Skip to main content

The poor get rich and the rich go broke

All around the country it was a week for big upsets. Kentucky and Mississippi met with disaster in Florida, Army got picked off by Penn State in the East and out West, Rice found Stanford too much to cope with

THE SOUTH

THE TOP THREE:

1. ALABAMA (4-0)
2. LSU (3-0)
3. FLORIDA STATE (4-0)

Kentucky had been having a gay old time knocking off Southeastern Conference favorites. Last Saturday the Wildcats got a dose of their own medicine from independent FLORIDA STATE. The cocky Seminoles chose to kick off, confident that their "Seven Magnificents" would get the ball back. They did and the rout was on. Quarterback Steve Tensi tossed two touchdown passes to Flanker Fred Biletnikoff, Halfback Phil Spooner went over twice, and Kentucky was trampled 48-6. "They whipped us. They just kicked our teeth in," said Kentucky Coach Charlie Bradshaw.

At Gainesville, FLORIDA found Mississippi vulnerable to a little hook pass—and lots of other things—and clobbered Ole Miss as it has rarely been clobbered before. Steve Spurrier threw to End Charlie Casey for two touchdowns, and the Rebs succumbed 30-14.

Quarterbacks were dropping like flies in the SEC. AUBURN, trailing little Chattanooga 12-0, brought in Jim Sidle, who has been ailing with an injured right arm. Sidle came up with a shoulder separation—in his left shoulder. Auburn won 33-12, but lost Sidle. At Tuscaloosa, ALABAMA'S Joe Namath hobbled off with a twisted knee as 'Bama beat North Carolina State 21-0.

LSU's new flanker T finally produced a score. Sophomore Gawaine Di Betta broke the ice with a five-yard sprint against North Carolina and LSU went on to win 20-3. GEORGIA TECH got 17 points in the first half against Navy, which was playing without Roger Staubach, and then held on for its fourth win.

Boston College ran and passed for 319 yards against TENNESSEE but all it got the frustrated Eagles was a 16-14 loss. VANDERBILT'S Dick Lemay kicked three field goals, the last a 26-yarder in the closing minute, to beat Wake Forest 9-6. Maryland found some holes in DUKE'S pass defense, but the Blue Devils recovered in time to win 24-17.

THE EAST

THE TOP THREE:

1. SYRACUSE (3-1)
2. ARMY (2-2)
3. NAVY (2-2)

UCLA, feeling mighty after beating two eastern independents, made the sad mistake of trying to confront SYRACUSE head on. The single-minded Orange linemen simply brushed aside the Bruins to get at Larry Zeno, who completed only two passes and was smeared for 15 yards in losses when he tried to run. Meanwhile, big Fullback Jim Nance charged through the Bruins for 148 yards and two touchdowns, sophomore Floyd Little ran back a punt 90 yards (below), and Syracuse routed the Californians 39-0.

Coach Rip Engle, whose PENN STATE team had lost its first three games, said last Friday night: "I guess we'll just have to try something new against Army." What he had in mind was a tricky shift out of the wing T into a double wing with a split end. This bit of guile was more picturesque than effective in a scoreless first half, so Engle decided to run his wing T right at the Cadets. It worked. With Halfback Bob Riggle and Fullback Ed Stuckrath smashing Army inside, the Lions went 62 yards for a touchdown. Then the Lions held Army on the two and Punter Frank Hershey gave the Cadets a deliberate safety. That worked, too, and Penn State won its first game, 6-2, before 32,268, the largest crowd ever at Army's Michie Stadium.

Princeton whomped Dartmouth 37-7 as Tailback Don McKay ran 56 yards and Charlie Gogolak kicked three field goals.

THE WEST

THE TOP THREE:

1. USC (3-1)
2. OREGON (4-0)
3. UCLA (3-1)

Stanford, caught up in a 7-7 tie with heavily favored Rice at half time, decided to take a calculated gamble. Although the Owls seldom pass, Coach Johnny Ralston reasoned they just might be inclined to throw the ball in the second half—so he had his defensive ends drop off into the flat. Sure enough, Rice came out throwing. When it was all over, the Indians had five steals and were sitting pretty with a 34-7 upset. Cracked Ralston, "This is the best scoring defense I've ever had."

The 42,295 spectators who snuggled under a blanket of fog, haze and smoke in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum last Saturday night goggled unbelievingly when Texas A&M took a 7-0 lead against usc. It was only temporary. Quarterback Craig Fertig and Halfback Mike Garrett soon roused the Trojans and they buried the Aggies 31-7.

Air Force, too, made the sad mistake of scoring first against NOTRE DAME. After that, while the bearish Irish line smothered Air Force Quarterback Tim Murphy, Johnny Huarte ran and passed for four touchdowns and undefeated Notre Dame won its third, 34-7.

Washington, for all its troubles lately, thought its defense could hold almost anyone. But OREGON STATE Halfback Charlie Shaw ran through it for a touchdown, Steve Clark kicked over it for a 23-yard field goal and the busy Beavers surprised the Huskies 9-7. OREGON, riding high on Quarterback Bob Berry's superb passing, fought off Idaho 14-8 for its fourth in a row.

THE SOUTHWEST

THE TOP THREE:

1. TEXAS (4-0)
2. ARKANSAS (4-0)
3. TEXAS TECH (3-1)

Many things about the rowdy Texas-Oklahoma game were familiar. The Cotton Bowl had its usual sellout crowd of 75,504, TEXAS Coach Darrell Royal won his seventh in a row over the Sooners and Texas' vicious defense and powerful running game again won out. Even the score—28-7—was the same as it has been in three of the last four years. Nor were there any new Longhorn stars. Linebacker Tommy Nobis made most of the tackles as Texas got its landbound offense rolling in the second half behind Fullback Harold Philipp and Halfbacks Ernie Koy and Phil Harris.

Arkansas remained unbeaten by doing precisely what Coach Frank Broyles ordered. "As many times as Baylor puts the ball in the air," Broyles said, "they're bound to catch some. We're going to have to catch some of theirs, too." Arkansas caught three Baylor passes, recovered three Baylor fumbles, and the Razorbacks took a 17-6 victory.

Donny Anderson of TEXAS TECH has played some good games, but last week against TCU he played his best ever, ripping off a 90-yard touchdown run and gaining 164 yards altogether, as the surprising Red Raiders won 25-10.

THE MIDWEST

THE TOP THREE:

1. OHIO STATE (3-0)
2. MICHIGAN (3-0)
3. ILLINOIS (2-1)

The big games in the Big Ten may have been at Champaign, where OHIO STATE smashed Illinois 26-0 (page 30), and at East Lansing, where MICHIGAN beat Michigan State 17-10, but there was enough commotion around the rest of the conference to indicate that the favorites were not yet out of the woods. IOWA, for instance, was still unbeaten after three games, but the surprising Hawkeyes had to fight for their lives against tough Indiana before winning 21-20. MINNESOTA. disdaining the plodding offense that once earned it dull 6-0 victories, assaulted Northwestern with its new freewheeling game. Quarterback John Hankinson threw from all over the field (he completed 10 of 15 passes for 184 yards) and ran for two touchdowns as the Gophers posted a 21-18 victory. PURDUE was satisfied to thump away at Wisconsin on the ground. While a pressure defense held Wisconsin to 48 yards rushing, Halfback Gordon Teter and Fullback Randy Minniear hammered and slashed for 180 yards between them as the Boilermakers won easily 28-7.

Some coaches are never satisfied. Take NEBRASKA'S Bob Devaney. His game plan for South Carolina included a passing test for sophomore Quarterback Bob Churchich. Churchich threw 30 yards to Kent McCloughan and 50 to Preston Love for touchdowns. The Nebraska line, with End Langston Coleman and Tackles John Strohmeyer and Dick Czap driving in hard on South Carolina Quarterback Dan Reeves, held the Gamecocks to a measly three yards rushing. All that and a 28-6 victory for the unbeaten Huskers should have made Devaney ecstatic. His reaction: "I'm disgusted. We gave our reserves a chance to play and they did very poorly. They ruined the ball game for me."

Oklahoma State's Phil Cutchin was happy, though. His Cowboys, who had been written off in the preseason ratings, were leading the Big Eight. But the Cowboys had a rough ride against Colorado. State came from behind to take a 14-10 lead on Fullback Walt Garrison's one-yard plunge in the last quarter and then had to stop the surging Buffaloes in the closing minutes to save the victory.

PHOTO

ON A 90-YARD SCORING RUN AGAINST UCLA, SYRACUSE'S LITTLE LOOKS FOR ROOM

THE BEST

BACK OF THE WEEK: Florida State's Steve Tensi, a 6-foot-5 quarterback, cleverly probed Kentucky's pass defense for nine completions and 122 yards, threw for three touchdowns in surprise 48-6 drubbing of Wildcats.

LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Jack Chapple, robust 223-pound Stanford linebacker, made life miserable for Rice. He was in on 16 tackles, ran 39 yards with an intercepted pass to get Indians started on 34-7 upset of Owls.

SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES

Georgia Tech over Auburn. Sidle is hurt again and that means trouble for Auburn.

LSU over Kentucky. LSU has learned to score. Kentucky is back with the mortals.

Duke over North Carolina State. The Blue Devils have the better passing game.

Ohio state over USC.* Ohio State's tough line can handle USC's offensive tricks.

Notre Dame over UCLA. UCLA's Zeno will get caught in the vigorous Irish rush.

Illinois over Minnesota. After Ohio State the Illini will be harder to beat.

Texas over Arkansas. But Texas cannot make many mistakes against the Porkers.

Washington over Stanford. The Huskies are more demanding on defense.

California over Navy. Morton is healthy. Navy may not have Staubach ready.

Syracuse over Penn State. State's attack is no match for Syracuse's good runners.

OTHER GAMES

ALABAMA OVER TENNESSEE
ARMY OVER VIRGINIA
IOWA OVER WISCONSIN
MICHIGAN OVER PURDUE
MICHIGAN STATE OVER INDIANA
MISSOURI OVER AIR FORCE
NORTH CAROLINA OVER MARYLAND
OKLAHOMA OVER KANSAS
OREGON OVER ARIZONA
TEXAS TECH OVER BAYLOR

*National TV

LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS

12 RIGHT, 8 WRONG
SEASON'S RECORD: 43-35-1