FOOTBALL'S WEEK
THE EAST
1. DARTMOUTH (9-0)
2. SYRACUSE (7-3)
3. PRINCETON (8-1)
For a few brief moments last Saturday some 102,000 people luxuriating in the warm sunshine in Philadelphia's Kennedy Stadium were led into thinking they were in for a brilliant offensive show. In one sudden strike from the NAVY 25 early in the game, ARMY's Sonny Stowers slanted off his right tackle while the Middies were caught blitzing the other way. Unchallenged, Stowers went in for a touchdown, and Andy Dull kicked the extra point. Then, just before the end of the half, an intercepted pass gave Navy the ball on the Cadet 36. Quarterback John Cartwright, in between nervous misses, passed to Halfback Terry Murray for 15 yards, to End Phil Norton for 13 and again to Murray for the last eight. Felix Bassi's placement tied the score at 7-7.
After that, except for one Navy stab that ended in a bungled field-goal try, the two teams were about as daring as a 1920 lady's bathing suit. Turning on their defenses, they bruised and battered each other to no effective purpose, unless it was to prove Army had the better of it. Ends Sam Champi, who played both ways, and Tom Schwartz, Linebacker Townsend Clarke and Guard Vince Casillo blitzed Cartwright to death, and the game ended in a 7-7 tie. "That defense," observed Army's disappointed Paul Dietzel, "has been our only strength all year." Navy's Bill Elias admired it, too. "We anticipated it," he said glumly, "but we didn't handle it well at all."
Irked because Holy Cross refused to postpone the game a day when a torrential downpour turned Fitton Field into gumbo, BOSTON COLLEGE went after the Crusaders hard. Sophomore Brendan McCarthy clobbered them for 139 yards, Terry Erwin slithered through the muck for three touchdowns, and BC won 35-0. "We haven't been kicked around like that by anybody," said Holy Cross Coach Mel Massucco sadly.
The Ivy League had its last fling on Thanksgiving Day, and CORNELL'S Pete Larson made the most of it. He ran for three scores as the Big Red beat Penn easily 38-14.
THE SOUTH
1. ALABAMA (8-1-1)
2. TENNESSEE (6-1-2)
3. FLORIDA (7-3)
Not all the fireworks were in Birmingham, where ALABAMA was bombing Auburn for the Southeastern Conference title. TENNESSEE, off to a fast start on Fullback Stan Mitchell's 62-yard touchdown run on the third play of the game, took Vanderbilt 21-3 to finish third in the conference.
It was a hard week for bowl selectors. While jittery Sugar Bowl committeemen peeked fearfully through laced fingers, FLORIDA almost got it from Florida State. The Gators had to come from behind on Quarterback Steve Spurrier's 25-yard pass to End Charlie Casey with 2:10 to go to pull ahead of the doughty Seminoles 23-17. Then Allen Trammell picked off a pass and ran it back 46 yards to give Florida a 30-17 victory. But Gator Bowl folks came away with egg on their faces when Georgia Tech, their early choice, was upset by GEORGIA 17-7. The Bulldogs stuck their linebackers in tight and shot them through the gaps to pin down Tech Quarterback Kim King.
The Liberty Bowl, thankful to get anybody at all for its December 18 game in Memphis, came up with a winner. MISSISSIPPI, now 6-4, plowed under old rival Mississippi State 21-0 and will meet Auburn.
What should have been a mere breeze for NOTRE DAME turned out to be a full-blown hurricane. Tough MIAMI stacked the Irish runners with a nine-man front and then enjoyed the results. Without an accomplished passer, Notre Dame collapsed, and the Hurricanes came away with a delightful—and unexpected—scoreless tie.
Little GRAMBLING, a veritable gold mine for pro talent scouts, put its beef trust on display against Lincoln in the Sugar Cup Classic, and they ran away from the Tigers 58-14. The win gained Grambling a shot at unbeaten North Dakota State, the nation's No. 1 small-college team, in the Pecan Bowl in Abilene, Texas on December 11.
THE MIDWEST
1. MICHIGAN STATE (10-0)
2. NEBRASKA (10-0)
3. PURDUE (7-2-1)
For a time it looked like NEBRASKA'S perfect season was going down the drain, just the way it did a year ago. While the Huskers bumbled and fumbled, Oklahoma's suddenly sturdy young bulls blocked a kick and pounced on three loose balls. Ron Shotts kicked a 21-yard field goal after one Nebraska fumble, Larry Brown smashed over from the three after another and the Sooners led 9-0 in the second quarter. Then Coach Bob Devaney yanked nervy Quarterback Fred Duda for steadier Bob Churchich, and almost immediately the Huskers woke up. Choo-Choo Winters, trying for a first down at the Oklahoma 29, slammed off tackle, found himself in the clear and went all the way. In the third quarter Lighthorse Harry Wilson cut loose on a wide left sweep and ran 66 yards for a touchdown. Pretty soon Churchich threw a 38-yard pass to Wilson, and it was all over for valiant Oklahoma 21-9. The Huskers had their unbeaten season, the first one in 50 years and the first ever for Devaney, who was promptly tossed into the showers by his happy players. A wet Devaney came out bubbling, "This is the best team I've ever had. These boys are as good as anybody."
Colorado State acted like it had never heard of TULSA's Billy Anderson and Howard Twilley, who break college passing records almost every time they play catch. For three quarters State's Bob Wolfe outpitched Anderson, three touchdowns to one, and the Hurricanes barely led 21-20. Then Anderson began to pass—really. He threw long touchdown passes to Flanker Neal Sweeney (60 and 63 yards) and Twilley (51 yards), a short one (13 yards) to Bob Daugherty, and Tulsa took the game 48-20 as four more NCAA marks fell. The new records: by Anderson—who completed 37 of 57 passes—502 yards passing in a single game and 3,464 for the season; by Twilley—who scored twice to lead the nation with 127 points—19 catches in a game and 16 touch-downs for the year. Coach Glenn Dobbs, his face wreathed in a big smile, took about two seconds to accept an invitation to play Tennessee in the Bluebonnet Bowl. "It just so happens that we can go," he said.
It was bowling time, too, for some small colleges, and once-beaten NORTH DAKOTA whipped unbeaten Northern Illinois 37-20 in the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo. Undefeated ST. JOHN'S of Collegeville, Minn. routed Fairmont (West Virginia) State 28-7 for the right to play Linfield, Ore. in the NAIA Championship Bowl on December 11 in Augusta, Ga.
THE SOUTHWEST
1. ARKANSAS (10-0)
2. TEXAS TECH (8-2)
3. TCU (6-4)
Using a potpourri offense that included almost everything from the single wing to the tight I and a voracious defense that limited TEXAS CHRISTIAN to only 12 yards in the first half, Southern Methodist seemed on its way to an easy win. Suddenly, though, the Mustangs gave up large chunks of yardage, first to the officials, then to the Frogs, and their 7-0 lead was in jeopardy. Worst for SMU were five successive, quick and staggering penalties totaling 47 yards. "The way that official was moving that ball, I thought he was going to score," said one miffed SMU player. As it turned out TCU scored without official help, moving 87 yards in 10 plays. Then TCU's Bruce Alford kicked a 40-yard field goal for a 10-7 win and a bid to play Texas Western in the Sun Bowl.
Early in the second quarter of a scoreless battle against TEXAS, the Texas A&M Aggies had the ball on their own nine—the perfect time to use the surprise play they had practiced for two weeks. Quarterback Harry Ledbetter lateraled overhand, bouncing the ball according to plan off the ground before it reached his halfback, Jim Kauffmann. Ledbetter threw his hands up in disgust. Kauffmann stomped his foot in anger. But then came the surprise. Kauffmann stopped playing possum and passed to Ken McLean, all alone at midfield, and the big end ran the rest of the way to a 91-yard touchdown. It was the season's best and most bizarre play but, alas, to no avail. Texas, falling back on the more conventional passing of Marv Kristynik and the running of Jim Helms, rallied to score three times in 12 minutes for a 21-17 victory.
Coach Jess Neely of Rice could sympathize with the Aggies, for he, too, had a pet play that worked to perfection—in a 17-13 loss to BAYLOR. He sent in sub Quarterback Bob Hailey for just two plays and Hailey threw two scoring passes to Glen Hine. Baylor, however, pounced on two Rice fumbles, and Dick Defee made them pay off on touchdown runs of 17 and 11 yards.
The TEXAS WESTERN-West Texas State game was, literally, up in the air: 101 passes were thrown. Billy Stevens of Western completed 29 of 56 for 355 yards, Spencer Washington of State hit on 18 of 45 for 315 yards. The most significant pass was a five-yarder from Stevens to Chuck Hughes. It broke a tie and led the Miners to a 38-21 win.
Linfield of Oregon ended Sul Ross's 16-game winning streak, defeating the Texans 30-27 in an NAIA semifinal playoff.
THE WEST
1. UCLA (7-1-1)
2. USC (7-2-1)
3. WASHINGTON (5-5)
The news that Halfback Mike Garrett had won the Heisman Trophy reached SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA just when the Trojans badly needed a lift after losing to UCLA. Obviously, it called for a celebration, so USC smashed Wyoming 56-6. Garrett had another one of his routinely spectacular days, scoring three touchdowns and passing for a fourth. Along the way he set four rushing records: NCAA three-year, 3,221 yards; AAWU and USC single-season, 1,440 yards and 612 carries; USC career total offense, 3,269 yards. Alone he was enough to do in the overmatched Cowboys, but Quarterback Troy Winslow made some contributions too. He threw four touchdown passes, two to End Dave Moton (who also caught one from Garrett), and one each to End John Thomas and Flanker Rod Sherman. Coach Johnny McKay, of course, had already said it all about Garrett. But he was enchanted by Winslow, too. "He doesn't have a long arm," said McKay. "In fact, I could have autographed one of the passes he threw—but he's good, isn't he?"
They used to tell funny stories about BRIGHAM YOUNG football. Like how every time BYU got a decent player the Mormons would send him off on a one-year mission. One former coach said that he even tried recruiting some mean old Catholic boys but the good Mormons on the squad converted them. The fact is that in 43 seasons the Cougars had never won any kind of a football championship—until last Saturday when Quarterback Virgil Carter came out throwing against New Mexico's shoddy pass defense (it had given up 15 scores). With the placid Lobos scattering frantically and futilely, Carter completed 23 of 32 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 14 more to break the Western AC career total offense record with 2,263 yards, and BYU routed New Mexico 42-8 for a 6-4 record and the WAC title. "We didn't make more than two defensive mistakes," bragged Coach Tom Hudspeth.
BYU's win ended whatever chance fast-finishing ARIZONA STATE had for the championship, but the cocky Sun Devils finished with a show of strength, taking their fifth straight, 14-6 over Arizona.
PHOTO
Sturdiest of all in Philadelphia defensive game was Army's Sam Champi (86).
BEST OF THE WEEK
THE BACK: Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett ended a brilliant record-breaking college career with 112 yards gained rushing and three touchdowns. For good measure he threw a 30-yard scoring pass as USC beat Wyoming.
THE LINEMAN: When Notre Dame was invited to come on down and play Miami it had not counted on the likes of Linebacker Ed Weisacosky who wrecked the Irish attack, crashing in to make 15 unaided tackles in a 0-0 tie.