad training rules. That's all I have to say on the sub­ject.
• When pressed for explanation, Bernie said: Just say it was for non-cooperation with our squad training rules, that's all.
• Bussey told a Houston reporter that he was quitting school. My athletic scholarship has been cancelled by T. P. Heard, athletic director. He admitted to breaking training rules by smoking cigarettes but cited another reason for his dismissal. The trouble started a month ago when I attempted to form an "L" club of lettermen as a players union. ... We get so little time to study after football practice that I don't believe one can play football and get the most out of classwork. The boys were behind me in the move, but I don't want to cause any trouble. ... When I tried to organize football players here, officials of the athletic department said they were 100 per cent back of the idea after the season was over, but they didn't want the club organized now ... I may have violated a training rule, but 11 others are doing the same thing. Another player was caught viola­ting the same rule, and all they did was to make him stay in the football players building at night. ... After the Rice game, I wanted to quit the team on account of my studies, but the boys argued me out of it. I went to L.S.U. because it has one of the best petroleum engineering courses in the country. I had offers from Tulane, Columbia, Southern California, and Ohio State. ... Monday, Coach Moore asked me about breaking a train­ing rule, but the first thing I knew about being fired from the squad was when they or­dered me to take my clothes from ... the football players dormitory.
• By the next day, Bussey's tune had changed. Now he denied trying to form a players union. That's just a story someone made up. And he was staying in school. Now that I am not going out for football, I will have more time to devote to my work in petroleum engineering. My athletic scholarship was withdrawn, but I have been talking to friends, and they have said they will help me. No one man is so important to a football team, and I am sure the Tigers will go through the rest of the season without a defeat.
• What Young didn't say was that his brothers were also stripped of their scholarships that were part of the package deal that brought the Texas star to Baton Rouge.
• Meanwhile, the LSU Board of Supervisors extended Moore's contract through the 1941 season, thus lending support to his dismissal of Bussey.

All this turmoil came as the Tigers prepared to face the only team to defeat them in the 1937 regular season.

• Determined to prove they could do quite well without their troubled tailback, the Tigers upset the Commodores 7-0. Three times the Purple and Gold defenders intercepted passes in their own territory to thwart Vandy advances.
• The lone touchdown was scored by Young's friend Ken Kavanaugh, who snagged an aerial at the back of the end zone from sophomore Ashford Simes, a high school teammate of Bussey in Houston.
• The following Saturday, the Tigers lost to Tennessee 14-6 in Knoxville.
• They returned to Baton Rouge and lambasted Mississippi State 32-7 November 5.

Two days later, Moore had another startling announcement that made the front pages of the Baton Rouge newspapers.

• He reinstated Young to the team, stating: In my opinion, Young Bussey has suffi­ciently apologized to the university for his lack of cooperation and has thoroughly adjus­ted himself. I feel that he merits another chance. ... Bussey stayed in school after his suspension, kept up his studies, and in every other way acted as a normal student. ... When I suspended Bussey, I conscientiously felt that I was doing the best thing for the squad and for him. Now I take the responsibility of taking him back. He's my problem, and, if he fails, I will take the responsibility.
• Bussey pronounced himself very happy to be back on the squad.

What wasn't discussed was the involvement of Governor Richard Leche behind the scenes.

• First, he invited Young to stay at the Governor's Mansion. Then he sent his limosine to Houston to bring Young's mother to Baton Rouge.
• She apparently impressed upon Young the importance of regaining the scholarships that made a college education possible for her three sons.
• The governor put in a good word for Bussey with Coach Moore, who was not per­suaded to rescind his action.
• The factor that changed his mind was the intervention of team captain Barrett Booth and other seniors. While publicly backing the suspension, Booth asked Moore to give Bussey another chance.
• This allowed the coach to reinstate Young without losing face with his squad.

Coach Bernie Moore 1939

Young Bussey 1939

Ken Kavanaugh catching a pass vs Holy Cross

Tigers deplane

Ogden Baur

L-R: Chicago Bears coach George Halas, Young Bussey, Bob Snyder, Ken Kavanaugh, Dick Plasman in 1941

• Coach Bernie Moore decided to switch Bussey from TB to quarterback, which in those days meant blocking back in the single wing.
• Moore laid it on thick with Young, praising the graduated BB, Barrett Booth, as "the finest blocker who ever laced on a shoe" and challenging the replacement to fill those shoes. Bernie had had his troubles with Young but knew that the headstrong Houstonian liked challenges.
• Moore told the press, In Pete Cajoleas and Young Bussey, I believe we have two of the best blocking backs we ever had at L.S.U. Bussey, in my opinion, will gain three times the recognition as a blocking back that he gained as a passer. And he was a good passer.
• But many felt that Moore's real reason in moving Young to the new posi­tion was precisely to keep him out of the limelight as a follow-up to the deal with Governor Leche that reinstated Bussey to the team late in the 1938 season.
• If Moore hoped that the "demotion" would cause Young to quit the team, his plan backfired. Instead, he filled his new spot with zest. A preseason article in the Times-Picayune said that Bussey seems to be getting a great kick out of his new chores as blocking quarterback, and he is revealing some smashing blocking for his mates that few figured he could produce. Right now, Bussey is well out in front of the other blocking backs, and is one dead-certain starter against Ole Miss ...

The highlight of the 1939 season was the game against Holy Cross in Massa­chusetts following the disappointing 14-7 loss to the Rebels to start the season.

 

• The Tigers became the first southern team to fly to a game.
• Young wrote home that the team was dressed "fit to kill" for the trip and sent snapshots showing himself and teammates decked out with new snap-brim hats.
• LSU surprised the haughty Easterners and the nation with a convincing 26-7 victory.

Bussey didn't make the headlines or even the game writeups while playing BB, contradicting Moore's contention that he would get "three times the notoriety" that he had as a passer.

• After starting 4-1, the Tigers dropped their last four games to record their first losing record since 1923. It also marked the first time that Bussey had played on a losing football team.
• Many LSU fans wondered if their Tigers would have done better had Bus­sey remained at TB.

Since they were not playing in a bowl game, the Tigers were free to play in post­season all-star games.

• Bussey, E Ken Kavanaugh, and G Ogden Baur received invitations to par­ticipate in the annual Blue-Gray football classic in Montgomery. A second letter, this one from coach Ray Morrison of Vanderbilt, told Young that he would carry the brunt of the Gray's passing offense. Some suspected that the most coveted Tiger, All-American Kavanaugh, insisted that his friend Bussey be part of the squad as a necessary condition for the big E's own participation.
• Morrison, an early proponent of the passing game at Vanderbilt, worked Young and particularly his throwing arm back into shape following the three-week layoff after the regular season. However, Bussey negated most of the conditioning by partying round-the-clock.
• The AP article about the game revealed the underlying purpose of Champ Pickens' all-star game in the very first paragraph. The south regained in some measure Saturday prestige lost in the 1860's to Yankee cannon and musket at Gettysburg when a squad of picked Dixie college stars routed northern football masters, 33-20 in Montgomery's second blue-gray gridiron classic.
• Young came in with a whole new unit to start Q2 and, on the second play, heaved a 30y pass to his "glue fingered teammate," Kavanaugh, who ran the remaining 20 to the end zone to put the Gray ahead for good. Ken was probably on the second team just to be Bussey's target. Ken grabbed another touchdown pass - not from Young - for the final south tally in the 33-20 triumph.

• This time he made the team and appeared in ten of the eleven games, mostly on defense.
• His offensive stats read: 13 carries for -27y, with a long run of 16; 13-of-40 passing for 353y and 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Defensively, he intercepted two passes, returning for 10y. He also punted twice for a 37.0 average and ran back one punt for 40y.
• Chicago again won the championship, this time over the New York Giants 37-9. Each Bear re­ceived an engraved commemorative wristwatch.