You are right, the dog died the same year but it was apparently not related. He did suffer heat exhaustion though. You don't eat the bark, you eat the cambium.
I was pretty sure I remembered that Smokey’s death later on was partially attributable to the effects of heat stroke but a lot of time has passed and I honestly didn’t go back and completely fact check every detail. I’m just going on what I remember. I had somebody tape the game for me and there were a few shots of the sideline reporters with those big ass round white thermometers showing the field temps.
The thing I saw said brain cancer that same year, though he was listed on the injury chart with heat exhaustion after UCLA.