FOOTBALL'S WEEK
THE MIDWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. NORTHWESTERN (6-0)
2. MISSOURI (6-0-1)
3. WISCONSIN (5-1)
The Big Ten, bruised and battered often by outsiders this season, was reduced to shambles by its own members in the most upsetting week in memory. Iowa used Woody Hayes's favorite device, the fullback smash, to beat Ohio State 28-14. Vic Davis, a 190-pound sophomore, split the Buckeye defense with his power bursts up the middle, and Quarterback Matt Szykowny sneaked through the brawny OSU line for two touchdowns. Purdue was even more embarrassed as it lost to Illinois 14-10. Beaten 15 straight times, the Illini surprised the Boilermakers by putting up a suddenly extra-firm front and harassing them with Mike Taliaferro"s passes and Ken Zimmerman's darting runs.
Michigan State's running game, the best in the nation, was simply no match for Minnesota's staunch defense, also the best in the nation. Big Tackles Bobby Bell and Carl Eller stacked up the swift Spartan backs and held them to a mere 30 yards. Jim Cairns returned a punt 51 yards, Bill Muncey took a 44-yard pass from Duane Blaska, Jerry Jones and Jay Sharp hammered over from up close and Minnesota won 28-7.
Despite Tom Myers' uncanny aim (16 for 26), good for 243 yards and two touchdowns, Northwestern trailed Indiana 21-20 in the last quarter. Then the Wildcats got busy. Myers' passes ate up some yardage, Bill Swingle pounded the rest out of Indiana's weary line, scoring from the five to win for Northwestern 26-21. Only Wisconsin had an easy time—after the first half. Ron Vander Kelen threw passes (17 of 25 for 202 yards), Pat Richter caught them (seven for 104 yards), and the Badgers licked Michigan 34-12.
Missouri, 16-7 winner over Nebraska, still has to beat Kansas and Oklahoma to win the Big Eight title. Kansas sprang sophomore Gale Sayers for 156 yards and three touchdowns on the way to an easy 38-0 victory over Kansas State. Oklahoma, reminding followers more and more of the oldtime Sooners, hit Colorado with four long touchdown strikes in the first 22 minutes, three of them on Quarterback Monte Deere's passes, then went on to clobber the dazed Buffs 62-0. Mourned Colorado Coach Bud Davis: "It was the longest day of my life."
Iowa State thumped Oklahoma State 34-7 as shifty Dave Hoppmann ran for 144 yards, raised his career total to 2,370 for a Big Eight record. Dayton couldn't stop Holy Cross's Pat McCarthy, who passed and ran for four scores, and got beat 36-14.
THE EAST
THE TOP THREE:
1. ARMY (6-1)
2. PENN STATE (6-1)
3. PITT (4-3)
It was one of those bad-weather Saturdays in the East, but for Notre Dame the sun shone in drenched Philadelphia Stadium. The Irish rushed Navy's sophomore quarterback, Roger Staubach, unmercifully, Daryle Lamonica deftly picked apart the Navy defenses and Notre Dame won 20-12. Lamonica plunged over from the one in the second quarter and, when Navy went ahead 12-7 after recovering a fumble on the one-yard line in the last period, he threw a 45-yard scoring pass to Dennis Phillips. Minutes later, he dove over from the one again.
The elements were even more inhospitable at Penn State, where the Lions and Maryland had it out in a raging snowstorm. State's Rip Engle, knowing he had to stop Dick Shiner's passing to win, stationed his halfbacks wide to protect against Maryland's split end and flanker back, and used his linebacker to double-team Tom Brown, Shiner's pet receiver. It worked just fine. Shiner completed only five passes, none to Brown, had three intercepted (two by defensive Quarterback Don Caum) and, with their firepower blunted, the Terps succumbed 23-7.
Pitt dulled Syracuse's ground game with a stunting line that rotated three linebackers in tight, then made the Orangemen pay for their errors. A high center pass and fumble in the end zone gave Pitt its first score, a poor punt set up Paul Martha's 31-yard sprint for the second and Martha ran back a Syracuse pass 54 yards for the last one as the Panthers won 24-6.
Army, still feasting on the soft part of its schedule, turned Fullbacks Ray Paske and Bob Wright loose for three scores and whipped Boston U. 26-0. Villanova belabored Detroit to win 14-0.
As usual, some Ivy League teams were flexing their November muscles. Unbeaten Dartmouth wrapped Yale in a variety of carefully planned defenses and won 9-0. Princeton defeated Brown 28-12 while Harvard trounced Penn 36-0. But the wildest game was played at Columbia's Baker Field. Behind Cornell 21-6, Harry Hersh's two touchdowns brought the Lions within roaring distance of the Big Red, and Archie Roberts put them ahead 25-21 with a 24-yard pass to Al Butts in the final seconds.
THE WEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. USC (6-0)
2. OREGON (5-1-1)
3. WASHINGTON (4-1-2)
While USC was beating Washington in a game advertised as the West's best in 1962, back east—in Rocky Mountain country—the big game of the day pitted New Mexico, a sure bet to win the Western AC title, and weak Brigham Young. How well, partisans wanted to know, would BYU Tailback Eldon Fortie—who led the nation in both rushing and total offense—do against a tough team? He couldn't, some reasoned, be as good as his statistics. Sure enough, he wasn't. He was better. BYU bombed New Mexico 27-0 and Fortie passed for two touchdowns, ran for one, raised his totals to 999 yards rushing, 739 passing and 74 points.
Up at Portland another classy back, Oregon's Mel Renfro, paralyzed Stanford with three touchdowns, and the Ducks went on to win 28-14.
Still another superback, Terry Baker of Oregon State, scored all three Beaver touchdowns to disappoint rising Washington State 18-12. Coach Jim Sutherland wailed: "We changed our defense to shoot for him and our offense to keep the ball away from him. Look what happened!"
What happened to California was UCLA's Kermit Alexander. He romped for four scores and, despite a 236-yard passing show by Cal prodigy Craig Morton, the Bruins won 26-16.
Air Force took advantage of Wyoming's bumbling and won 35-14. Utah beat Colorado State 26-8 to extend the Rams' losing streak to 23 games.
THE SOUTHWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. TEXAS (6-0-1)
2. ARKANSAS (6-1)
3. TCU (4-2)
At kickoff time against Texas Saturday, SMU led the Southwest Conference. Spectators snickered at the thought. "I have no delusions about what might happen to us," said SMU Coach Hayden Fry. By the final gun Texas was prayerfully thankful to escape with a nail-biting 6-0 victory.
At Fort Worth TCU, led by Sonny Gibbs, twice came from behind to defeat Baylor 28-26. Arkansas overwhelmed Texas A&M and won 17-7 on Billy Moore's quarter-backing, Danny Brabham's plunges and mean defense. Rice beat Texas Tech 14-0.
At Tempe Larry Todd ignited a 20-point second quarter, and Arizona State blazed past huge, fearsome Utah State 34-15. Unbeaten Bowling Green was thrashed by West Texas 23-7, even though it stopped both Jerry Logan, the nation's leading scorer, and Pete Pedro, third in rushing.
THE SOUTH
THE TOP THREE:
1. MISSISSIPPI (6-0)
2. ALABAMA (7-0)
3. LSU (5-1-1)
It was Ole Miss against the rapidly dwindling field in the SEC. Alabama, of course, with its diet of patsys, was still very much alive. Sophomore Joe Namath made sure of that against Mississippi State. He passed the Bulldogs dizzy for two scores, left them flat-footed and open-mouthed when he ran the ball, and Alabama won 20-0. But Auburn finally ran out of luck. Florida ripped apart the supposedly inviolable Auburn defenses for 309 yards on the power bashes of Larry Dupree and the slick passing of Tom Shannon and put down the Tigers 22-3.
Duke saw Georgia Tech's Billy Lothridge and that was enough. He beat the Blue Devils 20-9, completing 12 of 16 passes for 125 yards, scoring on a six-yard run, two field goals and two extra points. Tennessee picked off six Wake Forest passes, ran back two of them for touchdowns and whipped the Deacons 23-0.
Kentucky almost had a big win. With five minutes left in the third quarter, the tough but tiring Wildcats led Miami 17-6. Then George Mira took charge. He rallied the Hurricanes for two scores, went over from the one himself in the closing seconds and Miami won 25-17. Georgia happily settled for a 10-10 tie with North Carolina State. Vanderbilt lost to Boston College 27-22 for its 15th straight, and Tulane dropped a squeaker to Virginia Tech 24-22.
Clemson, after three straight losses in its own "Death Valley," gladly followed sophomore Charlie Dumas to a 17-6 win over North Carolina. Virginia filled the air with passes (44) against South Carolina, but all to no avail. The Gamecocks won 40-6.
PHOTO
BACK OF THE WEEK: Tailback Eldon Fortie, college total offense leader, passed and ran for three TDs in BYU upset of New Mexico.
PHOTO
LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Huge (270-pound) Tackle Jimmy Dunaway made all the big tackles as Ole Miss held LSU to 70 yards rushing.
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Alabama over Miami. Alabama's concrete defense is too tough for even Miami's Mira.
Duke over Maryland. Both teams from behind, but Duke gets there first.
Kansas over Nebraska. Kansas will exploit Nebraska's soft spots.
Michigan State over Purdue. The Spartan runners will outshine Purdue's passers.
Northwestern over Wisconsin. But Tom Myers will have to be at his very best.
Penn State over West Virginia. The Lions attack too smartly for West Virginia.
Navy over Syracuse. Syracuse is still learning. Staubach's passes will win for Navy.
Arkansas over Rice. The busy Porkers have too much fat for paper-thin Rice.
USC over Stanford. In the air or on the ground, USC is stronger all-round.
Oregon over Washington State. Oregon is tougher on defense, faster on offense.
OTHER GAMES
GEORGIA TECH OVER FLORIDA STATE
LSU OVER TCU
OHIO OVER BOWLING GREEN
OKLAHOMA OVER IOWA STATE
PITT OVER NOTRE DAME
PRINCETON OVER HARVARD
TEXAS A&M OVER SMU
UCLA OVER AIR FORCE
UTAH STATE OVER WYOMING
WASHINGTON OVER CALIFORNIA
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS
12 RIGHT, 8 WRONG
SEASON'S RECORD 87-45-8