USD Football 1993

TOUCHDOWN ILLUSTRATED One for TheAges

Sparling, we used Pinckert going the other way.'' Another tactical weapon the Trojans used was the shift. Brown described it: "Ends shi fted to halfback, half- backs and tackles became ends. We called it the spaghetti shift. And we used an unbalanced line." The Trojans got the ball again on their 43. Mohler, Shaver and Pinckert pounded to the 10. Th en Mohl er faked into the line and lateraled to Shaver, who ran wide for the score. Baker's PAT made it 14-13. Eight minutes left. After an exchange of punts, 'SC got another drive going, but fumbled again, and the home squad moved the ball back into Trojan territory. Braven Dyer of The L.A. Times wrote, "...the end was near." But the Trojans held on their 27. This time they went to the air. Shaver faded to his 10 and rifled one to Sparling on the Irish 40. "We gained 25 yards more on a Bob Hall tackle-eligible play. Those were the only passes we completed all day," recalled Shaver. "Then we were on about the Irish 26.'' Near the sideline, he emphasized. In th ose days, the ball was not moved to the center of the field like it is now. So their next strategy was a Sparling end-around. This play, plus a Notre Dame penalty, put the ball on the 16-in front of the goal posts. Two line-plunges netted three yards. With a minute left and third-a nd- seven on the 13, the Trojan huddle knew Orv Mohler was right when he called for a field goal. Notre Dame would think it was a fake. "It was then or never," said Shaver. "In those days, quarterbacks called the plays. They had to. New subs weren't allowed to talk for one play.'' Johnny Baker stepped back from his guard position. Mohler got the snap, held the bal l at the 23, and Baker kicked it through the goal posts with plenty to spare. "Cool nerve, steady

But Jones was an unemo- tional man. He was n't much for fight talks. He said to us, 'You made mis- takes-correct 'em.' The main thing he told us was to win it for ourselves." But the Irish were equally inspired. Early in the third period, Irish backs Banas, Brancheau, and Schwartz went 53 yards in five plays, extend- ing the lead to 14-0. A punting skirmish ensued, and the rest of the third quarter went scoreless. But Shaver and Brown agreed that th e 'SC players were not dis- couraged. Th e former quarterback recalled, "In

the fou rth quarter, Jones put in fresh linemen and we began to move the ball." But more hard luck was wait- ing. Fullback Jim Musick was injured. Since Orv Mohler was in at quarter- back, Shaver subbed at fullback. That turned out to be an advantage for the Trojans. "Two quarterbacks in the same backfield gave us a two-shot offense," said Shaver. With Mohler and Shaver carrying, 'SC drove from their 47 to the Irish 1. "We were making fi rst downs by inch es. And Tay Brown, Ernie Smith, Johnny Baker, Gordon Clark and Ernie Pinckert were block- ing for us." Shaver scored two plays later. Guard Johnny Baker's PAT was blocked, so the score stood 14-6. The drive had included a 13-yard gai n using the Ray Sparling end- around, one of Jones' favorite plays. It was destined to help decide the out- come of the game. Shave r explained, "End Ray Sparling and halfback Ernie Pinckert were used sometimes as ball carriers on reverse plays. If opponents stopped

Tac/de Tay Bnmm contributed to the tough Ti·ojan line play that 11,any belie11e 111rts the key to J1ictory. selection in 1931 and '32. The Irish had four All-Americans on their team as well. With these personnel on both teams, Alison Danzig of The New York Times wrote: "No other game this season loomed so large." So on that crisp November day, the two teams took the field. The new sta- dium dedicated to Rockne was packed with 50,000 fans, including the may- ors of New York and Chicago, plus about 150 reporters. Shaver recall ed the first quarter, "We outplayed 'em. We took the ball to their three, but we fumbled. We went inside their 20 agai n and they held us." In the second period, Notre Dame drove 55 yards to score. Notre Dame led 7-0 at halftime, and Shaver remembered the quiet Trojan locker room. "Coach Jones didn't give us hell. Sure, we flubbed a chance to score.