All things Figment - from the pages of The Figment Sporting Journal

[Tiger Fan]

OKLAHOMA CITY STATE SURPRISE NATIONAL CHAMP

As promised here is the wrap up of how the 1975 collegiate football season came to an end.

DECEMBER 7, 1975

Only a few games on the schedule with the biggest being St Blane's 51-7 thrashing of Northern California. That kept the Fighting Saints national title hopes alive as they were a perfect 11-0 entering the Classic games, joining number one ranked El Paso Methodist, which completed its season a week ago, as the only remaining unbeaten teams.

The other big news was the final weekend of Deep South Conference games and it featured an upset as #3 ranked Georgia Baptist was surprised 19-6 by Cumberland. That left the Gators and Western Florida, which downed Noble Jones College 20-9 Saturday, tied for top spot in the Deep South at 6-2 in section play. The Gators were crowned conference champ because they had defeated the Wolves during the regular season.

DECEMBER 14, 1975

The traditional season ender was the annual Annapolis Maritime-Rome State game and at state was a classic berth for the Navigators. It was an awful season for the Centurions and it only got worse as Rome State finished with a 2-9 record following a 13-3 loss to Annapolis Maritime. The Navigators finished 8-3 and earned their fourth trip to a New Years Classic game in the past five years. They would be off to one of the three new additions to the post-season slate - a trip to the Southern Classic and a date with Academia Alliance champion Brunswick.

JANUARY 1, 1976

For El Paso Methodist it was simple. If the Bandits could defeat Plains Athletic Association champion Oklahoma City State in the Sunshine Classic they would be crowned national champion for the first time in school history. A loss would open the door for St Blane, which went to the Oilman Classic to face Southwestern Alliance champion Amarillo Methodist.

As it turned out they both lost and Oklahoma City State was crowned national champion for the first time since 1947 and the third time in school history. The Wranglers shutdown the powerful Bandits rushing game, holding Mark Wilson and Grant Chacon -two of the top rushers in the nation- to a combined 120 yards on 46 carries. The final score was 23-10 and after St Blane lost the Wranglers were number one.


St Blane fell 23-17 to Amarillo Methodist allowing the SWA champs to creep up to third in the final rankings and drop the one loss Fighting Saints to fourth. Sandwiched between the Wranglers and Grizzlies at number two was a 10-2 Georgia Baptist Gators team. The preseason number one fell twice in Deep South play but finished the season on a high with a wild 38-31 victory over South Atlantic Conference champion Eastern State in the Cajun Classic. The Monitors had tied the game at 31 with a little over 3 minutes remaining but the left too much time on the clock for the Gators, who marched 75 yards in just over two minutes to pull out the winning score.

Meanwhile in the East-West Classic the Redwood Mammoths made it 3 consecutive wins over Detroit City College but this one took overtime with the Mammoths, led by John Coughlin's 166 yards pass and two touchdown throws, pulling out a 37-34 victory. It was a bad day all around for the Great Lakes Alliance as the conference went 0-4 on the day with Central Ohio falling 10-9 to Alexandria in the Lone State Classic, St Ignatius fell to Western Florida 16-9 in the Bayside Classic and St Magnus dropping a 34-31 decision to Provo Tech in Desert Classic.

It came as a mild surprise that Oklahoma City State finished atop the final rankings but the Wranglers did knock off the number one team to get there although I expect there was also plenty of support for Georgia Baptist with the recency of an early December loss by the Gators to a fairly weak Cumberland team likely weighing heavily on the voters minds.

Both of Oklahoma City's losses were to sub-.500 teams but each occurred early enough in the season which likely lessened their impact. The Wranglers lost their opener to a Wisconsin State team that went just 3-8 on the year and also fell to 5-6 Iowa A&M 18-7 in Plains Athletic Association play. November wins over a pair of ranked conference foes in Lawrence State and Boulder State boosted the Wranglers status and the way they handled the El Paso Methodist running game which included the nation's top rusher in Mark Wilson (1,564 yards) and Grant Chacon (1,298 yards) who led the country with 16 rushing touchdowns was a thing of beauty.

This Week in Figment Sports comes to an end with the Wranglers third national title. I enjoyed covering all of the sports over the past 40 odd seasons but college football will be the one I miss the most. I had a great time watching these fictional schools develop personalities of their own and for me at least, they really came alive.