AN EARLY SHOW OF FORCE
Too many white shirts
Bobby Boyd stood next to his locker dressing. He looked as though he wanted to stand in it, had his size permitted, to get away from the crowd pressing around him. He was just 19. His hands trembled uncontrollably as he worked the Windsor knot of his tie into position. The white shirt he had just donned was already mottled with nervous sweat, a reaction from his first big-time college football game. It was hard to believe that this pink-cheeked, scared youth had just helped Oklahoma roll over Pittsburgh 26-0 as though the big, lumbering Panthers were somebody's junior varsity. He had not scored, though he had gained admirably. He was typical of the legion of energetic neophytes rising to fill the gaps left at Oklahoma by the departed Tommy McDonald and Jerry Tubbs. He was talented. He had an unshakable faith in his coach, Bud Wilkinson, and he had learned the Wilkinson method as he would have learned a catechism. He seemed unable to understand the ease with which his team had beaten Pittsburgh. "Coach told us they would be the toughest team we would meet all season," he said. "We wanted to win, sure, but we didn't expect to, least not like this. Why, that Pitt line they were all writing about, I run tougher lines in practice!"
The youth and energy of Oklahoma got to Pittsburgh midway in the second quarter. Tiredness ate its way into the Pittsburgh line, although man-for-man the Panthers averaged some 18 pounds heavier. Every seven minutes a new Oklahoma unit, fresh and eager, would enter the ball game. Pittsburgh Coach John Michelosen had no spare unit. He had to stay with his front-line troops and watch as the fresh, white Sooner hordes breached the Pitt forward wall. John G. Zimmerman, with a long-lens camera, graphically caught these moments (above).
Clendon Thomas, Oklahoma's great halfback, realized Pitt had had it midway in the second quarter. "Their pursuit dropped off. If they didn't get us at the line, they just dropped off and left it up to the secondary."
Oklahoma scored once in the second quarter. Fearing the legendary Pitt second half surge, the Sooners poured on the steam in the third quarter and scored three more.
Wilkinson, a restless perfectionist, was happy with the win, but at the same time discontented. "I was pleased with the line. But we're going to have to work harder, move faster. We have some tough games coming up." And his players, who continue to comprise the decade's finest football machine, heard him and nodded agreement.
However, Pittsburgh was the toughest opponent Oklahoma will face all year. The devastating results of this encounter indicate clearly that Wilkinson has another championship team on his hands, another Orange Bowl invitation (and victory) ahead and another rating as the best team in the country, for no opponent on the remainder of the schedule is likely to beat the Sooners.
It is a pity Oklahoma will not be coming up against one of the top Big Ten teams—Michigan, Michigan State or Minnesota—this season or next—or even against some of their more powerful neighbors in the South and Southwest. Perhaps such teams are the only true yardstick of the Sooners' potential. But New Year's Day holds out some hope. If all goes as it should, Oklahoma will then come up against an Orange Bowl opponent capable of providing true test of its skill. It would be interesting to see the Sooners really having to work for their victory.
Too many naval salvos
They sent 33 members of the Brigade of Midshipmen from Annapolis to Boston to help Boston College dedicate its new stadium last Saturday. All 33 put on football uniforms, and before the day was out each had had a part in piling up a 46-6 score that left Bostonians wondering whether they invited the right guests to the christening.
Nonetheless, it was a truly awesome display of naval power. Although Coach Eddie Erdelatz used his reserves generously once the result began to become apparent, it was quite obvious that first-string Quarterback Tom Forrestal (left) is ready to lead Coach Erdelatz' split-T offense with impressive poise, judgment and finesse.
Any number of pigskin seers has picked this present Navy team as potentially the finest of Eddie Erdelatz' eight-year regime at the academy. What happened at Chestnut Hill before 28,000 local partisans and ex-King Leopold of Belgium went a long way toward confirming these predictions.
Back from the depths
Three gray flannel suits (banker's gray) squeezed into the noisy, jubilant, half-naked throng in the Houston dressing room underneath Rice Stadium. Spotting the object of their search, they threaded their way delicately through the musky sweat of the locker room until they stood before Hal Lahar, the Houston coach. Grinning, they greeted him with outstretched hands. "We just want to meet you and say hello," said one, for they were a three-man committee from the Sugar Bowl, sizing up prospects for New Year's Day.
As far as Lahar was concerned, it was much too early for such overtures, and the gray flanneled committee simply added to the already highly charged confusion as 45 husky Houston players shouted, laughed and sang to celebrate their 7-0 victory over Miami. Lahar mumbled a few polite words to the committee, then wandered off across the locker room, a Coca-Cola and cigaret dangling from one hand.
"It was just a situation of 45 boys who really wanted to win a game," said Lahar. "We got our share of the breaks and we made a lot of mistakes. The kids burned themselves out by the third quarter, but they just had enough determination that they went on anyway. They hung in there and took it."
Mike Michen, co-captain of the Cougars, echoed his coach: "There was no first string out there. It was just one big squad headed for a win."
Thirty feet across a ramp the subdued University of Miami players sat quietly stunned, finding it hard to absorb the reality of defeat. They were sitting thus when their coach, Andy Gustafson, rode into the room on a wave of sound.
"All right, over to the corner, over here. Come on, stand tall. I don't want any hang-dog looks around here," he roared. The squad broke toward the sound.
"Now stand tall and be proud. You had a tough night out there, but I'm proud of you. Now, we're going back home and build up that second team. You Charlie, you Gary, you Bill, you all did good out there. Now, who do we play next?" he asked.
"Baylor," they roared, and the 35 beaten Hurricanes were suddenly their old scrappy selves again.
FOUR PHOTOS
OKLAHOMA SUBS ALWAYS STAY EAGERLY NEAR BUD WILKINSON LINE BUCK BY MORRIS (51) BRINGS USUAL FIERCE OKIE BLOCKING PITT BLOCKS COULDN'T HOLD SOONERS WHO WENT UNDER OR OVER LONG-LENS CAMERA SHOWS IMMOVABILITY OF OKIE DEFENSE
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QUARTERBACK FORRESTAL ON A KEEPER
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Big Apple. The Air Force Academy team donned its shiny blue-and-silver uniforms Friday night and trundled into the Los Angeles Coliseum. Here they are shown swarming over a UCLA player, but their premature big-time debut ended in defeat, 47-0.
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Major Casualty. John Crow, the big Texas A&M halfback, has been picked as a cinch for All-America. But in the Aggies' first game his left knee was badly twisted by the Maryland tackle shown above. Although the Aggies won 21-13, they may have lost Crow.
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Fresh Talent. Halfback Joe Delany (22) was symbolic of the new prosperity at Georgia Tech. Far from rebuilding as predicted, Coach Bobby Dodd came up with a talented array of youngsters, beat powerful Kentucky 13-0, pointed for his ninth Bowl.