COLLEGE FOOTBALL: 1956
The football on this week's cover signals the second special issue SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has devoted to a single sport (the first: Baseball, April 9). This issue, with its detailed reports on more than 120 teams, is intended to position the football fan—whether TV or 50-yard-line variety—for the weeks ahead, and to serve him as a season-long aid to the enjoyment of a great game.

PREVIEW: THE 1956 SCENE AND THE SPECTACLE OF VICTORY 26
An appraisal of the football climate on the eve of the campaign, with photographs IN COLOR

THE AUTUMN BATTLEGROUND 32
A map showing some of the skirmishes to be fought in America's annual civil war

THE ELEVEN BEST ELEVENS 34
For the third year HERMAN HICKMAN selects the best teams in the country

SATURDAY'S HEROES IN FOUR-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS 90
A gallery of top players, from the Ivy League, the Big Ten, the South and South Bend

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STARS AFTER COLLEGE? 109
In the first of two parts, ROBERT COUGHLAN analyzes a remarkable survey of Notre Dame monogram winners

THE SCOUTING REPORTS 40
BY CONFERENCES

THE IVY LEAGUE 40
THE YANKEE CONFERENCE 54
THE BIG TEN 57
THE BIG SEVEN 61
THE MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE 64
THE ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE 66
THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE 74
THE SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE 79
THE BORDER CONFERENCE 84
THE SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE 86
THE SKYLINE CONFERENCE 96
THE PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE 100
THE MAJOR INDEPENDENTS 43
THE SMALL COLLEGES 104

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

THE BUMS AND THE BRAVES, BASILIO'S BIG NIGHT AND A, "REWARD" IN GOLF 15-21
SCOREBOARD 8
HOTBOX 11
COMING EVENTS 12
EVENTS & DISCOVERIES 22
THE SPORTING LOOK 106 TIP FROM THE TOP 116
THE 19TH HOLE 118
PAT ON THE BACK 120

Acknowledgments on page 105

Illustrations by John Langley Howard

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PHOTO

SIX ILLUSTRATIONS

NEXT WEEK: WORLD SERIES PREVIEW AND GERALD HOLLAND ON CASEY STENGEL

September 24, 1956