Senior Midshipmen won final home game in upset of second-ranked Gamecocks
There was no Orange Bowl invitation at stake for Eric Rutherford and the Naval Academy football seniors in 1984. They were not entertaining thoughts of a de facto national championship game against top-ranked Nebraska.
Instead, all they wanted was to leave a mark in their final home game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
"The people who go to the Naval Academy, we're from all over the country," Rutherford, who was Navy's starting defensive end and co-captain, told The Daily Gamecock in a phone interview earlier this week. "Maybe, consciously or subconsciously, we knew that there's a lot of guys we're not going to see again geographically, (due to) attrition, war or whatnot. Once we graduate, we're literally all over the world.
"The gift that we as seniors wanted to give to our graduating class was a victory in our last game at home. What made it even sweeter was that we were playing a team of South Carolina's high ranking."
On Nov. 17, 1984, second-ranked South Carolina took its 9-0 record and national title dreams to Annapolis, Md., and left with a shocking 38-21 defeat at the hands of an injury-riddled Midshipmen squad.
That cold, windy afternoon 27 years ago remains the darkest day in South Carolina athletic history. In their 118 oft-agonized years of existence, the Gamecocks have never been closer to college football's most cherished prize.
The story has been told for close to three decades, almost always from the heartbroken perspective of the team that lost. Rarely, if ever, has it been told from the vantage point of the victors.
For Rutherford, his classmates, teammates and the Navy program, South Carolina's worst day was their finest hour.
The Midshipmen headed into the game against South Carolina battered by injuries. Their starting tailback, All-American Napoleon McCallum, had been lost for the year earlier in the season. Their starting quarterback, Bill Byrne, had broken his leg the week prior in a 29-0 loss to Syracuse. In total, six players had suffered broken legs to that point in the season.
At 3-5-1, Navy was not headed to a bowl game. After playing South Carolina, the Midshipmen would be idle for two weeks before facing Army at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia to end the season. But they weren't about to lie down to the Gamecocks and the national praise and attention that followed them.
"We just had a great week of practice, great week of preparation," Rutherford said. "It's so true that beware of the man who has nothing to lose. We had nothing to lose."
The Midshipmen kept that attitude the entire week. At the same time, there were whispers and sentiments that South Carolina was looking past them, instead thinking a week ahead to its showdown with Clemson. Rutherford said that was indeed the case.
"They didn't really take us seriously, and it was very evident during the game, as the game wore on, that they really didn't have a game plan for us," he said. "Whether we were overlooked because we had so many injuries or whatnot, it just wasn't there.
"These are young kids (on South Carolina), and they're not going to be on top of their game all the time. They're just young kids. They're not professionals," he continued. "That day, they just weren't prepared. I wouldn't say the word 'panic,' but there was a sense of confusion on the whole South Carolina team."
Navy, a 14-point underdog, led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Gamecocks responded, putting together a 13-play, 80-yard drive to tie the game early in the second quarter before the Midshipmen scored again later in the period to take a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Navy's confidence grew from there. So did its lead. The Midshipmen rattled off 24 unanswered points out of the half, staking a 38-7 lead on the second play of the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks rallied with two late scores, but the touchdowns did little more than make the final score respectable. The dream was gone.
"I think it wasn't so much we were happy because South Carolina lost, because that's not the kind of people we are," Rutherford said. "It was more like we were proud of the fact (we won).
"How many times are you going to play the second-ranked team? And if you get to play a second-ranked team, how many times do you get to play a second-ranked team in your small stadium? And if you play a second-ranked team in your stadium, how many chances do you have to win?"
Rutherford himself was crucial to the Navy victory. In one of the most dominant individual performances by an opposing player in South Carolina history, Rutherford had 11 tackles, four sacks, a forced fumble and blocked a field goal attempt that would have given the Gamecocks an early 3-0 lead.
For his efforts, Rutherford was named Sports Illustrated's Defensive Player of the Week. He would go on to receive honorable mention All-America honors.
"My reads were right on; I was splitting the double teams. The (South Carolina) offensive line was an excellent offensive line. It was, for me, meant to be. I kind of wish everybody would have an experience like that," he said. "That day, I felt like it was an out-of-body experience. That there's nothing I could do wrong."
Neither could the Midshipmen. Besides salvaging a disappointing season and accomplishing the goal of winning the final home game, the victory was a redemptive one for Navy. The Midshipmen had previously seen a furious rally at Pittsburgh result only in a 28-28 tie and a late 10-point lead at Notre Dame evaporate into an 18-17 Fighting Irish victory — at the time the 21st of the 43 consecutive games Navy would lose to Notre Dame from 1964 to 2007.
The lessons learned in such games gave Navy strength against the Gamecocks. The team had the experience to handle playing a team of South Carolina's rank and magnitude, and the adversity that came with doing so, especially when the Midshipmen's first few offensive drives ended without points.
"We were prepared because we played so many close games against a lot of good teams," Rutherford said. "We didn't get flustered early. We understood what the situation was. We felt very comfortable as a team."
The fact that both Notre Dame and Pittsburgh were common opponents shared with the Gamecocks also provided an added sense of confidence prior to the game, as well as a starting point strategically.
"We studied the film. We had a great game plan from the coaches that we followed," Rutherford said. "And since we were experienced players, the mistakes we made against Notre Dame, the mistakes we made against Pittsburgh, we didn't make those mistakes against South Carolina. We didn't make any mistakes."
Because of that, the Midshipmen got their win. The seniors were "starting to look down the way," Rutherford said, and understood what defeating South Carolina before they graduated meant. Rutherford entered the Marine Corps. Some teammates became Navy pilots, others Navy SEALs. Many joined the Navy surface. None were moving on to professional football, but rather to entirely new teams where what they had done in the past meant little.
"Once when you get in the service, the fact that we were a Navy football player really didn't count," Rutherford said. "You had to start all over again."
So many of them did, and continued to do so. After leaving the military, Rutherford went into law enforcement, graduating from the FBI Academy and working for the Drug Enforcement Agency. He now works in real estate and resides in his hometown of Boulder, Colo. He said he has grown to appreciate the win more with age. Being so far from South Carolina, he said he has "never really looked at it in that view" that what was such a monumental achievement for him and his teammates was, on the other side, such a devastating blow.
"Unfortunately, that's the rule of life," he said. "I did feel bad for the players there. I wish there could be a play for everybody, but that's just wasn't how it was meant to be."
When the game was played, no current South Carolina players had been born yet. Steve Spurrier was the head coach of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits at the time, still three years away from being offered the head coaching position at Duke. Since then, the Gamecocks have joined the Southeastern Conference and, believe it or not, played Navy at home twice, winning in 1985 and 1988.
Nov. 17, 1984 was a long time ago. Yet the memories of that day still fester like a sore, a heavy load sagging on the conscience of USC fans and players alike. It has become even more so since it was announced in June of 2010 that the Midshipmen would be coming to Columbia this season. Spurrier said he has mentioned past meetings to his players.
"We've kind of had that in the back of our minds all week," center T.J. Johnson said of the 1984 game. "We can't let them come in here and upset us."
Marcus Lattimore said players are, understandably, "kind of" tired of hearing about what happened in 1984. But they understand what the Gamecocks lost that day.
Rutherford said he understands USC fans may be upset about what happened. The Gamecocks were undoubtedly the better team, he said, and likely kicked themselves for the loss and the dashed national title hopes.
But, he also hopes USC fans can "find it in their hearts" to be able to "console themselves" with the fact the Gamecocks lost to a service academy to end their undefeated season, rather than Clemson or another regional power.
"We sacrifice a lot, academy guys. When you lose friends to plane accidents, combat, SEAL-training accidents, we pay the price," Rutherford said. "Hopefully South Carolina fans feel that if anyone was going to beat [the Gamecocks], hopefully it would be a service academy team."