Sublime weekend for the underdogs
Rarely have so many major college teams been mistreated so horribly in a single weekend. While Texas bushwhacked Oklahoma with unexpected ease, 28-7 (see page 22), Alabama, Navy, Penn State, Oregon State, Nebraska and West Texas State were all rudely put down for the first time by suddenly aroused and, in some cases, most unlikely underdogs. Duke was held to a tie by California. Ohio State and Illinois saved or—according to how you look at it—ruined their day by playing to a deadlock. Among the already defeated, USC was shocked for a second time by Notre Dame, and Arkansas was the surprise victim of Baylor.
Now, with the season not even half over, only eight major teams are still unbeaten and untied—Texas (4-0) in the Southwest, Auburn (4-0) and North Carolina State (4-0) in the South, Wisconsin (3-0) and Bowling Green (4-0) in the Midwest, and Pitt (3-0), Dartmouth (3-0) and Princeton (3-0) in the East.
THE EAST
THE TOP THREE:
1. PITT (3-0)
2. NAVY (3-1)
3. PENN STATE (3-1)
While Pitt enjoyed a week of respite, Penn State was unable to escape its old nemesis, ARMY. For the third straight year, the Lions lost to West Point by a field goal, 10-7. This time State was taken in by a new twist to the old Army game. Assistant Coach Chuck Klausing, after a scouting expedition, reported State could be had if its monster linebacker was caught going the other way. So Coach Paul Dietzel put his Cadets into a double wing T and, sometimes, a short punt formation to force the linebacker to commit himself. When he did, Quarterback Rollie Stichweh and Halfbacks Ken Waldrop and John Seymour simply ran away from him. The Lions adjusted their defenses in the second half, but it was already too late. Also for the third straight year, Dick Heydt kicked the winning field goal. He added the point after Stichweh's two-yard touchdown pass to End Sam Champi, too. But it was the linemen's game. Led by Champi and Guard Dick Nowak, Army swarmed all over Penn State's Pete Liske—he completed only two passes—and held the kittenish Lions to a mere 38 yards rushing.
Life was more serene among the East's lower-echelon independents, BOSTON COLLEGE'S Jack Concannon, passing and running superbly, threw for three touchdowns and two extra points, plunged for another score as the Eagles whomped Villanova 34-0. COLGATE smothered Rutgers 28-8, while BOSTON U., more prolific in its own class, defeated Holy Cross 18-6. Unbeaten DELAWARE piled up 591 yards while trampling Lafayette 61-0.
Dartmouth and Harvard, the Ivy League favorites, stumbled but still managed to win. In front 14-0 on Quarterback Dana Kelly's two short plunges, Dartmouth had to fight for its life (and a 14-7 win) against Brown sophomore Quarterback Bob Hall's accurate passes. Cornell scored first and last but, in between, Quarterback Mike Bassett and sophomore Halfback Wally Grant led Harvard to three touchdowns and a 21-14 victory. PRINCETON, still very much in the race, ran over Penn 34-0 as blockbusting Fullback Cosmo Iacavazzi and Tailback Don McKay scored five touchdowns, YALE Coach Johnny Pont, who had predicted that "our young men will be all right," sent them charging at Columbia's Archie Roberts like a pack of angry wolves. Roberts completed 13 passes for 176 yards, but Yale's Randy Egloff scored twice, and the Elis got their first Ivy win, 19-7.
THE SOUTH
THE TOP THREE:
1. GEORGIA TECH (3-1)
2. AUBURN (4-0)
3. LSU 3-1
The sellout crowd at Denny Stadium in Birmingham, where Alabama had won 16 in a row, should have known right off what kind of a day it would be for the Crimson Tide. Benny Nelson, steadiest of seniors, fumbled the opening kickoff. A bad center snap nearly caused a safety, and when Buddy French did get a kick away it was returned to the Tide 28, setting up a FLORIDA field goal by Bob Lyle. Then, in the last quarter, sophomore Dick Kirk raced 41 yards to score. 'Bama scored later, but Bear Bryant had lost his first home game ever at Alabama, 10-6. There were no crocodile tears.
It is not quite true that GEORGIA TECH beat Tennessee 23-7 on Billy Lothridge's skills and Coach Bobby Dodd's lung power. It is true that after Tech's first score, Tennessee forced a Jacket punt and illegally sent in an offensive team. Dodd screamed loud enough to be heard by every one of the 51,527 spectators (most ever to attend an athletic event in Tennessee), and the Vols got parked back on their own goal. Soon after, Lothridge—without using a huddle-destroyed the intimidated foe with a 54-yard pass to End Ted Davis. From then on Tennessee alumnus Dodd had no trouble spoiling Tennessee's Homecoming.
Trapped, Miami's George Mira escaped and skittered a brilliant 34 yards to the LSU 14. As Mira was forced out a teammate, yards behind, clipped. Later, with one second left, End Hoyt Sparks took a Mira end zone pass right on the belt buckle—and dropped it. Sparks slumped to the ground crying, and LSU had won 3-0 on Doug Moreau's field goal. It has been that kind of season for Mira and Miami. Came hail, high water and CLEMSON from behind to tie GEORGIA on Bob Swift's half-yard plunge, 7-7. Losing a 10-0 lead over MISSISSIPPI STATE, Tulane went to its 15th straight defeat 31-10. AUBURN had a 28-0 outing against Chattanooga, KENTUCKY bullied Detroit 35-18.
A very dead ACC contender, Maryland lost again, 14-7, to NORTH CAROLINA. The new challenger, NORTH CAROLINA STATE, followed Jim Rossi to an easy 18-6 win over South Carolina. Wake Forest lost its 14th straight, 35-0, to FLORIDA STATE, whose Steve Tensi threw three scoring passes.
THE MIDWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. WISCONSIN (3-0)
2. OKLAHOMA (2-1)
3. ILLINOIS and OHIO STATE (2-0-1)
Because all he can do is punt, NORTHWESTERN left Merlin Norenberg at home when it played Illinois, and a five-yard kick set up the winning touchdown. Last week the Wildcats stayed home with Norenberg, who 1) got off one 80-yard punt, 2) twice pinned Minnesota within its five, 3) averaged 48 yards and 4) kept Northwestern alive. In unconscious parody of Minnesota's field-position game, NU consistently kept the ball in Gopher territory—only to lose it just as consistently on intercepted passes and a fumble. Then Tom Myers passed to Mike Buckner for 64 yards and to Willie Stinson for 25 yards, with two minutes left, and Northwestern won 15-8. "That's what I like about passing," said Ara Parseghian. "It's inconsistent, but it's explosive. Sputter, sputter. Boom."
The Big Ten's unbeaten, untied dark horses, ILLINOIS and OHIO STATE, emerged from their exciting battle just as unbeaten, just as dark and a lot more tied. The 84,712 spectators pondered not the reason for the 20-20 tie—that was OSU's Dick Van Raaphorst's record 49-yard field goal in the last two minutes—but why their team had not won. Particularly puzzled were the Illini, whose men had overcome a 17-7 deficit on a Mike Taliaferro-Eddie Russell pass and a Jim Warren run. Only a missed two-point conversion kept last year's eighth-placers from being this week's sole Big Ten leader.
North Dame's Hugh Devore said before the USC game that the Irish would have to control the ball to win. The Notre Dame team was equally unoriginal but mighty impressive in winning, 17-14. The Irish held possession for almost 22 minutes of the final half and won in the last six minutes on a field goal by Ken Ivan.
Three weeks ago Purdue was held scoreless for the first time since 1959. Last week WISCONSIN beat Purdue 38-20, scoring the most points on the Boilermakers since 1948. IOWA'S Fred Riddle threw five touchdown passes for a Big Ten record as the Hawk-eyes outscored Indiana 37-26. MICHIGAN tied MICHIGAN STATE 7-7 in a bitterly fought game before 101,450.
Air Force is smarter than Nebraska. The score, 17-13, proved this, but so did Guard Todd Jagerson's explanation. "We could tell what Nebraska linemen were going to do by the weight they put on their hands," he said. "When they pulled, their hands relaxed. When they came straight, they must have had hundreds of pounds on each finger."
The other Big Eight challenger, Kansas, was upset 17-14 by IOWA STATE on Dick Limerick's field goal in the last 80 seconds. Kansas State put up a fight before bending to MISSOURI 21-11, and COLORADO whipped Oklahoma State 25-0.
THE SOUTHWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. TEXAS (4-0)
2. TCU (3-1)
3. RICE (2-1)
There was no doubt about it. The big football weekend was indeed in big D. What made it seem even bigger was the way SMU treated Navy. SMU, to almost everyone's amazement, won, 32-28, despite another magnificent performance by Roger Staubach. But SMU's John Roderick, a slight, quick-legged sprinter who had been just ordinary in two earlier games, was better than that. He raced through and around the bewildered Middies for two touchdowns. The Mustangs' line blocking was so good, Roderick said later, "I had only backs to dodge." For all his artful weaving, with 2:05 to go Navy was ahead 28-26 on Fred Marlin's 25-yard field goal. Then the Middies, who were penalized 107 yards, got careless. They were called for pass interference on their two, and Billy Gannon slammed over for the winning touchdown.
Dallas was not the only place where outlanders were treated shabbily. In Houston RICE made up for frequent blunders by scoring 10 points in 46 seconds to beat Stanford 23-13. At College Station TEXAS A&M'S big line finally found someone it could hold, and the Aggies mangled Houston 23-13.
Inside the conference BAYLOR Quarterback Don Trull and Flanker Back Larry Elkins pulled off the upset of the year against Arkansas. Trull completed 21 of 34 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns, both by Elkins, and the Hogs went down, 14-10. Coach Frank Broyles's explanation was painfully accurate: "We tried to rush Trull but couldn't get him down. We had two men on Elkins, but we couldn't stop him." TCU bumbled and fumbled dreadfully, but the Frogs had Tommy Crutcher, and he led them past Texas Tech 35-3.
THE WEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OREGON (3-1)
2. USC (2-2)
3. OREGON STATE (3-1)
Washington's Jim Owens, desperate enough after three losses to turn to almost anything, came up with a variety of unpleasantries for Oregon State. He moved Al Libke, 6-foot-5, second-string quarterback, to end, and the Husky passing game, under surly criticism by local patriots, suddenly produced nine completions in 12 attempts, good for two touchdowns. Red-dogging Linebacker Rick Redmond put teeth into the pass defense and Gordon Queen, Oregon State's good passer, was held scoreless. Then, just for kicks, little sophomore Scatback Steve Bramwell returned a punt 92 yards. The Huskies won 34-7.
Duke, with Billy Futrell and Scotty Glacken throwing, Jay Wilkinson catching and practically everybody running, rolled up 487 yards and 31 first downs against CALIFORNIA. But all the Blue Devils got for their trouble was a 22-22 tie when Cal's Craig Morton and Jack Schraub, who have been playing catch in their home town of Campbell, Calif, since they were four years old, teamed up on a 32-yard alley-oop pass. Schraub's description of the play: "Craig threw hard, just at the tips of the defense's outstretched hands. I waited for the ball to be tipped and then caught it." A likely story.
As long as UCLA let Larry Zeno pass, the Bruins stayed with SYRACUSE. UCLA, however, unaccountably went to the ground in the second half, and that was disastrous. The big Syracuse line held the UCLA runners to two yards, and Jim Nance and Gus Giardi led a ferocious charge that destroyed the Bruins, 29-7. Confided Coach Ben Schwartzwalder, "Our kids grew up tonight." Remarked one observer, "If they get any bigger, they won't get into the Coliseum."
Oregon was still coming on strong. The fleetest Webfoots—Mel Renfro, Larry Hill and Lu Bain—ran like the wind, and Bob Berry threw (nine for 11) for 186 yards and two scores in a 41-21 stomping of Idaho.
In the Western AC, UTAH beat Brigham Young 15-6, while WYOMING ran over independent Colorado State 21-3. Two touchdown plunges by ARIZONA fullback Si Gimbel upset Texas Western 13-7, and Tony Lorick led ARIZONA STATE past West Texas 24-16. UTAH STATE slaughtered New Mexico 47-14.
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Georgia Tech over Auburn. But Jimmy Sidle, a pleasant surprise, can worry Tech.
Duke over Clemson. The chewed-up Tigers face a new terror—Blue Devil speed.
Texas over Arkansas. The lively Longhorns, however, will have to be wary.
Penn State over Syracuse. Bolder On attack, State will outscore the good Orangemen.
Oklahoma over Kansas. Both teams can run, but the Sooners have an edge—defense.
Illinois over Minnesota. The Illini are just a bit better, on offense and defense.
Notre Dame over UCLA. The Irish are bigger, tougher and more determined.
Delaware over Ohio. Best of the Small colleges, Delaware has big-league muscles.
USC over Ohio state. After Notre Dame, the Trojans will be more alert.
Wyoming over Brigham Young. The Cowboys hope to win with Wilkinson's passing.
OTHER GAMES
AIR FORCE OVER MARYLAND
ALABAMA OVER TENNESSEE
HARVARD OVER COLUMBIA
LSU OVER KENTUCKY
MICHIGAN STATE OVER INDIANA
N.C. STATE OVER NORTH CAROLINA
OREGON STATE OVER WASH. STATE
RICE OVER SMU
WASHINGTON OVER STANFORD
WISCONSIN OVER IOWA
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS
10 RIGHT, 7 WRONG, 3 TIES
SEASON'S RECORD: 46-28-6
THE BEST
LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Illinois Line-backer-Center Dick Butkus was in on 23 tackles, red-dogged Ohio State's passing into ineffectiveness and intercepted on State's 28 to set up Illini touchdown that turned course of game.
BACK OF THE WEEK: SMU Halfback John Roderick, 9.4 sophomore sprinter, outshone Navy's Staubach by averaging 13.2 yards, scoring 45-and two-yard touchdowns, and contributing key runs of 27 and 33 yards to SMU's upset win.