Great Games: 1960 LSU
Thursday, October 5, 2006 | Football
As part of the celebration of the 100th season of Florida football, gatorzone.com will run a series of historical features throughout the preseason and the 2006 campaign. The series will give Gator fans an appreciation and understanding of the past teams and players that helped build the Gator football program.
During preseason practice, readers can learn about ground-breaking Florida teams of the past on Tuesdays and Thursdays with the “Great Teams and Eras” series. In addition to those stories, each Friday from the beginning of preseason practice until the season's first game will feature a look at one of Florida's legendary players as part of the “Gator Greats” series.
Once the season is underway, the look back in time will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays with “Rivalries and Series” and “Great Games” entries relevant to the week's opponent. Occasionally, additional stories will be unveiled on Wednesday of game weeks when the opportunity arises.
Each of the features is being reprinted in a way that mirrors the original as much as possible. While records, figures and statistics have been updated, all references to people who helped shape Florida football's history reflect the time period in which the feature was written.
As the 2006 football season approaches, take some time to sit back and reflect on the teams, players and moments that all lead up to this, the 100th season of Florida Gator football.
By Norm Carlson
Little Larry Libertore's 66-yard touchdown run on the first play of the 1960 LSU game not only propelled the Florida Gators to a remarkable win in Tiger Stadium, it helped begin a dominance of the Tigers in their own stadium which borders on being unreal.
Coach Ray Graves' first Florida team went to Tiger Stadium as an underdog on October 22, 1960. They were not only facing one of the nation's best teams, the Gators had won only once in the feared arena.
Florida got its second win in Baton Rouge that night and set the tone for the future. Starting with that 1960 game, the Gators have gone 9-6 at Tiger Stadium, second only to Alabama's phenomenal 12-1-1 mark there during this period.
Libertore got it all started on the first play from scrimmage in '60 when he faked a handoff to fullback Don Goodman, cut inside left tackle, shook off a defensive back then reversed his field to the right and scooted 66 yards for a score with only 42 seconds gone in the game.
The 147-pound sophomore quarterback was stunned.
“Jon MacBeth made a good fake and Lindy Infante threw a great block that let me get started,” he said. “Once Lindy opened the hole and I sort of bounced off a defender it was just a matter of out-running people to the end zone.”
LSU came back to hit a field goal to make it 7-3 and then got a controversial touchdown with seconds remaining in the half on a play which could have disheartened a team with less character than the Gators showed that night.
On fourth-and-one, fullback Charles Cranford appeared to be stopped, then spun off and scored a touchdown.
The Gainesville Sun story on the game reported, “One official was preparing to mark the ball down at the half-yard line when he spun off the pile and fell into the end zone.” He was awarded a TD and it was 10-7 LSU at the half.
The Gators came back strong early in the third quarter and tied the score at 10 on a 47-yard field goal by Billy Cash with 9:44 remaining in the period. Then defensive end Pat Patchen recovered an LSU fumble at the Tiger 46-yard line which resulted in another Cash field goal for a 13-10 lead.
With time running out and the jammed stadium rocking with the screams of frenzied Tiger fans, LSU marched down the field and appeared ready to squeeze out a last-ditch victory.
It was then that Coach Gene Ellenson's defenders came up with one of the greatest defensive stands in Florida history to preserve the win. LSU ran five plays inside the Gator 10-yard line and wound up attempting a fake field goal from the 38.
Vic Miranda, Jim Norris, Jim Beaver, Bob Wehking, Ronnie Slack, Jon MacBeth, Bruce Culpepper, Nick Arfaras, Tommy Kelley and Pat Patchen alternated in stopping LSU's final thrust.
When Arfaras and Patchen alertly stopped the fake field goal it was all over and Florida had established itself as a team to be respected in Graves' initial season as head coach.
Gainesville Sun sports columnist Joe Halberstein described it this way: “The twinkling little feet of quarterback Larry Libertore and the golden big toe of Billy Cash – combined with a stout-hearted defense when the chips were down – carried Florida to a comeback 13-10 SEC football triumph over LSU Saturday night and projected the Gators squarely into the 1960 title picture.”
Graves would take Gator teams led by Steve Spurrier into Tiger Stadium for easy wins in 1964 (20-6) and 1966 (28-7) but that first one in 1960 was something he has never forgotten.
“It was one of the most courageous, gutsy performances of any team I've ever been associated with as a player or a coach,” he said recently. “There just wasn't any way we were going to win that game, but we did.”
