A Season Opener for the Ages

The Frank Reich/Andrew Luck regime got off to a disappointing start Saturday when Stanford suffered a season-opening 23-20 loss at Hawaii.

Fifty-five years ago, in 1970, it was a much different story. 

That year, the biggest season opener in the history of Stanford football took place when John Ralston's 10th-ranked team traveled to Little Rock to face 4th-ranked Arkansas on national television.

Stanford upset the heavily-favored Razorbacks, 34-28, in a game that wasn't decided until the final 29 seconds. 

It was the game that would launch Jim Plunkett's drive to the Heisman Trophy, begin Stanford's march to its first Rose Bowl in 19 years, reverse the then-Indians' habit of blowing big leads in the final minutes, and establish a milestone for racial integration in college football.

Plunkett went into the season a decided underdog to Mississippi quarterback Archie Manning in the Heisman race. 

At the time, I was in my senior year at Stanford, working as Bob Murphy's assistant in the sports information office. 

We were pulling out all the stops to promote Plunkett for the Heisman. Murph spent much of the spring and summer of 1970 lobbying Roone Arledge at ABC to televise the Stanford-Arkansas game.

In those days, only one college game a week was televised nationally on ABC, a far cry from the situation today where virtually every game is televised by broadcast, cable, streaming and conference networks. 1970 was also the first year teams could play 11 games, so there were plenty of attractive options for that Sept. 12 opening date.

Stanford was considered, at best, a marginal attraction by ABC's college football brass. But Murph somehow worked his magic on Arledge, and the Arkansas game was tabbed for the ultra-hyped opener instead of the USC-Alabama clash the same day.

Because the Miss America pageant would be televised that evening, the game had to be scheduled in the afternoon in the 92 degree Arkansas heat.

I was set to go on the trip to Little Rock, but at the last minute a big donor requested a seat on the team plane, so I got booted and had to watch the game on television.

Stanford roared out to a 27-0 lead behind Plunkett's passing and fullback Hillary Shockley's thundering runs. 

Shockley scored on a 43-yard burst, Plunkett hit Jack Lasater with a 17-yard TD pass, Shockley scored again from two yards out and then Eric Cross broke through on a 61-yard punt return. At 27-0, Steve Horowitz's missed extra point didn't seem to matter.

But the Razorbacks roared back, cutting the lead to 34-28 midway through the fourth quarter, and then, after a Stanford fumble at midfield, drove for what would've been the game-winning touchdown and extra point in the final minute.

The previous season Stanford had blown big leads against Purdue and USC, and as Arkansas advanced to the Indians' five yard line, Stanford fans thought "here we go again."

Instead, "Our defense came of age," Ralston said.

On third and two from the five, Stanford's All-America linebacker Jeff Siemon (identified the next day in the New York Times as "Jeff Simon") stuffed Arkansas running back Bill Burnett.

Then on fourth and one and a half, with 29 seconds left, Razorback quarterback Bill Montgomery rolled out, looking for wide receiver Chuck Dicus. But Dicus was blanketed by Stanford cornerback Benny Barnes, so Montgomery decided to run for it. Siemon got a piece of his leg, slowing him down momentarily, and then linebacker Mike Simone shot forward to stop him short of the first down.

Sports Illustrated's Dan Jenkins referred to it as a "Heisman-saving play" and he may have been prophetic. The heart-stopping win put Plunkett (who completed 22 of 39 passes for 262 yards) on everyone's Heisman radar and moved Stanford up to No. 4 in the national rankings. 

As Jenkins wrote, "There were times when no quarterback, ever, could have looked better...Plunkett just moved the Indians as if he were opening against San Jose State again."

The game also marked two major breakthroughs for racial integration in college football.

It was the debut of Arkansas' first black player, Jon Richardson, right in the same neighborhood where 13 years earlier Governor Orville Faubus had used his National Guard to stop black students from attending Little Rock Central High School. On this day, Richardson scored on a 37-yard pass play; his catching and running would spark the Razorbacks' comeback.

Meanwhile, Stanford featured an all-minority backfield--a Latino (Plunkett) at quarterback, with two black running backs (Shockley, who rushed for 117 yards, and Jackie Brown, who caught 10 passes out of the backfield).

Three and a half months later, Heisman winner Plunkett would be the MVP of the Rose Bowl, and Brown would score two TDs in Stanford's 27-17 upset win over Ohio State.

Week 1 Matchups: After a half-dozen or so games in Week 0, the 2025 season gets underway in earnest this weekend with three matchups featuring Top 10 teams.

No. 1 Texas travels to Columbus to take on No. 3 Ohio State. The defending national champs are favored by 2.5 points over the No. 1 Longhorns.

The game will mark the debut of Arch Manning (grandson of Archie and nephew of Peyton and Eli) as a starting quarterback. 

In addition to the No. 1 ranking, at stake will be bragging rights for the SEC (Texas) and Big Ten (Ohio State).

In the other two marquee games, No. 4 Clemson hosts No. 9 LSU and No. 10 Miami hosts No. 6 Notre Dame.

Given that the College Football Playoff now includes 12 teams, the losers of these three games will still have a good shot at making the playoff if they win out or lose just one additional game.

Our picks: Texas 27, Ohio State 23; Clemson 30, LSU 21; Notre Dame 24, Miami 16.