FOOTBALL'S WEEK
THE MIDWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OHIO STATE (4-0)
2. NOTRE DAME (4-0)
3. NEBRASKA (5-0)
Ohio State's Woody Hayes, still anguished by last year's 32-3 shellacking by USC, was feeling devilish when he sent his Bucks out to play the Trojans before 84,315 in sundrenched Ohio Stadium. Rarely have Woody's boys played such wide-open football. Quarterback Don Unverferth threw 17 times (he completed eight for 79 yards and one touchdown ) and the Ohio State halfbacks ran tricky counter plays and power sweeps. But. when it really mattered, wily old Woody had State play old-fashioned football. Fullback Will Sander found a home in USC's sagging middle and thundered through it 29 times for 120 yards. The Bucks held the ball for almost seven minutes on the way to their first touchdown, a two-yard slash by Sander. Another time they had it for 9½ minutes before Bob Funk kicked a 24-yard field goal. What tickled Hayes most, however, was his stout defense, led by Linebackers Tom Bugel and Dwight Kelley. It keyed on fast USC Halfback Mike Garrett, never letting him get away, and held the freewheeling Trojans to 64 yards rushing. Final score: 17-0. Chortling like a schoolboy who has just discovered bubble gum, Woody said: "I wanted this one. Boy, you'll never know how much."
Now everybody in the Big Ten knows that Ohio State is the team to beat for the title, and maybe even for the national championship. But the rest of the Big Ten picture is confused. ILLINOIS survived against Minnesota, winning 14-0, but Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa went down hard in upsets. PURDUE went after Michigan's young backs with a rowdy defense and dropped the Wolverines 21-20 when Bob Timberlake's two-point gamble failed. INDIANA shrugged oft Steve Juday's 16-for-20 passing and out-scored Michigan State 27-20. WISCONSIN, moving solidly on the ground, defeated Iowa 31-21. Northwestern was surprised, too, by Mid-American's MIAMI, 28-27.
Notre Dame, it seems, does have a weakness after all. It misses extra points. But that is about all the steamed-up Irish missed in a 24—0 victory over UCLA. Quarterback Johnny Huarte threw two touchdown passes, End Jack Snow caught six tosses for 124 yards, and the bruising pro-type Notre Dame defense shut the Bruins off with 66 yards on the ground.
Kansas Coach Jack Mitchell was a mess when he met the press late last Saturday. He had been thrown in the shower by his players, and he had a cut across the bridge of his nose, acquired when he stepped in to stop a fist-swinging melee on the field. But Mitchell was grinning like a cat. His Jay-hawkers had just beaten Oklahoma 15-14, scoring on the first and last plays of the game. Halfback Gale Sayers ran the opening kickoff back 93 yards, Quarterback Bobby Skahan sprinted 26 yards on a busted play in the final second and Mike Johnson ran for the winning two-point conversion.
Despite Kansas' sudden affluence, the Jayhawkers are not the best team in the Big Eight. That has to be NEBRASKA, which throttled Kansas State 47-0 for its fifth straight.
THE EAST
THE TOP THREE:
1. SYRACUSE (4-1)
2. VILLANOVA (5-0)
3. PITT (2-2-1)
When SYRACUSE'S shifty Floyd Little, cleverly setting up his blockers with a neat change of direction, ran back a Penn State punt 71 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, it seemed that the Orange was in for a pleasant afternoon at University Park. But State's Frank Hershey intercepted two Syracuse passes, and the Lions led 14-7 at half time. Then Coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who is well aware of his team's limitations, made a sensible decision. "We just decided to do what we do best," he said later, "and that is run with the ball." Syracuse threw only once in the second half, but Fullback Jim Nance charged up the middle. Little probed the tackles and soon it was a tie game. It could have ended that way but Penn State gambled for a victory and lost. With 3:30 left, Syracuse's Roger Smith intercepted Gary Wydman's pass and ran 38 yards to the State 22. Only 37 seconds remained when Quarterback Walley Mahle went over from the four to win for Syracuse 21-14.
While the other major eastern independents had a harrowing time around the country, little VILLANOVA prospered at home. The unbeaten Wildcats trounced Delaware 34-0. BOSTON COLLEGE, for the first time in memory, did not throw a single pass against Cincinnati. But the Eagles, running out of an unbalanced line, won 10-0. RUTGERS overtook Penn 10-7 on Halfback Rolf Stegmann's 51-yard run. Colgate, however, lost to PRINCETON 9-0.
Yale, the other Ivy League favorite, had its hands full with COLUMBIA. The Elis barely managed to salvage a 9-9 tie. HARVARD took advantage of a Cornell fumble and a 104-yard run with a pass interception by John Dockcry to beat the Big Red 16-0. DART-MOUTH defeated Brown 24-14.
THE SOUTH
THE TOP THREE:
1. ALABAMA (5-0)
2. LSU (4-0)
3. FLORIDA STATE (5-0)
For half the game last Saturday, GEORGIA TECH looked like a grammar school team. Auburn pushed the Jackets around shamefully—they had only one first down and no pass completions—but all Auburn had for its efforts was a 28-yard field goal by Don Lewis. Then Tech came alive. Jerry Priestly hit Mike Fortier with four passes, the last one for the score that won the game 7-3.
LSU Coach Charley McClendon's eyes popped when Kentucky's Rodger Bird ran through his Bengals for 76 yards on the first play of the game. As it turned out, that was Kentucky's only thrill of the night. LSU pulled even on Don Schwab's one-yard plunge, went ahead on Doug Moreau's 31-yard field goal (his first of two) and wrapped it up 27-7 when White Graves intercepted one of Rick Norton's passes and went 99 yards for a touchdown.
Alabama had a punt blocked by Tennessee, and Coach Bear Bryant was upset. It was the first time it had happened to one of his teams since he was at Texas A&M. Tennessee Coach Doug Dickey was more upset. 'Bama blocked two of his punts and won the game 19-8. But Alabama will have to be much sharper next week. FLORIDA warmed up for Bryant's boys by whomping South Carolina 35-0. The Gators put such pressure on Quarterback Dan Reeves that one of his six pass completions went for a safety. MISSISSIPPI, still having troubles, barely got by happy Tulane 14-9, but MISSISSIPPI STATE smashed Southern Mississippi 48-7.
The South was no place for an eastern team last week. Army started fast against VIRGINIA as Rollie Stichweh picked up a fumbled pitchout and ran 75 yards for a touchdown. Then came the deluge. Quarterbacks Bob Davis and Tom Hodges passed for three scores. Halfback Carroll Jarvis ran for two, and Virginia upset the shocked Cadets 35-14. PITT should have had a breeze against MIAMI, but the Panthers had to settle for a 20-20 tie when Jimmy Jones missed the extra point after Eric Crabtree's 67-yard touchdown run in the last period.
Maryland's Tom Nugent had spent most of the season scaring people to death but rarely winning. Last week soccer player Bernardo Bramson's 27-yard field goal and two late goal-line stands upset North Carolina 10-9. DUKE, staying mostly on the ground, trimmed North Carolina State 35-3.
THE SOUTHWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. ARKANSAS (5-0)
2. TEXAS (4-1)
3. TEXAS TECH (3-2)
While Arkansas was busy upsetting Texas, BAYLOR was doing the same to Texas Tech, 28-10. Tech's headaches began when it fumbled a punt attempt on its own three-yard line late in the second quarter. Baylor got the ball, scored and kept right on rolling, mostly on the runs of Fullback Tom Davies and passes of sophomore Quarterback Terry Southall. SMU and RICE spent the whole first half punting the ball back and forth before Walt McReynolds passed 23 yards to Billy Hale for a touchdown. Larry Rice kicked the extra point—which was more than John Cravens could do after SMU's touchdown. Rice won 7-6. TCU and Texas A&M had both lost all their games, but in the big showdown it was TCU 14-9.
THE WEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OREGON (5-0)
2. OREGON STATE (4-1)
3. USC (3-2)
What had been billed as a wide-open pitching duel between CALMORNIA'S Craig Morton and Navy's Roger Staubach looked more like the seventh game of the World Series as Cal led 6-5 at half time. Morton had been swallowed up by Navy's blitzing linebackers, while Staubach, gimping about on an ailing ankle, had played only part time. Suddenly, in the third quarter, Morton began to hit. He threw to Jerry Mosher and Tom Blanchfield for touchdowns, and the Bears romped 27-13. What happened? "Well, they were flooding their linebackers over the center, and we weren't picking up their stunts," explained Cal Tackle Ron Calegari. "So in the second half we blocked areas instead of men and stopped them."
It was no day for shiny offenses at Palo Alto. WASHINGTON preferred to play it cozy and give the ball to Fullback Junior Coffey, who thrust up the middle for 117 yards. Meanwhile the grim Husky defense rarely let Stanford's Lee Handley, the nation's leading rusher, out of its grasp. But Washington's darting little Steve Bramwell livened things up. His 34-yard punt return in the second quarter put the Huskies on the Stanford 23, and Coffey hammered away until he scored for a 6-0 victory.
The scent of roses, however, was growing strong in Oregon. At Eugene OREGON'S Bob Berry threw three more touchdown passes (he now has 12), and the undefeated Ducks took Arizona 21-0 for their fifth straight. At Corvallis OREGON STATE had a tougher time with Idaho, but Steve Clark's 22-yard field goal beat the Vandals 10-7 for the Beavers' fourth in a row.
Wyoming buried Texas Western's Miners with their good passing, 20-6. Air Force used 16 different defenses and even put 10 men on the line against MISSOURI, but nothing helped. Missouri won 17-7.
PHOTO
JERRY RHOME
PHOTO
RICK REDMAN
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Army over Duke. Slumping Army is due for a good game, undefeated Duke a bad one.
Alabama over Florida. Two Strong teams. Namath's passing will decide it.
Notre Dame over Stanford. The Irish are stronger up front, smoother on the attack.
Michigan over Minnesota.* Minnesota yields too easily to stop Michigan.
Oklahoma State over Kansas. The Surprising Cowboys will shock Kansas, too.
Texas over Rice. The Longhorns can bounce back against the phlegmatic Owls.
California over use. USC has the runners, but Cal has the passing.
Oregon over Washington. Berry's throwing will beat the landlocked Huskies.
Syracuse over Oregon State. State Cannot contain Nance and Little, too.
Illinois over UCLA. Another tough week for UCLA. The Illini hit hard.
OTHER GAMES
AMHERST OVER WESLEYAN
BOSTON COLLEGE OVER AIR FORCE
FLORIDA STATE OVER VIRGINIA TECH
LSU OVER TENNESSEE*
MIAMI (OHIO) OVER OHIO U.
NEBRASKA OVER COLORADO
N. CAROLINA STATE OVER VIRGINIA
PITT OVER NAVY
PURDUE OVER IOWA
WYOMING OVER ARIZONA
*Regional TV
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS
12 RIGHT, 8 WRONG
SEASON'S RECORD: 55-43-1
BACK OF THE WEEK: Tulsa Quarterback Jerry Rhome had the night of his life against Louisville. He passed for seven touchdowns and two extra points, ran for two more scores to lead a 58-0 rout of the surprised Cardinals. All told Rhome was responsible for 56 points.
LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Rick Redman, 220-pound Washington corner linebacker, was all hands and feet against Stanford. He was the nub of a savage Husky defense that prodded the frustrated Indians into six fumbles. Redman also averaged 43 yards on six booming punts.