P.W. “Bear”
Underwood was one of the tough but loveable old-school coaches who entered
the U.S. Army after his high school graduation and became a Military Police
Officer. Thus he was older and tougher than his teammates when he enrolled
at Mississippi State for one season and then transferred
to Southern Miss. He entered school and became one of the best linemen of
his era, later named to the USM Team Of The Century. Drafted by the Bears in
‘54, he instead completed his playing eligibility at Southern and after the
’56 season, played with Hamilton of the CFL as a guard and tackle for only
two seasons but performed so well that he was named to the CFL Fabulous
Fifties Team. He was an assistant for Coach Vann, directing the Vandals
defensive units to their three-year national ranking until becoming the
linebackers coach at Tennessee for two
seasons. With his introduction as USM’s new head coach, Underwood introduced
an alteration to the helmet that Coach Vann had unveiled in ’68. He
maintained the Green Bay gold shell, one-inch white center stripe with
three-quarter-inch black flanking stripes, and replaced the player
identification numerals on each side with a black USM logo that featured an
enlarged “S” between a smaller “U” and “M.” To note the centennial year of
collegiate football, like many schools, Southern Miss featured a “100” decal
that was placed at the bottom rear of the helmet, and black player
identification numerals were placed to the right of the centennial decal.
Improvement was obviously expected from Coach Vann’s final, sub-par season
and there were some successes in the 5-5 finish that seemed like a tale of
two different seasons. An opening day win was followed by four consecutive
losses, “low-lighted” by defensive breakdowns against Alabama (63-14) and Ole Miss (69-7), another loss to
Mississippi State, and a surprising beat-down by Idaho that exposed a poor
Southern secondary. Winning four of the final five games showed promise for
the future but more had been expected. 160 pound Rick Donegan took over the
quarterback spot by mid-season and led the strong finishing charge, with
receiver Billy Mikill catching forty-seven passes. Larry Moulton was the
primary rushing threat piling up 604 yards and returning kick offs for
almost twenty yards per attempt. Underwood’s switch to a five man defensive
front did not produce the expected results despite the presence of 260 pound
Rex Barnes whose many fans filled the air with the chant, “Blood makes the
grass grow, kill Rex kill!” Barnes three year’s of service brought him a
spot on the USM Team Of The Century but the Dadeville, Alabama native had
little help from what was usually a tough unit.
For the 1970
season, Coach Underwood utilized the same helmet with “USM” black logo he
had placed onto the field in ’69. He removed the “100” year commemorative
sticker from the rear of the shell and the black player identification
numerals were applied lateral to the right flanking stripe on the helmet’s
posterior side. Integration came to USM as early as 1965 but the varsity
football team would feature its first African American player, Willie
Heidelberg, in ’70. The Pearl River JC transfer was a 145 pound bundle of
speed, personally doing enough damage to pull off an historic upset of
Archie Manning led, number four ranked Ole Miss 30-14. Coach Underwood was
named UPI’s Coach Of The Week and defensive end Hugh Eggersman the Lineman
Of The Week for consistently shutting down Manning. Quarterback Donegan ran
an inconsistent offensive show as effective tailback Moulton completed his
excellent career with 1875 rush yards and as usual was indispensable as a
receiver and returner. Despite the work of Eggersman, linebackers Dicky
Surace and Ken Burgo, and safety Ray Guy whose 45.3 punting average was
second best in the nation, the defense was again under par, giving up 456
yards to Auburn, 514 to a Brian Sipe led San Diego State, and fifty-one
points versus Memphis State. The 5-6 finish was a disappointment. With the
defense of his first two seasons well off the national-best pace set by his
mid-sixties Vandals, Underwood switched to a 4-3 Rover for 1971, utilizing
190 pound Fred Meyer as the monster back. In what amounted to a tale of
inconsistency, Southern played their first six games on the road and lost
five of them though only the 42-6 defeat by Alabama got away from them. The 27-14 loss to
Auburn was tough
to take as quarterback Donegan, team passing leader for the third straight
year, completed twelve consecutive passes, a record that stood until 1996.
They closed the season with five consecutive wins to finish at a respectable
and improved 6-5. The offense finally came together under the direction of
Donegan who finished his career with 3753 passing yards, and the rushing of
Doyle Orange who posted 565 on the ground. Former Mississippi High School
All Star Game MVP Buddy Palazzo often sparked the team coming in to spell
Donegan. Sophomore linebacker Mike Dennery debuted nicely and defensive end
Fred Cook had some big moments with his record eighteen sacks, but the
leading tackler was Kyle Gantt, a 199-pounder who made 130 knockdowns and
with safety/punter/placekicker Ray Guy, and center Jimmy Hayes, was named as
an Honorable Mention All American. Steve Broussard, the 200 pound rover who
had transferred from Auburn in time for the ’70 season, was utilized as a
punter by the Packers in 1975 and had the unfortunate distinction of having
three punts blocked in the same game.
