In today's college football world we see fewer legitimate nicknames for players or teams. I've been advised that "it's not a real nickname if you give it to yourself."
Certainly we don't want to offend anyone, but let's look back at nicknames given to specific squads for specific years, some of which survive to this day.
12. Junkyard Dogs—Name given the 1976 defense that took Georgia to the Sugar Bowl. Coached by the late Erk Russell who once threw a live snake into a team meeting to promote drug awareness. Don't ask me. Term generally applies to any Georgia defense since '76.
11. Wrecking Crew— Moniker offered by defensive player Chet Brooks and promoted by 1980s Texas A&M defense. Still in use.
10. Blackshirts— Term coined in 1964 by Bob Devaney, head coach at Nebraska, to distinguish the first-team defense from other squads during practice. Cornhuskers held 10 regular season foes to 75 points on the road to the Big Eight title. Badge of honor still in use.
- B/R Ticket Guide
9. The Wild Bunch— Taken from the 1969 film of the same name, the Southern Cal defense led by Al Cowlings (yes, he drove the Bronco) took on the name and personality of this violent film in marching to a 10-0-1 season in '69, topped off by a Rose Bowl win over Michigan.
8. The Mafia— Rossi, Scarpati, Fazarano, and Koszarsky were accused of bringing violin cases to games, without fiddles inside. Their 1963 N.C. State Wolfpack went 8-2.
7. The Fire Ants— South Carolina's garnet-clad defenders who swarmed all over the field from 1983 until Coach Joe Morrison's untimely death following the 1988 season.
6. The Team Named Desire— 1954 Navy squad quarterbacked by George Welsh was so named by Coach Eddie Erdelatz on the way to a Sugar Bowl win over Mississippi.
5. The Seven Magnificents and The Forgotten Four— Term used to describe Florida State defense during breakout year of 1964. Borrowed from 1960 film "The Magnificent Seven."
4. Chinese Bandits— Paul Dietzel installed three separate units to run the table and win it all for LSU in 1958. The Bandits were a defensive unit built upon speed, not size. Based on the comic strip "Terry and the Pirates". Completely unacceptable now.
3. Red Elephants— Atlanta newspapermen hung that intimidating name on the fearsome 1930 Alabama team that quaked the earth while outscoring its foes, 271-13.
2. Seven Blocks Of Granite— Term associated with the powerful offensive line of 1936 Fordham Rams, anchored by the ferocious Vince Lombardi and coached by Jim Crowley.
1. The Four Horsemen—"Outlined against the blue-gray October sky rode the Four Horsemen: Stuhldreher, Crowley, Layden, and Miller," wrote Grantland Rice on Oct. 18, 1924. The name of that great Notre Dame team lives on until today. Jim Crowley was the coach of the Seven Blocks of Granite a decade later. All four are in the college Football Hall of Fame.
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4 months ago
How about Linebacker U - the moniker for Penn State's stream of excellent linebackers....
from 4 months ago
Alex, I wrote an article last week on the 11 Best Linbackers of The Past 50 Years and Penn State occupied positions 5 and 8 with Jack Ham and Dennis Onkotz. Both are in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Great point Alex.
from 4 months ago
Tate,
How about "The Amazins". The 1972 Auburn football team that was supposed to be a .500 team after Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan left, and ended up going 10-1, finishing in the top 5, and beating Alabama with the most famous game in that series, "Punt Bama Punt". Auburn blocked two punts and returned both for touchdowns to come back and win the game 17-16.
The Amazins has to be one of the best nicknames.
from 4 months ago
Great point, Alex. I was wondering about that too!
from 4 months ago
id like to hear the names of the greats compared to ohio states..... not trying to be "that" buckeye fan... but honestly...
4 months ago
Good article Tate..always interesting to see how we got where we are today.
from 4 months ago
Thanks, always good to hear from you. Appreciate your comment.
4 months ago
great article tate. this is great stuff. i love all of these names.
LSU still pays tribute to the chinese bandits with the band playing their "theme" on every defensive third down stop and the crowd bows to pay tribute to the defense.
but yeah, the title is not so PC anymore.
4 months ago
Why would Linebacker U be a better nickname than Quarterback U? It's not, and that's not a good nickname.
4 months ago
Ah the Blackshirts! Now just a distant memory. Today's Nebraska defense should be called the Blackskirts, but the Big Red faithful already think that their team is in the hunt for the National Title after their coaching change. Keep drinkin' the Kool Aid up there Cornsuckers!
from 4 months ago
It wouldn't surprise me if Nebraska doesn't bring back some of that defensive intensity under Bo Pellini.
from 4 months ago
BabyTate - No Nebraska fan here, but I am a BO PELINI fan. Did you mean you WOULDN'T be surprised if he DOES bring back some of that defensive intensity, or did you mean what you said, that you WOULDN'T be surprised if he DOESN'T. I think he certainly will.
from 4 months ago
I believe Pellini will restore the ancient ways of Bob Devaney. Blocking, tackling, field position. Nebraska will return to it's previous position of contemporary power in the midwest. Coach Devaney was at Nebraska from 1962 to 1972 and won or shared the Big 8 Conference title 8 times in that decade. He so dominated that he was viewed as putting the "Retired" behind Bud Wilkinson's name at Oklahoma. He won back to back national championships, including the 13-0-0 1971 team generally considered the greatest college football team of alltime.
You know, one of Coach Devaney's assistants is still around in the program as AD, Tom Osborne. He continued on the ways of Coach Devaney for many years after Bob retired, it took Osborne 22 years to win a natl title but when he did it he won 3 in a 4 year period. I believe he will set the table for Pellini. He should enable Pellini to experiement with recruiting in places the Big Red Machine used to pluck the finest players. Who can forget that I.M. Hipp came from South Carolina? Once the Cornuskers come back to power they will be able to recruit more successfully.
from 4 months ago
I think starting this season the Blackshirts are going to be more than a distant memory. Guess that makes me one of them that is drinking the Kool Aid because I think Pellini is going to get our team back on track! He knows about the history of the team plus with Osbourne as the AD. Yes, the Blackshirts are going to be coming back this season!
from 4 months ago
I hate Nebraska, but I'd have to say the Blackshirts should be higher on this list. The name was legitimate for 40 years or so? I was lucky enough to be in Omaha when the Blackshirts became no more (70 points to TTU, 45 to KSU, 34 to IOWA STATE!) The Nebraska faithful were quiet that season. But that's what you get when you throw out 40 years of history for a "spread offense."
Frank Solich shouldn't have been fired in the first place, and Pellini should have been given the job when Solich was fired. But nothing will ever be good enough for the Huskers. The Cyclones thank you for the win on national TV.
from 4 months ago
Blackshirts have to be rated lower for that very reason. It is not just something for the 1964 squad, it has lived on so we rate in down like the Wrecking Crew of A&M, we're really interested in special years or short eras of schools.
I appreciate the input folks !
4 months ago
four horsemen...love it!!
from 4 months ago
Thanks Alan, it and the 7 Blocks of Granite, have stood the test of time, which will always be big on my radar screen in reviewing information. Which is one reason I'm so proud of your article listing Bobby Clarke as #3 alltime with the Flyer organization.
4 months ago
Great stuff as always. And great picture.
from 4 months ago
I thought you might like that picture, Timothy...............
When was the last time someone outscored the opponents 271-13? Can imagine if Alabama did that this season?
from 4 months ago
When was the last time someone allowed only 13 points in a season? Nevermind the 271 scored, I don't think anyone today could even imagine holding opponents to only 13 points even if they played only 4 or 5 games!
from 4 months ago
Texas A&M's 1919 team outscored it's opponents 275-0 and was not credited with a national championship.
from 4 months ago
Well, aTm is not the only school to ever get the shaft. I can think of many. However, 275-0 is just sick! It is literally hard to imagine someting like that!
from 4 months ago
Texas A&M is listed as the 1919 National Champions in the College Football Database. The 1919 A&M squad of Dana X. Bible (inventor of the 12th man 2 years later) is the 2nd national champion to come out of the South. 1917 Ga Tech under John Heisman was the 1st. Heisman's Yellow Jackets outscored the opponents 491-17.
We may have hit upon something here. Why not a series between A&M and Tech? Got to be a lot of the same folks working together out there in the world.
from 4 months ago
Well, imagine this: Two years before, in 1917, the Aggies scored 270 - 0, in only 8 games. Again, no national championship.
from 4 months ago
Baby Tate,
The NCAA does not recognize A&M as the national champions in 1917 or 1919. They do recognize them for 1939, even though USC recently decided to claim that one, like they didn't have enough.
4 months ago
7 blocks of granite is sheer genius
and I'd never heard the live snake story til now, awesome!
from 4 months ago
Thanks Evan. You know, they give out the Lombardi Award to the nation's best lineman or linebacker and it is a block of granite in honor of Vince's playing days at Fordham.
The cool fact is that the 7 Blocks of Granite were coached by one of the Four Horsemen!
4 months ago
not all nicknames are so complimentary. when houston first joined the southwest conference, their wide open veer offense took the conference by storm. they immediately went to the cotton bowl as SWC champions. not all the longtime SWC stalwarts were so quick to accept their brash newcomer.
frank broyles (coach at arkansas, then a SWC school) said the houston offense looked like a "bunch of cockroaches" scurrying around on the cotton bowl field. frank did have a way with words!!
from 4 months ago
Rob, you are so right about this point. I don't think any school received as much backlash from existing league members of any conference expansion as the Houston Cougars did in joining the old SWC.
4 months ago
Even though they were getting paid to play, you can't forget the "Pony Express" at SMU in the 1980s.
from 4 months ago
Pony Express was outstanding nickname and on the honorable mention list. One of the last great nicknames for an era, from a quarter of a century aga.
Thanks Jordan!
4 months ago
How bout the National Chompions from gainesville in 2006-2007, yeah, thats right.
from 4 months ago
Patrick, that's pretty good, let's see......... " Outlined upon a hot indian summer day in October rode The National Champions from Gainesville in 2006-2007 into the Swamp...."
You might be able to do something with that but, I'd say focus on Tebow, you've got something there no one has ever had, not even these 12 teams.
How about "Touchdown Tim Tebow, The Tri-T Terror"?
4 months ago
hey, baby: have you ever written an article about favorite/best nicknames??/ you know, like georgia "bulldogs", not the specific names like this article, ie: "junkyard dogs".
I have always preferred the names that were indicative of the area/geography, something special, like the 3 florida schools: gators, hurricanes, seminoles...all very state of florida appropriate. also local animals like longhorns & horned frogs (my very favorite!!). doesn't have to be animals tho', for instance: tennessee volunteers & oklahoma sooners, both american history lessons!! or nebraska cornhuskers, certainly indicative of their state.
a name that doesn't make any sense is "crimson tide", but the team was so good for so long they made it one of the best known nicknames in the country.
from 4 months ago
Rob, I totally agree about Sooners and Volunteers. Horned Frogs always stands out. I agree with the Gators, Hurricanes, and Seminoles, they are just about perfect for those 3 teams.
Growing up in my house we never used the name Crimson Tide. That was my Father's team. Period.
Their name was the Red Elephants and if you tried to bring that weak CrimsonTide stuff in there to him he would laugh at your ignorance and then run you out of the house.
I am the result of what happens when a child of an Alabama fanatic gets old...........sheesh............
from 4 months ago
my in-laws are bama fans. they live in a rural area and named the street they live on.
their address is 315 crimson tide drive. ("315", get it??). I bet there are several thousand tide fans who would love to have that mailing address!!!
4 months ago
What could be better than the Four Horsemen.
from 4 months ago
Thanks Ron, and if I did a "pay for play" football article I would have the "Suicide Seven" of the 1950s Eagles defense and give special mention to the greatest nickname of all "Concrete Charlie".
from 4 months ago
there we go! i dont know much about college football but i know the eagles and Concrete Charlie is the best nickname ever.
just ask Frank Gifford.
4 months ago
The Live snake is one of the most famous stories of all time. The team meeting actually occured at midnight at the coaches private barn. The town was fumming with rumors of drug abuse running rampid throughout camous and in the athletics program. He had three bags laying in a circle. The players sat around the circle and one by one, the contents of each bag were revealed. The first contained Alcohol, they players laughed and snickered. The second contained a pound of Pot. Again, an awkward snickering. the third was Cocain. The players stunned looked around and covered their snickering. Then when they least expected it, he thre in a live rattle snake. The players jumped back and all were scared to death. The coach then made the point that more people die each year from drugs and alcohol than from any snake bite and yet they only fear the snake! As for cool team nicknames, Arizona Wildcats Defense "The Desert Swarm" beating the crap out of my Hurricanes was a fitting name after the first Iraq Conflict "Desert Storm".
from 4 months ago
Desert Swarm was an outstanding name that is on the honorable mention list.
4 months ago
very kewl article! Nice and tight and fascinating info....really great stuff! POTD!
from 4 months ago
Thank you Lisa, you Wild Bunch-Lover you...............
Common decency stopped me from adding an essentional line to the Wild Bunch. It was said at the time that Bo Schembechler was so obsessed with finding a way to crack that Sou Cal defensive unit in the Rose Bowl that he suffered a heart attack right before the game. He was unable to coach in the Rose Bowl loss to the Trojans due to being hospitalized.
4 months ago
I don't want to open up a can of worms abot political correctness, but I can't imagine why the name "Chinese Bandits" would be any more offensive than say, "Chinese Food" or "Ancient Chinese Secret". I love it when LSU plays the Chinese Bandits Theme. Maybe instead we could just put a sticker on the bottom of the defensive players shoe that says "Made in China". If that's offensive then don't buy anything at Wal-Mart.
Quick historical check: I was always told that Dietzel had 3 units at practice; the "White" team which referred to offense, the "Go" team which referred to defense, and the "Chinese Bandits" which referred to special teams. I know the nickname refers to defense now, but has anyone else heard that it was originally given to special teams? Justin, can you help me out here?
from 4 months ago
In the days of two way football the teams with the best players won. You would have a platoon that came on the field at times in mass with no individual substitution pattern and you would have a year in which it was legal to substitute individually or up to a certain number, say three, on a series. During these days a teram with 5 good players could win all their games. Look back at the history of Duke who went to the Roe Bowl twice in the days before unlimited substitution compared to what the Blue Devils have done since the "liberalization" of substutuion patters in the early 1960s. If you're talking about having 11 guys on defense & 11 different guys on offense that's generally too many good players for small private colleges to obtain and the big state schools tend to dominate football over the past half century.
What Dietzel, and his assistant Bill Peterson (who went on to coach the 7 Magnificents at Fla State) did was to play within the substitution rules of '58 while still sending out the best players on each unit. It was vital to get QB Warren Rabb and Halfbacks Johnny Robinson and Billy Cannon on the field as much as possible since they were better than the players they faced. This led to the formation of a basic go and white unit with a modified Chines Bandit unit which could switch from goal line defense to kick off coverage. Just get Warren, Jonnny, and Billy out there was the theme.
Chinese Bandits is offensive because of the tie to the cartoon from which it is based, Terry and the Pirates, which portrayed Asians as buck-toothed-rickshaw pulling- untrustworthy criminals.
from 4 months ago
yeah brian, baby tate just covered it pretty well. Coach Dietzel dubbed the defensive platoon the “Chinese Bandits” after a character in a comic strip who called Chinese bandits the most feared bandits in the world.
that's the whole PC thing. (think Indians=savages and that way of thinking) i don't necessarily agree with the interpretation but i see where tate was going with the whole PC thing. anyway for a little history i copied and pasted the following:
The platooning portion was created by a rule change for that year which allowed a limited amount of substitutions, two per quarter. Dietzel had some good players who excelled only on offense and some only on defense, so they could not make the White team which was the top-notch first string which excelled in offense and defense. What he did was to innovate a three-platoon system which had an offense-only second string and a defense-only third string. However, once the season got started, it was clear that these so-called second and third string platoons were as good or better than the first string in their specialty.
The Gold team was re-named by accident the "GO Team" by a Miami newspaper after the second-string offensive platoon tore Miami University's defense to shreds in LSU's dominating win, 41-0. After that the second-string tag got dropped, and it was simply the GO Team. When LSU wanted to GO on offense, the GO Team went in the game.
On defense, the third-string tag was soon dropped as well. The playing of the Chinese Bandit stalwarts of Mel Branch, John Langan, Tommy Lott, Andy Bourgeois, Gaynell Kinchen, Hart Bourque, and Merl Schexnaildre, among others, kept opponents’s scoring so low that they became thought of as our first-string defense. The Bandits were even called upon to replace the White team to stop important drives near our end zone. In one memorable photo of the Bandits stopping Clemson's attempt to score at the goal line, there were Bandits stacked so high that the Clemson back carrying the ball looked like he was trying to climb a huge wall. That photo became known as "The Great Wall of China".
from 4 months ago
I'll tell you something Justin, I was around for that 1958 season and anxiously awaited the Sugar Bowl meeting of the Tigers. Frank Howard talked a good game about admiring the LSU multiple teams but he confided to papers around Clemson/Greenville/Columbia/Charlotte that he knew his massive "Tigers would blow a hole right through the middle of them Chinamen". He privately confided to a businessmen's dinner 3 weeks before the Sugar Bowl that "There ain't a big enough boy on that LSU team that could start for my Tigers". In other words, sandbagging the national press but telling the locals he "was gonna take it to Dietzel and run him back across that glorified fishin' hole they call the Mississippi River". All the while Dietzel mapped out his strategy. He decided to agree with Frank Howard, the enormous countryboys and farmers' sons of Clemson WERE too big for LSU to handle. But a warrior doesn't fight where the foe is strongest, he attacks where he is weakest. That meant the flanks. LSU outquicked Clemson that day but even with all of that, it took a great play by Billy Cannon for LSU to win 7-0. Speed defeated power that day. 8 years later Dietzel was named head coach at South Carolina and he and Frank had it out all over again as intrastate rivals of the highest order. You know, the old Alabama star lineman Frank Howard knew quite a bit about football, he even taught that kid that backed him up some things, what was his name, something about an animal...oh yeah, Bear!
4 months ago
This is the best history lesson I have ever had! Love it!
from 4 months ago
Thanks Dorothy. I appreciate your comment. Look to hear from you soon.
4 months ago
Concrete Charlie is probably the best nickname ever "Deacon" isn't too bad either.
But the photo of Bednarik standing over Frank Gifford is one of the 5 greatest sports photos ever.
from 4 months ago
Ron, I couldn't agree more with both points. Thanks !
from 4 months ago
The Bednarik pic is my wallpaper during football season.
4 months ago
interesting how no great nicknames have been coined in recent years. The media is getting much less imaginative.
from 4 months ago
You're right Brett. Some of it is the media being afraid to say something that could irritate a sponsor or some group of people in today's world. I hope we can encourage the sports announcers and writers to think more aggressively about nicknames.
4 months ago
Another great article from the one and only BabyTate
from 4 months ago
Thank you Ryan.
Has anyone ever told you how much you look like Joe DiMaggio? Now, that's a compliment Ryan, the Yankee Clipper was married to Marilyn Monroe.
from 4 months ago
yea marilyn monroe dumped him and then died.
4 months ago
Not 100% on this story so correct me if I'm wrong but Alabama got the nickname because their team luggage was provide by Bloomberg's out of Birmingham whose symbol is an elephant, and in the days when Train travel was the primary mode of transportation for teams the luggage would arrive to the platform, already crowded with media personnel, prior to the cars carrying the players. and the story goes that the press people would always say "Here come the red elephants" referring to the elephants on the players luggage. So you are correct that the media penned the name for Alabama's sports teams.
from 4 months ago
Hey, that's a great one. You know what the Editor of the Shinbone Star newspaper said in John Ford's film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend".
4 months ago
Defenses seem to be the recipiants of most of the nicknames.
One for the fan base is the 12th Man from Texas A&M. Actually could be another whole category
from 4 months ago
David, that's a great point. I considered the 12th man for this article but went with "Wrecking Crew" instead for our A&M friends. Since 12th man has been in business since Dana X. Bible's 1921 season team it covered too big a time period, 87 years. It actually predates the 4 Horsemen.
4 months ago
Great job!
Marshall's Young Thundering Herd of 1971 should be in there somewhere. The NCAA issued a special ruling to make freshmen eligible for the team that was reassembled after the jetliner tragedy of 1970 killed almost their entire squad. It worked; the Young Thundering Herd won the home opener over Xavier on a last second pass. They won another game and the 1972 team went back to being the Thundering Herd.
FYI, freshmen were eligible that year across the NCAA, except in the Ivy League. Archie Griffin of Ohio State played early in his freshman year in 1972, gaining the megamileage on his way to two Heismans.
from 4 months ago
Tim, that's a great comment and add. Yes, it was awful, not all papers had the crash in the Sunday edition so as information came trickling in on Sunday the entire nation was brought to a pause over so much youth lost in such a tragedy.
Yes, the Young Thundering Herd using freshmen, a great point.
Thanks !
4 months ago
The homer in me has to suggest Oregon's Gang Green Defense. Look for it be used again this season.
from 4 months ago
I like that. I do like that.
4 months ago
I see that you have "The Four Horsemen" as #1, which should be so. But you can't have the Four Horsemen without The 7 Mules. I believe I can recall a game where Knute proved that the Four Horsemen weren't so tough without The 7 Mules.
from 4 months ago
Berry, you are exactly right on that. So be it.
4 months ago
What about "The Assembly Line" used for those Great Nebraska Offensive Lines during the Osbourne era?
from 4 months ago
Now, that is one I'm not familiar with. But it sounds good so let's use it!
Thanks for Cornhusker information..........
4 months ago
Really interesting article. But you think that "The Fire Ants" is cool?
from 4 months ago
When those Fire Ants beat Notre Dame, Georgia, Florida State, Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Kansas State in 1984 and destroyed Southern Cal 38-14 in 1983 they were too cool to melt.
4 months ago
Some bad habit I have of not checking the author before I read a piece. Halfway through this I knew who wrote it without looking.
from 4 months ago
That's either good for me or good for you, I don't know which.
Thanks for the comment LJ.
from 4 months ago
Good for you.
4 months ago
Looking back on all of these comments I'm not sure if Frank Howard's belief that the Chinese Bandits were Chinese football players isn't the craziest idea of all.
4 months ago
how about Arizona State's "Hell Hogs" in reference to the big uglies on the o-line from the '96 season. I'll concede the unit isnt as historically great as some of the other but a great nickname as it ties into the school mascot of the Sun Devils as well as the position (hogs).
from 4 months ago
That is one I'm not familiar with. Certainly it gets one's attention.
Yhanks for the comment.
4 months ago
great article, keep up the good work!
from 4 months ago
Thanks Taylor!
4 months ago
Does anyone remember the '82 season Cotton Bowl battle between the Pony Express and Dan Marino's Bomb Squad? Not enough bombs fell from the squad.
4 months ago
As a Midwesterner I always wondered about the Elephant thing so thanks for the explanation! Like all your choices but I might add without the 7 mules the Horseman might not have been so good. Chinese Bandits and The Pony Express were also two that stuck with me along with Purdue's Basketball on Grass teams with Drew!
4 months ago
For a single player - the Elmira Express. Did you ever hear of him? A movie is coming out about him soon.
Marty
from 4 months ago
You're talking about the man. I saw Ernie Davis play on TV against Texas in the Cotton Bowl when Syracuse won the national title, he was just a sophomore then. 2 years later he became the 1st black Heisman Trophy winner. A great player, a bigger man, who was something else.
Thanks Marty for one of the great comments.
4 months ago
Nobody care for The Silver Bullets?
from 4 months ago
Tell us who they are. It's an open forum.
4 months ago
Great list, great info........Especially like #1
http://fourhorsementattoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/tattoo2.jpg
4 months ago
Great list, great info....Especially like #1
http://fourhorsementattoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/tattoo2.jpg
4 months ago
Great list, great info.....Especially like #1
http://fourhorsementattoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/tattoo2.jpg
from 4 months ago
Thanks Steelhead, that's a great name you have there.
4 months ago
1 vote for the 12th man, Texas A & M
and maybe the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech too hah
from 4 months ago
Thanks Kevin.
Like to se a game between the Ramblin' Wreck and the Wrecking Crew, with the 12th man looking on.......
4 months ago
haha yeah good point just noticed that. to make up for my bad knowledge, i'll contribute the quack attack, from oregon. That's a pretty good one, no matter how childish it may sound. and they were good last year. until the end.
4 months ago
What was the name of the linebacking group of the 1965 NC State defense that included Chuck Amato...was it the Red Shoes Defense?
from 4 months ago
I don't remember the '65 defense but I know that the Earle Edwards group in 1967 started out 8-0 before Dennis Onkotz and Penn State whipped them. They called that NC State defense the Cool Coyotes.
Side note, in that season's Liberty Bowl, NC State quarterbacked by Jim Donnan, beat Georgia. Of course Donnan went on to coach Georgia.
4 months ago
If you were to expand the list I'd suggest Iowa State's "Dirty Thirty" team from 1959.
And, by the way, the 1965 NC State team was called the Kool Kyoties (spelled thusly, unfortunately) because they discovered their "wolf" mascot was actually a coyote, and the defense that year was called the White Shoes Defense. I haven't been able to find anything about a Red Shoes Defense, although I could swear I had heard that one before too.
4 months ago
They called '65 and '67 Kool Koyotes? State wore white shoes in '67, featured the big cat(Wolf?) Dennis Byrd on that squad.
Davidson had a Dirty 30 in the mid 60s when Dr. Homer Smith was head coach and Dick Toomey was the QB coach.
4 months ago
Let's hear more about the Kool Koyotes and the Dirty Thirty.
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