FOOTBALL'S WEEK
THE SOUTHWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. TEXAS (8-0)
2. BAYLOR (5-2)
3. RICE (5-2)
Neither Baylor feet in green socks nor Texas backs in burnt orange jerseys gave the Long-horns their eighth victory. It was Texas linemen in blackened orange who ground down the latest and most dangerous obstacle in Texas' march to its first national title.
Arkansas already had its own first, but of a less welcome variety. The Razorbacks, who had never lost a game in November under Frank Broyles, were shaved 7-0 by underdog RICE. The Owls utilized a mask-grabbing penalty and a gain on a fumble to score their touchdown.
One foot from the goal on fourth down, trailing Texas A&M 7-6, SMU Coach Hay-den Fry called for a field goal. John Richey's kick won the game 9-7 and kept Fry from being shot and, possibly, stuffed. James Ellis threw four touchdown passes as rising TEXAS TECH butchered Kansas State 51-13
THE MIDWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OKLAHOMA (6-1)
2. MICHIGAN STATE (5-1-1)
3. NEBRASKA (7-1)
Before the season hardly anyone would have wagered even a tacky old Confederate bill that MICHIGAN STATE (4-0-1) and Ohio State (3-0-1) would be fighting it out for the Big Ten title and that dark horse Illinois would be nudged out of first place by MICHIGAN. But that is the way it was last week
Michigan's Bump Elliott had some special strategy ready for brother Pete. It was simple: outhit the bruising Illini linemen on offense, give ground before hand-fighting them on defense. It worked so well that frequently the Illinois linemen would lunge forward with the snap, then fall flat on their faces in front of the retreating Wolverines. This unlikely procedure so upset the Illini backs that they fumbled six times. With seven minutes to play and Illinois leading 8-7, Jim Warren fumbled and Michigan's John Rowser recovered on the Illini 11. Mel Anthony plunged over from the one and the Wolverines led for good 14-8.
Michigan State's Duffy Daugherty did not need any deep plotting for Purdue. He just left it up to his defense, the best in the country, to throttle the Boilermakers. It held Purdue to a mere 68 yards rushing and State coasted home, 23-0. Now all the Spartans have to do to get to the Rose Bowl is beat Illinois November 23 at East Lansing.
Ohio State's Woody Hayes was almost sympathetic one day last week when he mused, "Penn State's Rip Engle is one of my best friends. It's too bad that two such fine men must meet, and a shame that one of them must lose." The implication was clear then, but the shame was Woody's last Saturday. Old friend Rip beat him 10-7—and at his own game, too—with a rousing defense. After Ohio State took a 7-0 lead, Engle stunted his tackles and OSU got only 30 yards and one first down rushing in the second half. Meanwhile, Pete Liske caught the Bucks flatfooted with his deft handoffs and sharp passing. His 13-yard pass to End Bill Bowes put the Lions in the game, and Ron Coates' 23-yard field goal won it.
The other Big Tenners were playing out the string. WISCONSIN bumbled and fumbled, but still beat Northwestern 17-14; sophomore Gary Snook threw for three scores as IOWA put down Minnesota 27-13; INDIANA'S Tom Nowatzke gained 134 yards, scored a touchdown, kicked two field goals and two extra points, and the Hoosiers edged Oregon State 20-15.
Notre Dame scored first against PITT, but that was all the Irish got. Paul Martha ran the next kickoff back 92 yards, Fred Mazurek bedeviled the Irish with his running and passing and the Panthers won easily 27-7.
A showdown between NEBRASKA and OKLAHOMA is coming in the Big Eight, Nebraska, despite the absence of injured Quarterback Dennis Claridge and an annoying 99-yard touchdown run by Kansas' Gale Sayers, whipped the Jayhawkers 23-9. Oklahoma dawdled some against Iowa State, but came back to beat the Cyclones 24-14. MISSOURI'S Gary Lane ran for three touchdowns to help bury Colorado 28-7
Northern Illinois' George Bork threw 68 passes, completed 43 for 416 yards and two touchdowns, and the Huskies beat Central Michigan 27-22 to finish undefeated. Arm-weary but happy, Bork toted up his records: 374 passes, 244 completions, 3,077 yards and 33 touchdowns for a single season; 902 passes, 577 completions, 6,782 yards and 60 touchdowns for his career.
THE EAST
THE TOP THREE:
1. NAVY (7-1)
2. PITT (6-1)
3. SYRACUSE (6-2)
In its own modest fashion, the Ivy League has managed to get as crazily mixed up as the Big Ten. In fact, the Ivies may be even more hard put to find a champion. First Dartmouth, then Harvard, both preseason favorites, fell. Last Saturday it was unbeaten Princeton's turn. From the start it was apparent that HARVARD had little respect for the Tigers' perfect record. The Crimson backs—Quarterback Mike Bassett, Fullback Bill Grana and Halfbacks Scott Harshbarger and Dave Poe—simply bashed at the Princetons with slick keepers and fierce off-tackle smashes until the Tigers gave up two touchdowns. The superb Harvard defense bent only once, when Cosmo Iacavazzi, Princeton's bullish fullback, led the Tigers back into the game with a fourth-period touchdown. But the alert Crimsons recovered a fumble and Grana crashed over from the one to give Harvard a 21-7 victory.
Princeton (4-1) still leads Harvard (3-1-1), but both have to play up-and-coming YALE (3-2), which used a robust ground game and a smothering defense to rout Penn 28-7. DARTMOUTH (3-2), an easy 47-6 winner over Columbia, also lies menacingly ahead of the Tigers. CORNELL (3-2) pulled out another barnburner. Gary Wood's last-minute touchdown pass, and Peter Gogolak's four soccer-style placements, for an NCAA record of 41 straight, edged Brown 28-25.
For NAVY'S Roger Staubach, it was just another routine day—two scoring runs and seven passes for 104 yards and one touchdown before he sat down early in the third quarter. But for Maryland it was utter disaster, a 42-7 shellacking. A listless ARMY team could not seem to get excited over Utah, that is, until Gary Hertzfeldt, a fine passer, and Allen Jacobs, a punishing fullback, put the Redskins ahead 7-0. That woke up the Cadets who marched 80 yards before Ken Waldrop stormed over from the eight. Rollic Stichweh's two-point run was just enough to win 8-7. SYRACUSE, racked by injuries, barely managed to edge West Virginia 15-13 on John Paglio's 32-yard field goal, but Coach Ben Schwartzwalder was wondering whether he would have enough able bodies left to finish out the season. The latest casualties: Fullback Nat Duckett, broken leg; Tackle Dave Archer, bruised arm; Guard PaulHoule, bruisedhand. BOSTONCOLLEGE's Jack Concannon passed for one score and ran for another as BC beat Buffalo 15-0.
THE WEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. WASHINGTON (5-3)
2. USC (5-3)
3. UTAH STATE (7-1)
When WASHINGTON was losing its first three games, Coach Jim Owens moaned about his offense. Last week his Huskies won their fifth straight—and an almost sure bid to the Rose Bowl—over California 39-26 and Owens grumped about his defense. Washington gave up 329 yards, mostly to Craig Morton's passes (17 for 199 yards) and little option runs. Fortunately for the Huskies, Cal's defense was even more scandalous. Husky Quarterback Bill Douglas passed over it for 176 yards and Fullbacks Junior Coffey and Charlie Browning rushed through the fuzzy Bears for 172 more. All told, Washington piled up 552 yards. Complained California's Marv Levy, "If only we had stopped somebody."
UCLA, the only team left to stop Washington, hardly looked the type against AIR FORCE. Terry Isaacson, running out of a shotgun that Coach Ben Martin never had a chance to use against Army a week earlier, bombed the unsuspecting Bruins for 258 yards and four scores with his running and passing as the Falcons won 48-21.
USC, trailing Stanford 11-0, suddenly came to life in the second half. Halfback Willie Brown grabbed touchdown passes from Mike Garrett and Craig Fertig, in for ailing Pete Beathard, and USC pulled it out 25-11. OREGON had two of its walking wounded back and they helped beat Washington State 21-7. Mel Renfro shook up the Cougars with two 30-yard runs and Bob Berry threw for two scores.
It was still anybody's race in the Western AC. NEW MEXICO saw to that when it upset Wyoming 17-6. Independent UTAH STATE, leading the nation in total offense and scoring, got Colorado State down early and then clobbered the poor Rams 36-16 for its sixth straight.
THE SOUTH
THE TOP THREE:
1. MISSISSIPPI (6-0-1)
2. AUBURN (6-1)
3. MEMPHIS STATE (7-0-1)
It looked as if unbeaten, untied Auburn would be forced to settle for a 10-10 deadlock with MISSISSIPPI STATE until Tiger Quarterback Jimmy Sidle went back for one more desperation pass. Then Auburn had to settle for a loss. State's Sonny Fisher intercepted the pass, returning it to the Auburn 21. Justin Canale kicked a pressure-packed 36-yard field goal and instead of being just plain unbeaten, Auburn was just plain untied, 13-10.
In six previous meetings, LSU-TCU scores had read like baseball results: e.g. 3-3, 3-0, 3-2 and 5-0. Last week TCU led 14-7 at half time in a scoring explosion. Vexed by this un-Southern activity, LSU touched off its own firecracker, 5-foot-9 sophomore Joe Labruzzo, who touched down the ball for three scores. LSU won 28-14.
Billy Lothridge does not do it all anymore. The GEORGIA TECH quarterback did complete 20 of 34 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown, and he did kick a field goal in a 15-7 defeat of Florida State. But he missed two extra points, and he neglected to score one of Tech's touchdowns. FLORIDA sophomore Bruce Bennett intercepted Georgia Quarterback Larry Rakestraw's first pass, returning it 43 yards for a touchdown. Bennett popped up again to stave off the Bulldogs' last threat with his third interception and preserve a 21-14 Florida win. VANDERBILT fought KENTUCKY to a scoreless tie, TENNESSEE beat poor Tulane 26-0 and MISSISSIPPI wrapped up Tampa 41-0.
Drilled all week in pass protection, the CLEMSON line gave Jim Parker and Tommy Ray time to complete three long throws against North Carolina's second-in-the-nation pass defense and scuttle the Tar Heels 11-7. With NORTH CAROLINA STATE ahead 6-0, VPI's Mike Cahill dropped a punt on his own two. State Halfback Tony Koszar-sky recovered for a touchdown, and the Wolfpack eventually won 13-7. DUKE buried Wake Forest 39-7 and MEMPHIS STATE, one game closer to an undefeated season, beat South Carolina 9-0.
THE BEST
BACK OF THE WEEK: Sophomore Halfback Joe Labruzzo, playing with a padded injured left arm, gained 109 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns to bring Louisiana State from l4-7 behind to a 28-14 win over TCU.
LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Guard Bob Brown, Nebraska's outstanding blocker, led a violent charge to help overwhelm Kansas. Once, with fourth and one on its own 26, Nebraska sneaked behind Brown instead of punting.
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Texas over TCU. The efficient Longhorns are rarely showy; they just win games.
USC over Oregon State.* With Or without Beathard, USC is too much for State.
Pitt over Army. If Pitt cannot beat Army on the ground, it can through the air.
Navy over Duke. Duke's tender defenses will be an easy mark for Navy's Staubach.
Georgia Tech over Alabama. Lothridge gives Tech an edge—his educated foot.
LSU over Mississippi State. But LSU Will have to be alert. State is hard to hold.
Illinois over Wisconsin. Down but not out, the Illini will be ready for the Badgers.
Ohio State over Northwestern. The Wild-Cats lack the manpower to stay with OSU.
Michigan State over Notre Dame. That tough defense will overwhelm the Irish.
Oklahoma over Missouri. Oklahoma has the line to stop Missouri's runners.
OTHER GAMES
ARKANSAS OVER SMU
AUBURN OVER GEORGIA
BOWLING GREEN OVER OHIO
CALIFORNIA OVER UTAH
NORTH CAROLINA OVER MIAMI
N.C. STATE OVER FLORIDA STATE
PRINCETON OVER YALE
PURDUE OVER MINNESOTA
STANFORD OVER WASHINGTON STATE
VIRGINIA TECH OVER WEST VIRGINIA
*Friday night game
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS
15 RIGHT, 5 WRONG
SEASON'S RECORD: 99-54-7