A SEASON ON THE BRINK FROM INSIDE THE HUDDLE Part 3

Part 3 in a series with a first hand view from inside the huddle on the1955 football team that played under head coach Blanton Collier in his second year at Ky.

Getting ready for LSU now opening away from home is always tough but to open at tiger stadium in Baton Rouge is especially tough. 75,000 screaming cajuns, mostly well oiled with liquor for the last 10 days[or longer]makes for an unfriendly setting. The seniors and juniors had been there before. The sophomores never had and it would be a shock for the sophomores.

We had scouted the tigers spring game but little new was shown. This is what we expected the crowd noise would be deafening. We would probably have to go off the center’s snap since the tackles and ends would not hear the qb signals. The tigers defense would be very aggressive especially when “the Chinese Bandits” were in. Linebackers shooting the gaps, later called “red dogging” and today called “blitzing”. Tackles and ends pressuring, we would have to run some draws, screens, maybe the “shovel pass” and a few quick slants to freeze the linebackers.

The offense was pretty unknown, a lot of sophomores. A quarterback with play action passing who would run and throw. They would run inside and outside with a lot of speed in the backfield and at the receivers. Alot of speed on kick returns.

We feel that we can move the ball on this team consistently. We feel that our defense will match up well against the tigers.

Key points of interest.
Crowd noise and play calling.
Tigers defensive aggressiveness.
Tigers speed at receivers, backfield and kick returning.

Defensive coverage in the backfield don’t get suckered on the play action pass and let the receiver get by you.

Our game plan was to take care of the ball, no fumbles or interceptions. Don’t beat ourselves make the tigers drive 70+ yards to score. Don’t give them a short field to score on with a turnover. Give our defense a chance to stop them with that 70+ yard drive to the goal line. No foolish penalty’s.

We expect a low scoring game, with good defense on both sides. A hard played game.

Our prediction Ky 14-LSU 10.

The 44 man travel squad flew out of Bluegrass field with the coaches and some sportscasters, sportswriters on board. A new sportscaster named Cawood Ledford was on board for his first trip with a Ky team. We arrived in Baton Rouge in late afternoon then went to tiger stadium and had a very lite work out under the lights. Mostly just loosening up and getting familiar with the field and lighting. We then had a team dinner, went to a movie and returned to our rooms. Curfew 10:00pm no exceptions.

The next morning team breakfast then around 10:00am a meeting with all players and asst. coaches was called, it went like this.

Coach Ermal Allen called all plays and signals from sideline.

Listen up pay attention this is very important. When you are on the sidelines pay attention at all times, watch whats happening on the field and on the sidelines in front of you, forget whats behind you, stay together with your group. Ends together tackles and guards together backs together quarterback’s on the phone table. Things get wild down there so if you stay with your group we can find you if we need you or your whole group if we need to make an adjustment during the game. Be ready to go in all the time, keep your shoes on and laced up and your helmet handy. Don’t go wandering around, if we need to send you in and we can’t find you, you just cost us a delay of game or caused us to waste a timeout to keep from getting a delay of game penalty. That’s just like getting a penalty on the field or much worse.

If the noise gets bad and you can’t hear the snap signal by the quarterback give him the signal and start going off the snap. We have practiced all this.

Don’t make a bunch of mistakes, run the plays right, don’t give the opponent any short fields to score on. Make them march 70+ yards and we win.

The best way to quiet the crowd is to get in front early and stay in front.

We have 44 players here. We selected each of you to come because we felt you could and would help us win this football game. That’s what we’re here for. Stay alert and have a good game.

The players then went to a short meeting with their position coaches.

In the afternoon around 4:00 pm the pre game meal was held and then off to tiger stadium for dressing, warm ups and the kickoff.