FOOTBALL'S WEEK
THE EAST
THE TOP THREE:
1. SYRACUSE (4-2)
2. VILLANOVA (5-0)
3. BOSTON COLLEGE (3-2)
With his meager squad chewed up by injuries after three straight losses, Army's Paul Dietzel reluctantly decided to junk the three-team system he invented. He retired his Bandits and condensed his remaining healthy players into offensive and defensive units. But before the Cadets could get organized, DUKE'S bullish Mike Curtis and Sonny Odom ran through them, Quarterback Scotty Glacken passed over them and Mark Caldwell kicked 26- and 24-yard field goals for a 6-0 lead at half time. As it turned out, that was just enough to win for the Blue Devils. Rollie Stichweh, running and passing mostly from a shotgun, finally roused Army in the second half, but every time the Cadets threatened to score they were hit by penalties, including one that nullified a Stichweh touchdown pass.
Just a year ago PITT and NAVY played for the eastern championship and Navy won. Last week they played for nothing. Fullback Barry McKnight gave Pitt a 14-0 lead but Roger Staubach, still not in top shape, and Kip Paskewich got the Middies even in the second quarter. They wound up that way—tied 14-14. BOSTON COLLEGE had a more productive afternoon against Air Force. Linebacker John Leone blitzed Quarterback Tim Murphy and, when Murphy was not flat on his back, the alert BC secondary picked off three of his passes. The Eagles won 13-7 on Quarterback Ed Foley's 29-yard pass to Jim Whalen in the third quarter.
Princeton continued to look unbeatable in the Ivy League. The puissant Tigers whomped Penn 55-0 for their fifth win. YALE, however, needed three long field goals (46, 48 and 30 yards) by Chuck Mercein to edge Cornell 23-21. Columbia's Archie Roberts had his finest day, completing 25 of 39 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns but still the poor Lions lost to RUTGERS 38-35 when Rolf Stegmann ran 42 and five yards for scores. DARTMOUTH routed Harvard 48-0 while BROWN took Rhode Island 30-14.
THE SOUTH
THE TOP THREE:
1. ALABAMA (6-0)
2. GEORGIA TECH (5-0)
3. LSU (4-0-1)
It was a hard week for undefeated teams in the South. Florida and Florida State both went down, LSU was tied and Georgia Tech barely survived.
When Florida came to town, ALABAMA'S Bear Bryant knew just how he was going to play the tough Gators. "Men," he told his squad, "we're going to turn straight at 'em." Sure enough, Bryant's team aimed its shots at the muscular Gator middle. Florida, however, had 'Bama fighting for its life before the afternoon was done. Twice Alabama had to come from behind. Fullback Steve Bowman scored from in close and then squirted through the Gator middle for 30 yards. Both times Alabama went for a tie, and David Ray kicked the extra points. Then, with 3:30 to play, Ray kicked a 21-yard field goal and 'Bama won 17-14.
LSU should have expected trouble from TENNESSEE. The Bengals had beaten Tennessee only once in 31 years. The Vols' Fred Martin kicked a 28-yard field goal, LSU's Doug Moreau booted one from the 21 and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. Florida State got its comeuppance from VIRGINIA TECH. Bob Schweikert threw a touchdown pass, ran for two more as Tech shocked the Seminoles 20-11. Tulane turned loose its "Posse," an eager defensive group with more vigor than finesse, and almost did in GEORGIA TECH. Tech came back on Bruce Fischer's eight-yard pass to Mike Fortier to win 7-6.
Those two former powers, MISSISSIPPI and AUBURN, were still bogged down. It took a 51-yard pass from Jim Weatherly to Dave Wells to get Ole Miss a 7-7 tie with VANDERBILT. Auburn barely squeezed by Southern Mississippi 14-7. MISSISSIPPI STATE also had trouble but beat Houston 18-13. Kentucky was less fortunate. GEORGIA defeated the slumping Wildcats 21-7.
Penn State finally got rolling. Halfback Bob Riggle broke away for 86 and 17 yards, ran for 172 in all, and the Lions romped over West Virginia 37-8. INDIANA, another invader of the South, wore down Miami in the last quarter to win 28-14.
In the Atlantic Coast, NORTH CAROLINA at last showed signs of muscle while beating South Carolina 24-6, and WAKE FOREST surprised Maryland 21-17. NORTH CAROLINA STATE outscored Virginia 24-15.
THE MIDWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OHIO STATE (5-0)
2. NOTRE DAME (5-0)
3. NEBRASKA (6-0)
Notre Dame, which beat Stanford 28-6 (see page 20), and NEBRASKA, a 21-3 winner over Colorado, hoped to hear that OHIO STATE, the Midwest's other unbeaten power—and the nation's No. 1 team—had stumbled against Wisconsin. Far from it. The Bucks, hitting the Badgers with their usual tough defense, let Quarterback Don Unverferth have some fun with his passes, then went back to Fullback Will Sander's booming rushes up the middle. State won easily, 28-3. But Coach Woody Hayes had a gripe coming. He complained, "We got two easy touchdowns, then we let down and were sort of dull."
The other Big Ten contenders wished they were as dull. PURDUE had to scramble to hold off Iowa's Gary Snook, who completed 26 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns. But the Hawkeyes also fumbled the ball away five times, and Purdue took the game 19-14. MICHIGAN, after romping to a 19-0 lead, got wound up in a hair-raiser with Minnesota. The Gophers scored twice in the last quarter, and Michigan had to hang on desperately for a 19-12 victory. MICHIGAN STATE routed Northwestern 24-6 and ILLINOIS, warming up for Purdue, rolled over UCLA 26-7.
If KANSAS' Jack Mitchell seems a bit jittery these days, there is good reason for it. A week ago his Jayhawkers beat Oklahoma in the final second. Last Saturday, Kansas led Oklahoma State 14-7 with 47 seconds to play. Then State's Jerry Gill blocked a Kansas field-goal attempt, and Jack Jacobson ran 60 yards for a touchdown. Naturally, the Cowboys went for the winning points. Glenn Baxter passed to Tony Sellari who caught the ball just short of the goal line as defenders George Harvey and Gary Duff brought him down. Kansas won 14-13.
THE SOUTHWEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. ARKANSAS (6-0)
2. TEXAS (5-1)
3. TEXAS TECH (4-2)
Texas Coach Darrell Royal had the look of a man whose oil well had just gone dry. It nearly had. Rice romped up and down the field, grinding out 16 first downs while out-rushing and outpassing the mighty Long-horns. On defense, Rice used what amounted to an 11-man line to hold Texas to five first downs, none in the second half. In fact, the only thing that saved Texas from its second straight upset was David Conway's 27- and 37-yard field goals and a 46.3-yard punting average by Ernie Koy, as Texas won 6-3.
Golf-ball-sized hailstones forced a delay of the TEXAS TECH-SMU game. When the hail let up, Tech's Donnie Anderson did some pounding of his own—86 yards' worth—as the Red Raiders won their third conference game, 12-0. Quarterback Terry South-all moved BAYLOR 80 yards to a score with less than four minutes to go for a shaky 20-16 win over Texas A&M.
Clemson went west feeling mighty mean, and for a half it was, building a 10-0 lead over TCU. Then Horned Frog Halfback Jim Fauver threw a 57-yard touchdown pass, raced 70 yards for another to pull it out 14-10. ARKANSAS ambled past Wichita 17-0 as Quarterback Fred Marshall passed for a touchdown, scored another himself.
THE WEST
THE TOP THREE:
1. OREGON (6-0)
2. OREGON STATE (5-1)
3. USC (4-2)
All week long use Coach Johnny McKay fretted about California's Craig Morton. "The greatest college passer I've ever seen," he said gloomily. And Morton did have a good day against the Trojans. He hit 18 of 28 for 219 yards and two scores. But USC's Craig Fertig, whose chubby face and red checks make him look more like a 12-year-old choir boy than a quarterback, had a better one. He threw four touchdown passes, the last to Rod Sherman in the final minute, for a 26-21 Trojan victory.
Passing was big in Oregon, too. Washington keyed its stunting defenses on OREGON Quarterback Bob Berry, allowing him only one scoring pass, a 14-yarder to Tackle-eligible Lowell Dean. But it was enough for the unbeaten Ducks to beat the bumbling Huskies 7-0. OREGON STATE, meanwhile, discovered some flaws in Syracuse's pass coverage. The Beavers put in a reverse pass and gave Halfback Cliff Watkins a tricky new pattern to run. Paul Brothers threw 44 yards to Len Frketich and 39 to Watkins for scores, and down went surprised Syracuse, 31-13.
The Western AC, proudly boasting of two unbeaten teams, suddenly had none. ARIZONA upset Wyoming 15-7 and UTAH shocked Arizona State 16-3.
THE BEST
BACK OF THE WEEK: USC Quarterback Craig Fertig, who is not supposed to be much of a passer, nevertheless outthrew Cal's Craig Morton, who is. Fertig completed 21 of 28 for 371 yards and four scores as USC won 26-21.
LINEMAN OF THE WEEK: Texas, caught up in a tight kicking duel with Rice, got a huge boost from roaming 220-pound Linebacker Tommy Nobis, who caught Owl runners coming and going and made 25 unassisted tackles.
SATURDAY'S TOUGH ONES
Notre Dame over Navy. The unbeaten Irish are too strong all over for faltering Navy.
Syracuse over Pitt.* Pitt lacks the muscle to stand up to the Orange.
LSU over Mississippi. Always a tough one, but the noisy home crowd will help LSU.
Florida over Auburn. Auburn cannot score against good teams. Florida is one.
Georgia Tech over Duke. Tech, hoping for a bowl bid, is ready for a top effort.
Illinois over Purdue. A close game. Upset-minded Purdue will give Illinois a tussle.
Nebraska over Missouri. The Huskers will lose eventually, but not to Mizzou.
Bowling Green over Miami (Ohio). The Falcons go ahead in the Mid-American race.
Oregon over Stanford. Unbeaten Oregon has its eye on the Rose Bowl.
USC over Washington. So has USC. The Trojans move the ball. Washington does not.
OTHER GAMES
ALABAMA OVER MISSISSIPPI STATE
CALIFORNIA OVER UCLA
DARTMOUTH OVER YALE
INDIANA OVER MINNESOTA
MICHIGAN STATE OVER WISCONSIN
OHIO STATE OVER IOWA
PENN STATE OVER MARYLAND
TEXAS TECH OVER RICE*
TULSA OVER OKLAHOMA STATE
WYOMING OVER NEW MEXICO
*Regional TV
LAST WEEK'S PREDICTIONS
11 RIGHT, 7 WRONG, 2 TIES
SEASON'S RECORD: 66-50-3