Michigan State Upsets Favored USC

Oct. 3, 1964 - A 49-yard field goal by barefoot kicker Dick Kenney, an import from Hawaii, was the key play today as Michigan State upset favored USC, 17-7, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

Coach John McKay’s Trojans previously beat Colorado, 21-0, and Oklahoma, 40-14, and were ranked second in the A.P. poll last week. The setback broke a string of six straight USC victories over the Big Ten.

Kenney, a sophomore, was making his first appearance in a college game. His 49-yard boot with his bare foot in the first period set a Michigan State record, topping a 47-yard three-pointer by Earl Lattimer against Northwestern last year.

Both teams scored in the third quarter, the Spartans on a 46-yard drive and USC on an 80-yard march, their most impressive showing of the game. Craig Fertig hit tight end Dave Moton for 26 yards for the big play on the drive. Mike Garrett (pictured) dove over from the 1-yard line on the 11th play of the series. Clint Jones scored the Michigan State touchdown from the two.

Despite being bothered by bruised ribs, Garrett emerged as the game’s leading rusher, picking up 94 yards on 26 carries.

Michigan State put the game away with slightly more than five minutes to go. Harry Ammon threw 23 yards to Gene Washington in the end zone for the score.

Lou Bobich, another of coach Duffy Daugherty’s unusual kickers, made both extra points and was booming long punts all day. Bobich boots the ball in side-footed soccer fashion.

“It sure would have been a different game if we scored that first touchdown,” McKay postmortemed. “But they did a great job on us. We tried a thousand ways to fool [Don] Japinga, their defensive back, and we never did.

“I suppose the line play was about even, unless you count [rover Charley] Migyanka. If he was a lineman, they beat us in the line.”

Coach Daugherty was beaming, naturally. “In our game plans, we felt he had two things to do — stop their rollout and, secondly, stop their power. We were successful most of the time on rollouts, but we couldn’t stop their power stuff until we made some adjustments.

“I felt the Trojans were so dangerous with their spread stuff that we devised a defense that had five backs in at the same time and went with one tackle.

“I thought the Trojans had three great backs in Garrett, [Ron] Heller, and [Rod] Sherman, and that Jeff Smith in their front line did a great job, stopping us time after time in the first half when it looked like we’d go. For us, the fellows thought Migyanka did a great job and voted him the game ball.”

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