- Jun 12, 2014
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There's a great ESPN documentary on the 1962 Ole' Miss team, Joe. I highly recommend it. There were campus riots that year, and not the kind we think of when we think of campus riots in the 60s and 70s. Basically armed outside agitators shooting live rounds at the National Guard over the admission of a solitary black gentleman to the school.Okeechobee Joe;n173296 said:A lot of the younger crowd does not know that Ole Miss coached by the great Johnny Vaught was not only an SEC powerhouse, but a national powerhouse in the late 1950s early 1960s. It was unheard of at the time for Ole Miss to lose a game by 16 points. It was a big upset. As you know, the Gators had a sophomore quarterback who started that year by the name of Steve Spurrier.
This was a turning point game. Soon Ole Miss would fade into oblivion due to the baggage they carried when the SEC integrated football. They are just now, fifty years later, beginning to re-emerge on the national stage again. Florida, we all knew, would not always remain a middle of the pack SEC team, but would go on to someday win a SEC titile, and yes, even a national title. It just took a lot longer to get there than some of us thought.