FOOTBALL'S WEEK
Almost before the nation's stadiums had emptied their huge crowds from the first full football weekend of the year, it was evident that most teams were performing as expected and that the best teams could be found, as usual, in the Southeastern Conference, the Southwestern and, particularly, the Big Ten. There were, however, two large surprises. One came in the SEC, where Mississippi, Alabama and Auburn got away on schedule only to find they had been joined by determined Georgia Tech. The other, in the SWC, found TCU stepping smartly alongside Baylor and Texas, perhaps feeling that someone, after all, ought to take up the slack left by fallen Rice. If there was anything unexpected about the Big Ten, it was only that things look even bleaker than usual for visitors to the Midwest.
THE MIDWEST
It is well known that Ohio State's Woody Hayes has always considered the pass an intrusion on the game of football, but this year he promised to use it occasionally and by Saturday night he was probably thankful that he had. While the Buckeyes, as expected, gave the ball most of the time to Fullback Bob Ferguson (he carried 35 times for a total of 137 yards), it was a very big two-yard flip from Quarterback Bill Mrukowski to End Chuck Bryant in the first quarter that saved the day against surprising TCU. For the rest of the afternoon, Ohio State defended against the giant-size passes of TCU's 6-foot-7 Sonny Gibbs, who finally let loose with one for 62 yards to Pete Hall and another for 12 yards to Dale Glasscock to draw the Frogs even at 7-7 in the last period. "The worst game I ever coached,*' moaned Hayes. "I was worse than the boys and they were pretty terrible."
Minnesota and Illinois had even more to complain about. The plodding Gophers made more mistakes than a Little Leaguer and lost to Missouri 6-0 in the rain, snow and wind at Minneapolis. With the elements limiting offense to punting, praying and, on rare occasions, passing, Missouri managed to combine all three long enough in the second quarter to score. Sophomore Daryl Krugman's 51-yard kick bounced out on the one-yard line, and, when Sandy Stephens' return boot went only as far as the 30, the Tigers had their chance. Mike Hunter's pass to Carl Crawford put the ball on the six and, three plays later, Bill Tobin lunged over for the only touchdown. Illinois was victimized by Washington's improving ground game and lost 20-7. Quarterback Kermit Jorgensen moved the Huskies effectively, twice scored from the one-yard line and handed off to speedy Charlie Mitchell, who ran 66 yards for the last score.
The rest of the Big Ten did considerably better. Iowa, rich in halfbacks but even more affluent at quarterback, where Wilburn Hollis is one of the best, ran over California 28-7. Michigan State ground down Wisconsin 20-0 as it conceded short passes to Quarterback Ron Miller (he completed 16 of 25 for 184 yards) but rarely any long ones. Michigan, crashing its ends and linebackers with a recklessness usually reserved for the pros, stifled UCLA's single wing, then gave the ball to Bill Tunnicliff, Dave Raimey and Ben McRae, who each scored once in a 29-6 victory. Northwestern, too, looked good. The Wildcats, unveiling a secret weapon in Sophomore Bill Swingle, who ran for three touchdowns, bombed Boston College 45-0.
Kansas was still the biggest mystery in the Big Eight. Not even Quarterback John Hadl, who passed miserably and ran hardly at all, was able to lift the listless Jayhawks, who were held to a 6-6 tie by Wyoming. The Cowboys, playing for most of the game without the injured Chuck Lamson, hammered Kansas with firm defense, got enough passing from sub Andy Melosky, who threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Halfback Mike Walker to force a tie. Colorado smothered Oklahoma State with long runs by Olympic Sprinter Teddy Woods (82 yards) and Leon Mavity (60 yards) and a 54-yard field goal by Jerry Hillebrand to win 24-0. But Nebraska had to settle for a 14-14 tie with Arizona. The top three:
1. MISSOURI (2-0)
2. IOWA (1-0)
3. OHIO STATE (0-0-1)
THE EAST
For more than 30 minutes, Pitt's bruising linemen had Baylor's swift backs battened solid as a hatch. They poured in on Quarterback Ron Stanley and surrounded Ronnie Bull. The Panthers led 13-3 on End Al Grigliunas' 40-yard sprint with an interception and Fred Cox's 16-yard end run. But the Bears soon caught on to northern ways—and Pitt. They found a soft spot at Pitt's right tackle, sent Bull squirting through for valuable yardage, and Stanley did the rest. With Panthers hanging all over him, Stanley passed four yards to Bob Lane, 12 more to Jim Ingram, and Baylor won 16-13.
Syracuse was less than impressive against surprisingly tenacious West Virginia. The suddenly pesky Mountaineers stacked their defenses to thwart Ernie Davis, gave Coach Ben Schwartzwalder an anxious second half and trailed 21-14 with 2:18 left. But Quarterback Dave Sarette, who had pitched two touchdown passes, tossed a third to Davis and the Orangemen pulled ahead 29-14.
While Pitt stumbled and Syracuse bumbled, Villanova showed off its newly discovered talents against Holy Cross. Quarterbacks Rich Richman and Ted Aceto ran and passed the Wildcats to three scores and Villanova dampened the Crusader spirit 20-6. Army's punishing ground game was too much for Boston U. and the Cadets piled up a 31-7 victory, while Navy, making the most of Ron Klemick's passing, rolled over William & Mary 44-6.
Among the Ivy Leaguers, Yale kept its winning streak alive by beating Connecticut 18-0, but the Elis may soon be in for trouble. Columbia ran, passed and defended skillfully to trounce Brown 50-0; Cornell, using its new lonely end offense, overwhelmed Colgage 34-0; Penn beat Lafayette 14-7, and Dartmouth defeated New Hampshire 28-3. Only Harvard and Princeton faltered. The Crimson lost out to Lehigh 22-17 when Center Charlie Craze pounced on a Harvard fumble in the end zone with 2 minutes to go; Rutgers continued a happy habit and beat Princeton, 16-13. The top three:
1. SYRACUSE (2-0)
2. PITT (1-1)
3. PENN STATE (1-1)
THE SOUTH
Georgia Tech's players gave notice that hospitality has not died in the South by literally giving Rice the shirts off their backs. When both teams appeared in Atlanta with white jerseys, Tech lent its Texas rivals a set of blue ones. However, the lesson in politeness ended with shocking suddenness as Quarterback Stan Gann proceeded to run through, pass over, fake out and pick apart the defenses of the Owls, ultimately defeathering them 24-0. A hot-and-cold operator until Saturday, the stumpy Gann used rollouts and passes to Halfbacks Bill Williamson and Joe Auer to lead a touchdown drive the first time the Yellow Jackets got the ball, then mixed center plunges with more rollouts and passes to score twice more. Coach Bobby Dodd, pleased with his new-look, wide-open offense, said simply: "We didn't make mistakes. It was the kind of game that makes coaching fun."
Atlanta was not the only place where traditionally defense-minded SEC teams showed signs of a change. Auburn, stunned by the passing of Tennessee Tailback Glenn Glass, recovered from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit to win, 24-21, on a 22-yard field goal by sophomore Woody Woodall. Alabama, looking not at all like the championship contender it is supposed to be, got its only touchdown on a Pat Trammell pass, then added a field goal to nudge stubborn Tulane 9-0. Ole Miss took Kentucky in stride 20-6, while Georgia bowed 21-0 as Vanderbilt Quarterback Hank Lesesne threw for three scores. LSU bounced back to beat Texas A&M 16-7; Florida and Florida State wound up with a 3-3 tie.
North Carolina took advantage of a recently exposed weakness in the right side of the N.C. State line to build a 27-10 lead, then hung on to win 27-22 while Slate's Roman Gabriel completed nine passes in the last 13 minutes. Halfback Gib Carson scored three times for North Carolina, whose linebackers earned the praise of Coach Jim Hickey by rushing Gabriel enough to keep him off balance until the game was out of reach. In another ACC meeting, dark horse Maryland beat fellow dark horse Clemson 24-21, when Reserve End John Hannigan kicked a field goal from the 13-yard line with eight seconds to play. Duke had little trouble with rejuvenated but still struggling Virginia and won 42-0 while Dean Findley's field goal gave South Carolina a 10-7 margin over Wake Forest. Southern Conference favorite Fur-man won again, driving 87 yards in the fourth quarter to edge George Washington 13-9. The Citadel won over Davidson 20-12 while VMI held off Richmond 8-6.
Running draw plays with such regularity and such success that 46,000 people in the Orange Bowl wondered if Penn State had ever seen the maneuver before, Miami routed the favored Nittany Lions 25-8. Actually, Miami Coach Andy Gustafson was merely taking advantage of well-founded suspicion that State's big line would be pressing Quarterback George Mira. It did, but Mira and Bobby Weaver passed anyway, completing seven to End Bill Miller for 114 yards. The top three:
1. MISSISSIPPI (2-0)
2. GEORGIA TECH (2-0
3. MIAMI (2-1)
THE SOUTHWEST
Texas presented J.T. King, a Longhorn player and coach for 10 years, with a cowboy hat and a pair of shiny boots before the game, then thrashed his Texas Tech team 42-14. The Longhorns' new single-wing-type T, with the fullback and left half deep and the right half out a yard beyond the end, piled up 391 yards rushing, including big chunks of 72 by wriggly Jim Saxton and 62 by Ray Poage. For variety, Quarterback Mike Cotten completed seven out of eight passes for 104 more yards. Arkansas, still having its troubles, wallowed in the mud most of the afternoon at Fayetteville, beat Tulsa 6-0 on Quarterback George Mc-Kinney's third-quarter touchdown. The top three:
1. BAYLOR (2-0)
2. TCU (1-0-1)
3. TEXAS (2-0)
THE WEST
All last week Utah Coach Ray Nagel had insisted, "We can't let them fake us on reverses, we'll just have to fan in on them. If they start gaining on passes, shed a tear for me. You'll know I'm in a dilemma." Last Saturday night Nagel was in a dilemma, but only in the opening minutes when Oregon recovered a fumble and went on to a touchdown. Then, the big Redskin linemen took hold, the fan swept in beautifully and the swift Duck backs were contained. Fullback Bud Tynes plunged for scores in the second and fourth periods, and the Redskins had their victory 14-6.
It was tougher for fumbling Utah State, which found itself trailing Washington State 14-13 with 12 minutes to go. At that point Quarterback Mel Montalbo, who usually throws, saw an opportunity to run and went over from the eight-yard line. The Aggies quickly ran for two more touchdowns and won 34-14. Even last-place Montana had its day, routing New Mexico, 40-8.
Despite the misfortunes of UCLA and Cal in the Midwest, it wasn't all darkness and despair for the Big Five. USC, its passing game hemmed in by SMU, switched sophomore Willie Brown from right to left half and shook him loose for a 93-yard touchdown run the first time he got his hands on the ball. Brown gained another 90 yards on 12 carries and the Trojans won 21-16. But the biggest shocker occurred at Corvallis, where Stanford trounced Oregon State 34-0. Pushed around by the Beavers, 269 yards to 107 yards, in a scoreless first half, the Indians did some pushing of their own in the last two periods. Quarterback Rod Sears threw for one touchdown, set up two more with his passes and fitful Oregon State went down with a crash that left Coach Tommy Prothro fuming: "It's the first team I've ever had that quit." The top three:
1. WYOMING (2-0-1)
2. UTAH (2-1)
3. STANFORD (2-0)
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PHOTO
BACK OF THE WEEK: TCU's Sonny Gibbs threw tying touch-down pass, killed a late Buckeye threat with an interception.
PHOTO
LINEMAN OF WEEK: Big Michigan Tackle Jon Schopf ruined UCLA's pass-and-run option plays with his fierce tackling.
TWO PHOTOS
NEW FACES: USC's Willie Brown (left) scored on a 93-yard end run, gained 183 yards in 13 carries against SMU; Daryl Krugman's superb punting set up Missouri's touchdown, kept Minnesota bottled up for most of the day.
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Miami over Navy.* Miami's skills are too plentiful, and the Middies will be in over their heads against the rough Hurricanes.
Georgia Tech over LSU. Stan Gann has put some sting into the Yellow Jackets' attack. He will find holes, even in the stubborn LSU defense.
North Carolina over Clemson. Two good running games clash head on, but North Carolina will find a way to outlast Frank Howard's equally stalwart defenders.
Syracuse over Maryland. The Orangemen could stumble over the Terps, but Ernie Davis' running and Dave Sarette's passing should see Syracuse through.
TCU over Arkansas. The big TCU line, so impressive against Kansas and Ohio State, will swarm all over the smaller Razorbacks.
Ohio State over UCLA-The Bruins may be the best in the Big Five, but the Big Ten is another matter. The battering Buckeyes are too tough for UCLA.
Notre Dame over Purdue. A spot for an upset if the Irish can't find a passing game to help their fine running backs.
Colorado over Kansas. The disappointing Jayhawkers are having too much trouble getting off the ground. Sounder defense and faster backs will win for Colorado.
Pitt over Washington. The Huskies are improving, but they still aren't strong enough to cope with the bigger Panthers.
Wyoming over Utah State. The Aggies have been sputtering and may not be able to restrain Wyoming's quicker linemen and more talented quarterback, Chuck Lamson.
Other games
ALABAMA OVER VANDERBILT
AUBURN OVER KENTUCKY
HOUSTON OVER BOSTON COLLEGE
MICHIGAN OVER ARMY
MINNESOTA OVER OREGON
NEBRASKA OVER KANSAS STATE
OKLAHOMA OVER IOWA STATE
PRINCETON OVER COLUMBIA
RUTGERS OVER CONNECTICUT
TENNESSEE OVER MISSISSIPPI STATE
*Friday night game
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS: 11 RIGHT, 6 WRONG, 3 TIES
SEASON'S RECORD: 27-9-4