Of the nation's top teams, only Navy and Baylor fell victims to the upset last week. Oklahoma and Michigan State justified their high ranking neatly, but not gaudily
THE EAST
In the mountains of Pennsylvania last week, Army dished out football faintly suggestive of the Army teams of the early 1940s. Three crippling touchdown drives in the third period—led by Halfback Pete Dawkins and Fullback Vin Barta—put the Cadets in position for a Lambert Trophy, perhaps high national ranking. Army beat Penn State 27-13.
The East's upset came when Yale fell to Brown 21-20 on a last-minute touchdown. The Bruins, now starched with confidence, may have the best chance of wrecking Princeton's Ivy title hopes.
THE SOUTH
After enjoying two Saturdays with the rinky-dinks, smooth-sailing Navy ran into first-class opposition, bowed to North Carolina 13-7. The huge Tar Heels, forever storming over the Middie line, alarmed Quarterback Tom Forrestal into passing the ball when he should have eaten it. NC's 240-pound tackle, Leo Russavage, plucked off one of these passes and lumbered 32 yards for the deciding touchdown.
Using pint-sized Quarterback Fran Curci on nifty option plays, Miami got back to business, upsetting Baylor 13-7 (see page 39).
Duke thundered along the ground as usual, but needed crucial passes for the scoring punch to defeat stubborn Maryland 14-0. Halfback Wray Carlton, now the nation's top scorer with 40 points, ran one touchdown across, passed for another and kicked both points. His Blue Devils remain odds-on choice for the Atlantic Coast Conference crown (see page 39).
Surprising North Carolina State, Outrushed and out-passed by clemson, still had climax runner Dick Christy to turn the trick, spilled the Tigers 13-7. Christy bolted 97 yards for a score with the opening kickoff (he went 96 with a Maryland kickoff last week) and teamed with his running mate, Dick Hunter, to set up last touchdown. In winning, the Wolfpack kept pace with Duke in the ACC.
THE MIDWEST
For 30 awful minutes in Minneapolis, some 65,000 fans feared the great 1957 Gopher machine might be taken apart before it had fair chance to get started. But hometown Quarterback Dick Larson, erstwhile second fiddler to the brilliant Bobby Cox, hushed these fears by engineering two second-half touchdowns in Minnesota's 21-17 triumph over fumbling Purdue. Slender Larson made the startled Gophers go with his key passes and slick option runs. In all, he had his hand in each of the three Minnesota scores (see page 37).
Houston took pause from its big-time schedule to virtually ice its second straight Missouri Valley Conference title by squeaking past Cincinnati 7-0. Ferocious Cincy played its best game in three years, contained Houston's superb running game for three periods, broke open in the fourth. Houston now points toward a big one next week—Texas A&M.
As for Texas A&M, Bear Bryant is slowly whipping his boys into shape. Last Saturday they stomped through Missouri 28-0. John Crow, who had injured his knee in the opener with Maryland (SI, Sept. 30), returned to the lineup, but Halfback Bobby Conrad stole the show with a 91-yard kick-off return for a touchdown and 92 yards rushing from scrimmage.
THE SOUTHWEST
With the development of a fine, quick-on-the-draw line, Arkansas is a solid threat in the Southwest Conference. Badly outweighed last week by TCU, the agile Razor-back line sliced paths for Halfback Donnie Stone and Fullback Gerald Nesbitt and wore down three squads of Horned Frogs in a 20-7 victory. Nesbitt's quick kicks kept TCU constantly on the defensive.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Some of the best passes of the season have spun through the thin air of the Rockies, but Utah state, one of the best passers of them all, used a running game to hold Wyoming to a 19-19 draw. State Halfback Overton Curtis led the ground attack with 113 yards, took the game's "best back" award from his teammate, Quarterback Bob Winters. Nonetheless, Winters plugged along as a passer, hit 10 of 18 and held his spot as the nation's best. He has completed 38 of 67 for 490 yards.
THE FAR WEST
Pittsburgh, taking methodical vengeance for the Oklahoma massacre, won its second game on the Pacific Coast, rumbling through poor-tackling Southern California 20-14. The Trojans mustered only two first downs in the first 39 minutes and were out-rushed 270 yards to 53. Yet the officials were the most impressive ground gainers. They carried for 256 yards—142 against Pitt and 112 against SC (see page 39).
Heavily favored Michigan State, with supposedly the best running attack in the country, showed unwonted passing strength in downing California 19-0. The Spartan air game netted 196 yards, all three touchdowns (see page 40).
It was fine weather—for Ducks—as Oregon gamboled through a Portland rainstorm to trim UCLA 21-0. For UCLA, this was its first shutout in 21 games. For the Ducks, it was a leg on a Rose Bowl bid.
