I was living in Wisconsin at the time and watched that game intensely. When it was over, I found a newspaper pic of Troy and superimposed a star over the UCLA logo. I was very immature at the time.
We had three incredible strokes of luck:
1. Jerry knew and played with Jimmy at Arkansas.
2. The #1 pick and a franchise QB just happened to be waiting for them.
3. Minny's foolishness in the Herschel Walker trade.
Eliminate any of the above and our championship drought since '77 would...
Jerry, every year:
1) So and so was the highest rated player left on our board
2) Other teams were hot on the trail of so and so
3) We couldn't risk losing so and so by trading down
any questions?