Recall: The '56 Texas Aggies

 

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In the days of the Bear, the Aggies were resembling a bull market.
 
Their stock was on the rise. The 1956 team combined the talent of a highly-rated recruiting class with the toughness of the hardened rigors of Junction in the veterans.
 
Coming off a promising 1955 season, Bear Bryant and the Aggies were ranked No. 9 to begin '56. Early wins came over Villanova, LSU and Texas Tech…and A&M was still ninth. The only blemish came on October 13th against Houston, a 14-14 tie. The Aggies should have won and remained perfect, but Bryant admitted his imperfections on A&M's final possession—on which they drove inside the Cougar five with under a minute remaining.
 
"This wasn't our best game," Bryant said. "I don't mean to take anything away from the University of Houston, because they played very well. However, I believe that our boys played well enough to win and probably would've won had I made the right decision on the goal line when they had fourth down and four with about 20 seconds to go. Loyd Taylor, our kicker, was in the ball game and the percentage play was to kick, there's no doubt about it. But I did not direct the team to do that."
 
Bryant had his ways. Quarterback Jimmy Wright knew it.
 
"We had one of the best kickers that never kicked," Wright said. "And that was one of Coach Bryant's worst things. He thought if you kicked a field goal, that you definitely were not a tough team. And he definitely didn't want the offensive line to be thinking okay, I'm not going to really fire, I'm not going to block. He would always tell us that. And he didn't want to have the field goal as a weapon to use if you can't score. It just irritated him.
 
"If we'd have just kicked four field goals, we would have been national champions. It's that simple."
 
Wright is actually referring to the total number of field goals needed in 1956 and 1957. A&M was 18-3-1 in those two years combined…the three losses by a total of six points. Maybe four field goals would have meant back to back national titles. Who knows?
 
Still a mystery on why Bear didn't kick on October 13th of '56. What was clear is the deadlock versus U of H cost the Aggies. They dropped from ninth to 14th in the next week's AP poll.
 
Opportunities were still on the horizon. Unfortunately, so were stormy skies.
 
Up next? A tilt versus TCU, ranked fourth in the country, that would later famously become known as the hurricane game.
 
"This, of course, is the game where it was probably the worst weather a football game's ever been played in," Bryant said. "I thought our team displayed as much courage that day as any team I've ever seen. Because many, many times they could have given up."
 
The legendary Kern Tips recaps the action: "John Crow makes the catch for the tying touchdown. 6 to 6. And here was the difference. Loyd Taylor takes aim. This kick is true to the uprights, and that settled a thrilling game. A&M seven, TCU six."
 
After the win, the Aggies were back to seventh in the rankings, but they had No. 8 Baylor to deal with next in Waco. Another close victory, 19-13.
 
Wright reflects on an effort that night in front of a sellout crowd in Waco that would make the Bear proud.
 
"I think Dennis Goehring was one of the best examples ever of Coach Bryant's method of his process," Wright said. "He wanted his team to be tough, mean, dedicated and never quit. (In the Baylor game) Dennis Goehring played every offensive snap, every defensive snap, every spread punt running down, every kickoff, every extra point. He never came out of the game. There ain't one player on any school in the NCAA now that could even do that. Now that's tough. And that's what the Junction Boys were made of."
 
With the two most difficult games out of the way, and A&M now fifth in the AP, this team rolled to the finish. They whipped Arkansas, SMU and Rice by a combined 81-14.
 
In the finale at Texas, John David Crow was rugged in the first half.
 
Tips: "Somebody lit a fuse to John Crow, and the Louisiana Skyrocket does not flame out until he's gone 27 yards for a touchdown. And it's A&M seven, Texas nothing."
 
Jack Pardee was electric in the second.
 
Tips: "Here's a picture play for your memory book, one that tells you a football story in 20 seconds. Jack Pardee takes the second half kick toward the goal, and he rumbles toward home. The big guy just runs over people, but here comes a challenger, Joe Clements. There's a foot race and a bang, a collision, 85 yards on the return and an unhappy and frustrated Pardee hits the ground on the Texas 15. Well, Pardee got most of that, so the Aggies decide to give him all of it, and Jack does not disappoint. He wades into the end zone from eight yards out."
 
The 34-21 win goes down in Aggie lore, historic as it was the school's first victory inside Memorial Stadium. But in reality, this was a bad Longhorn team that finished 1-9 overall and didn't win a conference game.
 
A&M won all their league games. They went 6-0 in the SWC and were crowned champions. The final AP poll dropped before the bowl games were played, with the Houston tie still weighing like an anchor on the Aggies.
 
They finished fifth.
 
Oklahoma was the national champ at 10-0. Tennessee was second at 10-0. 9-1 Iowa was third, 9-1 Georgia Tech fourth.
 
So…let's play the what if game, whether we like it or not. If the Bear had tried a game-winning field goal and made it in Houston on October 13^th, where would the Aggies have stood? You'd like to think they'd pass one-loss Iowa and Georgia Tech, and hung with Oklahoma and Tennessee in the national title conversation. The tale of the tape would have shown Oklahoma probably played the weakest schedule. Tennessee had the best win, handing Georgia Tech their lone loss on November 10th.
 
A&M, though, would have been the trio's only team to top two ranked opponents during the season, having beaten the final poll's 11th ranked team in Baylor and No. 14 TCU. And although it didn't matter in the race for the title, we'll go ahead and note… Baylor did beat Tennessee later in the Sugar Bowl.
 
In the end, Oklahoma may have gotten the nod anyway. They were the preseason number one. They never lost, and never really were threatened that much in any game.
 
But still, what if?
 
We'll never know where these Aggies would have stood in the title picture. We are certain they stand among the elite in this school's 125 years of football. The 56 Aggies are, without question, one of best assemblages of talent to ever wear the maroon and white. Crow and Pardee led the charge as seven players were named all-Southwest Conference. Pardee, Goehring and Charlie Krueger were All-American.
 
Rugged and bruising on offense, and stout as concrete on defense, few could match this team.
 
It's why they still live on.
 
The names still known.
 
Wins over TCU and Texas discussed still today.
 
They live in the 125 year lore of Aggie football and will do so well into the future.