I was there, Sophomore year. Student seats were in the corner of the opposite endzone. It was a cold, gray, blustery day, with steady winds of around 20 mph, and gust of over 40. The wind was blowing straight into the open horseshoe.
The game started out a little bizarre. The Rebels won the toss, and Billy Brewer had instructed his team to elect to defend the open endzone. He wanted to kickoff with the wind (back then, you couldn't defer). But, the Rebel captain messed up, and said, "We'll kick, that way." The referee has to accept the first thing out of your mouth, i.e., "We'll kick". So he says, "Mississippi has elected to kick. MSU, which endzone would yo like to defend?" And so, UMiss wound up kicking into the wind to start both halves.
With the wind at their backs, MSU ran the wishbone to near perfection. The built a 10-0 lead early, and stretched the lead to 17-0 midway through the second quarter. I was already planning my celebration.
Then, late in the second quarter, MSU had to punt into the wind. The UMiss return man had to run forward quite a bit to catch the punt that held up in the wind, and had a full head of steam as he grabbed the ball. He sprinted down the sideline and.....I honestly don't remember if he scored or got pushed out of bounds before he could score. Either way, the halftime score was 17-7.
For the 3rd quarter, MSU elected to receive, and Billy Brewer made the very wise choice of deciding he wanted the wind at the Rebels backs for the 4th quarter. So UMiss kicked into the wind again. MSU continued to move the ball well with the wind at their backs, but only managed 2 more FGs to push the lead to 23-7 with about 5 minutes left in the third.
Then came what I liked to call "The John Bond Syndrome". As awesome an option QB as Bond was, it could also be a liability. He was ALWAYS looking to pitch the ball, no matter where he was on the field, and it lead to quite a few fumbles. Such was the case in this game. One fumble, and UMiss closed to 23-14. The offense was unable to move the ball into the wind, and punts were very ineffective. State went 5 or 6 straight possessions without making a first down. UMiss took the lead 24-23. My dreams of victory celebrations had turned to dreams of drinking away my sorrow.
Then, with about 5 minutes left in the game, The Rebels were driving for a TD that would put the game away, but they fumbled at the Bulldog 20, right in front of us. We had little hope, but somehow MSU started moving the ball into the wind. They got the ball inside the 20, and got all conservative, knowing Artie Cosby could make the Kick. A couple of QB dives set up the ball at the 10, and out came Cosby to win the game.
UMiss called timeout. That was standard procedure, of course, but Brewer would later claim he called TO because the wind wasn't blowing hard enough and he wanted it to pick up. Right, as if he knew a big gust would be coming exactly 60 seconds later.
Anyway, as everyone said, it was very confusing for those of in the opposite endzone. Cosby's kick went up. It was plenty high, and almost straight down the middle. Bedlam ensued, we threw cups, we hugged each other.....Then the UMiss side of the stadium just exploded. I looked up, thinking maybe there was a penalty or something, and there were the refs waving the kick as "No good". I was incensed. I thought that we were getting screwed WAY worse than the Fourcade PI call.
I carried a radio to games back then and had been listening to Jack, but I turned it off when UMiss was driving late in the 4th quarter. I turned on the radio and heard Jack trying to explain what had happened, but he didn't really have the words for it.
I watched all the replays later, and couldn't believe what had happened.
A funny addendum, I watched the two coaches shows on Sunday. The Emory Bellard show had replays of the kick from two different angles and showed it in slo-mo 3 or 4 times. The Rebel show never even showed a replay of the kick. I am not kidding. They showed UMiss go up 24-23, and then just said....."And the Bulldogs made a late drive but their FG attempt was no good". That was it.
