COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE BOWL GAMES : BROTHER VS. BROTHER : Ex-Trojan Tody Smith and Ex-Spartan Bubba Have a Few Scores to Settle Going Into the Rose Bowl Game

There is no rivalry quite as fierce, emotional and even amusing as one that pits brother against brother.

Such a rivalry is simmering now. It’s not a physical confrontation because the brothers, Bubba and Tody Smith, don’t play football any more.

They did, though, make an indelible imprint on the game--Bubba as a famed defensive linemen for Michigan State and the Baltimore Colts and Tody as a member of USC’s “Wild Bunch,” the defensive renegades of the late ‘60s.

Now they’re into their own endeavors. Bubba’s celebrity status was sustained with other renowned former pro football players on Lite Beer television commercials and he is still pursuing a productive acting career.

Tody, who played for the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers after he left USC, is a partner with Gary Kleinman, a company that manages all aspects of Bubba’s career.

As the younger brother, Tody followed Bubba to Michigan State before transferring to USC. His loyalty is unquestionably with the Trojans.

So brotherly love is on hold now. For one week they’ll be adversaries.

USC will play Michigan State in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, but the game is already heating up in Tody’s office in Hollywood.

It still rankles Bubba that he was on a team that suffered one of the most shocking losses in Roe Bowl history, UCLA’s 14-12 upset victory over top-ranked and previously unbeaten Michigan State in 1966.

Tody says that USC would have beaten Michigan State last September instead of losing (27-13) if it hadn’t turned the ball over five times. He also reminds Bubba that USC is a 3-point favorite now and the Pacific 10 has won 16 of the last 18 games against the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.

Bubba: “That’s because they have these kids coming down from Michigan to Hollywood.”

Tody: “They’re staying in Newport Beach.”

Bubba: “Newport Beach is Hollywood to them. California is Hollywood to them. It was the same way when we came out here.

“When we came to the Rose Bowl, we went to Disneyland, Lawry’s and all that stuff. I couldn’t handle Disneyland.

“You know, I’m going down in a submarine and seeing little fake fishes go by. I’m out there trying to concentrate on a football game.

“Then, you go around on a train in Disneyland and Indians were popping up. I’m thinking ‘Why do we have to stay out here for this bleep?’ I’m ready to go back to the hotel.

“Then, they put us in a monastery about a week before game. I said, why are we here? We were practicing twice a day and this was supposed to be our vacation.

“And that year I thought we had already won the national championship. That’s the first year that the Associated Press waited until after the bowl games for another poll.”

Michigan State had beaten UCLA, 13-3, at the outset of the 1965 season, setting up a rematch similar to Friday’s game.

Was overconfidence a factor in the upset?

Bubba: “That didn’t come into play. We knew that they couldn’t block us. Can you imagine Donahue blocking me?”

Terry Donahue, UCLA’s football coach, was recognized as the original gutty little Bruin as an undersized lineman in the 1966 Rose Bowl game.

Bubba: “He was the original gutty little thing that you could flip off with a forearm. He pulled to block and I wasn’t paying any attention to him. What could he do?”

(For the record, Donahue was a defensive lineman in that game, but who is going to correct Bubba when he’s on a roll).

“The only person I knew who was going to being playing hard for UCLA was Mel Farr. I knew that he would be playing over his head. We played against each other in high school in Beaumont (Tex.)

Tody: “The greatest game I’ve ever seen in my life was a game between Charlton Pollard where my father coached and Hebert where Mel Farr played. They were the black high schools in Beaumont.”

Bubba: “I wanted to go to UCLA with Mel but Tommy Prothro (UCLA’s coach) didn’t think I was good enough.

“Mel called me one summer when I was at Michigan State and before I signed my letter of intent. He said, ‘Hey man, I’m out at Dodger Stadium and I’m going out on Bing’s (Crosby) yacht tomorrow.’ I got so crazy. I had to get to California.”

OK, but let’s get back to the Rose Bowl game. Other than Disneyland, are there other reasons for the Pac-10’s domination of the Big 10 in recent years?

Bubba: “Integration. Stop and think. I want to legitimize this. When we came out here most of the black ball players on the team were from Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. All of the good black players they used to get out of South are staying home now.

“Bear Bryant would tell our coach, Duffy Daugherty, about a black player who could really play even though Bryant couldn’t recruit him. Then Duffy would go down south and get the kid.”

Tody: “Bubba has a point and I was on a USC team in 1970 that changed the recruiting pattern in the South. We played Alabama in Birmingham in an opening game.

“And I’ll never forget this one incident. As we were getting ready to board the bus to the game and there were some black ladies there and I didn’t have an idea who they were.

“They said to us, ‘You guys are the answer to to our prayers.’ They were praying that black kids would get a chance to play in Legion Field.

“On the way to the game it was an entirely different feeling than I ever had before. And, when we got there, we didn’t see any black folks in the stands.

“We beat Alabama easily, 42-21. We could have won by more, but John McKay showed class by removing the first team early in the third quarter when we were way ahead.

“Sam Cunnnigham was named offensive player of the game and I was the defensive player of the game.

“The next day a headline read: ‘USC does more for the South in One Night of Football than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.’

“After that Bear Bryant integrated at Alabama and other schools followed and it changed the fabric of the South in college football.”

Getting back to the Rose Bowl game . . .

Tody: “Bubba keeps talking about the submarines and Micky Mouse. You talk to Bubba next year and he might tell you about UFO’s or something.

“Bubba will never forget that loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl game. True champions whenever they’re disappointed search the rest of their lives for an answer.

“They were so disappointed. There was no doubt in their minds that they would win. I’ve never seen a college football team to this day blessed with more talent than that Michigan State team. It was more than shock, those guys were speechless.”

Isn’t it puzzling that USC is slightly favored even though the Trojans are ranked 16th nationally and the Spartans are ranked eighth?

Bubba: “They’re on their home ground.”

Tody: “Here we go again. The UFO’s, the fishes.”

Bubba: “It would be different if this game were played in Spartan Stadium. Just make it cold, let that shock hit them (USC).”

Tody: “Now we have another excuse, the weather.

Bubba: “Have you ever played in cold weather, hasn’t it affected you?. You know, Tody, I would love to play against your ‘Wild Bunch’ with the team we had at Michigan State. Who is going to block me?”

Tody: “Sid Smith, our All-American tackle.”

Bubba: “Sid Smith! Donahue couldn’t come close to me and neither would Sid Smith.”

Tody: “All I know is that quarterbacks didn’t finish the game against us. You guys had some great linebackers in George Webster and Charles Thornhill. But you weren’t as dramatic and respected as we were. Our ‘Wild Bunch’ of Jimmy Gunn, Al Cowling, Charlie Weaver, Willard Scott and myself captured the imagination of the entire country.”

Bubba: “You wouldn’t be calling yourself the ‘Wild Bunch’ if you played against us.”

Time out fellows. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Who is going to win the Rose Bowl game?

Bubba: “Michigan State by 10 points.”

Tody: “I haven’t seen enough of Michigan State to predict the points. I’m just predicting a victory for the Trojans. They come out here every 22 years. We own the Rose Bowl. They’re guests in our town.”

Bubba: “I’m going to make sure they don’t take the Spartans to Disneyland. That train ride almost drove me crazy, the Indians and cowboys and then seeing all those fake little fishes. What do they think we are, 9 years old?”