FOOTBALL'S WEEK

MIDWEST

1. OHIO STATE (1-0)
2. MISSOURI (2-0)
3. OKLAHOMA (2-0)

While the will-success-spoil-Ohio State question was about to be answered in Columbus (page 18), Notre Dame pondered whether it could ever beat Purdue's Mike Phipps. "I think so," concluded Linebacker Bob Olson. "He's a fairly good runner and has a good arm, but he had Keyes in the past and good receivers." Defensive Tackle Mike McCoy remembered the Purdue game of 1967: "That year Purdue didn't treat us too well. Phipps killed us. It made him nationally known. But I don't want to say anything more until after the game. Then, if we win, I'll blow my mouth, but if we lose I'll keep quiet."

McCoy was quiet in the Notre Dame dressing room after Phipps had beaten the Irish 28-14 before the biggest sports crowd in Indiana history (always excepting the Indianapolis 500). The 68,000 in Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium, which is referred to in South Bend as the Snake Pit, watched the Boilermakers' All-American Band salute two graduates, Neil Armstrong and the late Gus Grissom, with a halftime show entitled "The Greatest Touchdown Ever." The crowd considered Phipps' first-quarter 37-yard pass to Halfback Randy Cooper a close second, since it gave Purdue a 7-0 lead. "The reason I threw to Cooper on that first touchdown was because we felt if we could hurt them once early they'd lay off. We knew they were wary coming in here and we wanted the momentum. It worked."

Phipps made first downs on critical third downs and long yardage in each of his four touchdown drives. "He's always had poise and great presence," Ara Parseghian said after the game. "He made the key play, the critical play—the third-down play." The quarterback, who by now is used to beating the Irish, was blasé while facing a crush of reporters. "It's nice to know I beat them three years in a row, but I imagine it will mean more to me some later year," he said.

Another quarterback, this one an unknown, was less casual during his postgame interview. California's Steve Curtis left the bench with the Golden Bears trailing Indiana 14-7 in the second quarter and proceeded to fumble. "That shows how nervous I was," Curtis said. Then Curtis went on to lead the Bears to a 17-14 upset. He threw a game-winning 61-yard touchdown pass to substitute End Ken Adams, whose grandfather founded Grambling College. The real hero of the game was not Curtis but rather the California defense. After allowing two scores in the game's first eight minutes, it shut out the Gonso-Isenbarger-Butcher laughing boys. "Who says defense is dead?" bubbled Coach Ray Willsey. "It didn't look like it this afternoon."

Wisconsin football is becoming more enjoyable. The team's running backs hale colorful nicknames—Greg (Grape Juice) Johnson and Alan (A-Train) Thompson—and they also have speed and power. Thanks to their ability to carry the football the Badgers scored 23 points against UCLA, Wisconsin's highest point total in 47 games. Just one problem: the Bruins scored 34, thanks to the arm of Quarterback Dennis Dummit, a JC transfer. Many Bruin followers consider him to be more talented than Gary Beban. Tommy Prothro is more cautious. "I couldn't rate someone who has played just three games with someone who played 30. But he is a good passer."

Jim Ettinger joked that he would gather his teammates around and celebrate Kansas' 13-0 win against Syracuse with a Saturday night poetry reading. The quarterback's poems, however, would have been inappropriate. "They deal with heartbreak and sorrow and are in the mood of Rod McKuen's songs." A Detroit publisher has printed two collections of his verse entitled But What of the Lonely and Anxious Are the Young. Coach Ben Schwartzwalder and the Orangemen had a lonely plane ride home after Kansas folk hero Emery Hicks—or Mr. Bad, as he is known in Laurence—hit Syracuse Quarterback Rich Panczyszyn as he threw the ball. The pass was intercepted by John Mears, who, after a key block thrown by Hicks, rambled 56 yards for the final touchdown.

Missouri's Joe Moore is a local boy, having grown up in St. Louis. He had rebelled at Beaumont High School when he was shifted from defensive guard to fullback. After the Tigers took care of Illinois 37-6, the sophomore halfback said, "You can tell them I don't want to play guard anymore." Moore carried the ball 22 times for 191 yards and began the scoring with a 58-yard touchdown run.

Steve Owens wasn't expected to start against Pittsburgh, having suffered a bruised thigh in Oklahoma's opening game. He missed four days of practice. "On Friday night I kept saying to myself I could play," Owens said. "Before the game in warmups it felt bad, but on the first series of downs it felt better." All he was able to accomplish was 104 yards and three touchdowns as the Sooners beat Pitt 37-8.

Bill Yeoman wasn't talking honey after his Houston Cougars were upset again, this time by Oklahoma State—chosen before the season to finish last in the Big Eight—24-18. His targets were the officials and his quarterbacks. Houston was penalized a total of 132 yards, and the coach said, "I will be real interested in looking at the movies of this one." Quarterback Rusty Clark, despite a knee injury, found himself in the game. "I finally went to the cripple," Yeoman said. "He was the only one who was doing anything." State Quarterback Bob Cutburth also made mistakes (three interceptions), but during a four-minute segment of the second quarter he threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.

For the third straight week SMU was "upset." This latest came from Michigan State, 23-15.

EAST

1. PENN STATE (2-0)
2. WEST VIRGINIA (3-0)
3. ARMY (2-0)

Days before Princeton and Rutgers took the held to decide which of them would start football's second century with a victory, the cutesy stuff began. On Wednesday night 12 Princeton undergraduates removed the Little Cannon originally tired by George Washington's underdog team at the Battle of Princeton from its concrete base on the campus and buried it three feel away. They left a sign at the base reading, "Thanks Princeton, love Rutgers '72." Local Trenton papers documented the theft, and soon the Story was picked up by the wire services. Rutgers students admitted to the prank, figuring one of their members must have done it. When the hoax was revealed, as one Tiger student put it, "Rutgers had egg all over its face." Maybe so.

But on Saturday afternoon Princeton was wearing the egg. Rutgers Quarterback Rich Policastro, following the game plan, called quick opening plays that sent Tailback Bruce Van Ness and Fullback Steve Ferrughelli through the eight-man defensive front for long gains. He also completed 24 passes, a school record, for 260 yards. "Policastro could play for just about any team in the country," Rutgers Coach John Bateman said. "I'm just happy he's playing for me." The final score, 29-0, was hardly an auspicious start for Princeton's first non-single-wing offense since 1945. After the game a reporter smiled. "Today," he said, "Princeton set football back 100 years."

Both West Virginia and Penn State had troubles at the start. The Mountaineers trailed Tulane 17-14 at the half before winning 35-17, their third straight victory. At Penn State Charlie Pittman, the Lions' star running back, was injured on the opening kickoff against Colorado. "That first quarter had me scared, especially after Pittman got hurt," said Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer. The sight of Penn State's leading ground-gainer and scorer limping in front of the bench with his right ankle wrapped in ice made defensive captains Mike Reid and Steve Smear realize that winning might depend on them. "Bob Anderson [Colorado's talented quarterback] is all mine now," vowed Reid. Smear agreed, "If you don't get him I will."

Anderson, the nation's top rushing quarterback the past two years, gained only four yards in 17 carries, completed just eight passes, threw three interceptions and fumbled once. He also received a cut on his forehead and a bruise on his face. "I've never had a day like this before," Anderson lamented. "How do I like playing against Penn State? It's pretty discouraging."

It took State's offense one quarter to adjust to life without Pittman. With Fullback Don Abbey and two sophomores, Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell, running the football, and Mike Reitz kicking it 32 yards for a held goal, the Lions scored 17 points in the second period. Another Reitz kick and a 91-yard scoring kickoff return by Paul Johnson wrapped up the 27-3 victory.

The real action at Harvard centered on Lowell Lecture Hall, where the SDS held its regional conference and debated such topics as student-worker alliances and Vietnam moratoriums. That other game—the one they sold tickets to—drew baffled responses—"What game, man?"—from SDS members. The Crimson, the Ivy League favorite, took itself quite seriously, however, sweeping past Holy Cross 13-0. The opening victory ran Harvard's unbeaten streak to 10 games.

SOUTH

1. GEORGIA (2-0)
2. ALABAMA (2-0)
3. TENNESSEE (2-0)

When the referee's pistol made it official—Kentucky had defeated eighth-ranked Mississippi 10-9—John Ray clutched the game ball saying, "What was it? Ten-nine? I can't even remember. I guess I'm a little excited." The win ended the Wildcats' nine-game SEC losing streak. "Remember that story in a Mississippi paper which predicted that John Vaught would welcome us to the SEC with a crash when we played the Rebels?" Ray asked. "Who was that columnist?" The Wildcats were behind 9-0 late in the first half when Bobby Jones kicked a 36-yard field goal. In the third quarter Bernie Scruggs, starting his first varsity game, took Kentucky 63 yards in 11 plays before scoring himself from the six. The lead was protected during the final quarter by good fortune and even better punting. Archie Manning drove Ole Miss down to the three where Tailback Leon Felts fumbled and Kentucky recovered. Dave Hardt punted from his end zone three plays later, and Kentucky recovered the dropped fair catch. Forced to punt again with two minutes left, Hardt kicked the ball out of bounds at the Rebels' five.

"Sure, you have to have a little luck in this game," Ray said. "Last week I think we had all the bad luck a team can have for a season (SI, Sept. 29]. But we still felt we could win, that we could beat Ole Miss. They know they can do it now. Now we'll go."

When Florida State journeyed down to Miami to play the Hurricanes, the odds were definitely not in its favor. After all, the game would be played on Friday night in the Orange Bowl, and only two teams in three years have managed to emerge from that combination with a victory. But Seminole Quarterback Bill Cappleman, for one, enjoys a long shot. With five minutes left to play and Miami leading 14-13, he had a fourth and six at Miami's 47-yard line. Cappleman disdained the punt and went for it. "We put a rush on him that you wouldn't believe," Miami Coach Charlie Tate said later. "He never shook." Cappleman threw a 10-yard pass to End Ted Zaffran, and Grant Guthrie kicked the winning field goal moments later.

Alabama joined in the current scoring fad at the expense of Southern Mississippi. The Tide scored each of the first eight times it had the ball. In the end, Bear Bryant's team had to settle for a 63-14 final score All of which goes to show that when Baby Bear—P.W. (Bear) Underwood, the Southerners' new head coach challenges Papa Bear in Tuscaloosa, the result is a pretty good clawing.

Twenty-eight years ago, when Clemson placed a football stadium between two hills on campus, Frank Howard named it Death Valley. Howard is still coaching the Tigers, and on most Saturday afternoons the nickname still fits. But when Georgia arrived in the valley, it was Clemson that did the dying. Nothing, not even a 30-0 loss, dampens Howard's spirit. "We were just snake-bit." he said. "It was one of those games where you look up and see the points on the scoreboard, pinch yourself and wonder where they came from."

Army needed only a cheering section of 200 cadets and a borrowed GI band to make the most noise at Nashville's Dudley Field. The Commodore enthusiasts were quiet after Vanderbilt missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt and then fumbled the next time it had the ball. Army's backs, notably Lynn Moore, ran the heart of the line for yardage, and its defense, which gave up only 56 yards in the first half, contributed to a 16-6 victory.

Tennessee avenged its only loss last season by knocking off Auburn 45-19, while on Saturday night surprising Florida placed itself in contention for the SEC title by beating Mississippi State 47-35 on the passing of John Reaves.

South Carolina is the expected winner in the more predictable Atlantic Coast Conference race, but the Gamecocks were given a run by North Carolina before winning 14-6. The high-flying Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech, refusing to believe preseason predictions, placed the sting on Baylor, 17-10, for their second victory.

SOUTHWEST

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

"Everybody in Austin was a punter after our first game," said Scooter Monzingo of the Texas Longhorns. "Nearly everyone I saw last week had some suggestions for me." Monzingo, a senior from Del Rio, averaged just 31.8 yards on six punts against California. But against Texas Tech he increased his average by 11 yards and gave the ball to the Red Raiders on their nine-(twice), 13- and 12-yard lines. The tip that made the difference came from Assistant Coach Willie Zapalac. "I had been holding the front end of the ball up a little too high," Monzingo said. "This week I held it down more and got under it."

Of course, the further education of the punter's toe was not the sole reason for Texas' 49-7 win, its first against Tech in three years. There was the consistent ground power of Fullback Steve Worster and Tailback Ted Koy, plus a brilliant 53-yard punt return by Cotton Speyrer, the split end. James Street completed only three passes for 29 yards, "because I was throwing behind the receivers," but the defense more than compensated for the absence of a passing attack. The Longhorns converted three pass interceptions and a fumble recovery into touchdowns.

Arkansas won a yawner over Tulsa, 55-0, but one of the 77 passes thrown during the afternoon had the fans wide awake and cheering. After Placekicker Bill McClard's conversion—one of a bunch—a young boy caught the ball on the cinder track surrounding the field. Without hesitation, he turned and hurled it over the scoreboard to an accomplice, who caught the ball on the run, did a nifty zig-in between some parked cars and was gone.

Coach Frank Broyles of Arkansas was naturally pleased with his team's effort. "Our defense again made it easy for the offense," he said. Indeed, the Razorback defense hasn't been scored on in 14 quarters. Arkansas concludes its season against Texas on Dec. 6 and that's the big game that the fans and the coach are pointing to. When ABC rescheduled the game last March, Barbara Broyles told her husband it was a mistake. "You'll never be able to stand the wait," she said.

After LSU inflicted a 42-0 loss on Rice in Houston, the LSU cheering section began a "We're No. 1" chant. Coach Charlie McClendon toned down that analysis, saying, "Our fans get carried away sometimes. Is this the best LSU club I've ever had? Lordy no, I wouldn't say that. We've just won two games. When you label a team good, I want it to be good. I mean real good."

Everyone knew that the Tigers would be able to throw this year, but LSU also proved it was able to run with the ball. A total of 13 Tigers carried the ball 66 times for 272 yards. McClendon has solved another old problem, injury to his top quarterback. "I've had my starter injured in five of the last seven years. When you've got just one, what do you do? That's why we're bringing three along. We don't want to get hurt there again."

WEST

1. USC (2-0)
2. STANFORD (2-0)
3. UCLA (3-0)

The opening kickoff was returned to Southern Cal's 27-yard line. Jimmy Jones, the Trojan quarterback, trotted into the huddle, dropped to one knee and quietly called: "Twenty-eight. Pitch right. On two." Jones took the snap, pitched to Tailback Clarence Davis and then swept right to assist in the blocking. Just 16 seconds after the USC-Northwestern game began, Davis was 73 yards downfield into the Wildcat end zone. "I knew I was gone just as soon as I turned the corner," Davis said.

Davis has done a lot of traveling around the country. He was born in Birmingham, spent five years on Boston Post Road in the Bronx where his sports were stickball and handball, was city shotput champion at Washington High in Los Angeles and at East Los Angeles JC broke O. J. Simpson's junior-college rushing record. "The touchdown was the thrill of my life," Davis said. "I'd always wanted to play in the Coliseum, and then to have this happen on the first play." In 21 carries he gained 164 yards as USC defeated Northwestern 48-6. After that, Wildcat Coach Alex Agase began calling him O. J. Davis.

"We beat a great football team," the Great Pumpkin said after his Oregon State Beavers upset Arizona State 30-7. Dee Andros' defense kept constant pressure on Sun Devil Quarterbacks Joe Spagnola and Grady Hurst. But Art Malone is too talented to be contained by most of the nation's tacklers, and he gained 119 yards on 28 carries. Oregon State's sophomore Quarterback Steve Endicott completed just five passes, but he made good use of Halfback Bryce Huddleston (99 yards in 14 carries) and a handful of other running backs.

Although Stanford's offense claims most attention, it was the inexperienced defensive line that received praise after the Indians defeated Oregon 28-0. "Our defense is rapidly coming of age," said Coach John Ralston. The eldest was Linebacker Don Parish, who made 17 tackles. Despite the size of the score, Ralston was less encouraged by the offense, particularly Quarterback Jim Plunkett. He threw two touchdown passes but also had three throws intercepted. "Jim seemed nervous. He had an off day."

Kansas State's Lynn Dickey had a more relaxing day. All he had to do was hand off to his three backs, each of whom scored twice. The Wildcats, who weren't expected to win much this season, rolled for the second week in a row, beating Arizona 42-27.

Air Force, having upset SMU and threatened Missouri, was surprised by Wyoming 27-25. And Idaho State's 47-42 victory was its first ever against Idaho.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THE BACK: Although lamed by a bruised thigh, Oklahoma's Steve Owens ground out 104 yards and three touchdowns, the 11th straight time he has gained more than 100 yards in a game and the 40th TD of his career.

THE LINEMAN: Mike Reid, Penn State tackle, had live unassisted tackles and seven probables in State's 27-3 win over Colorado. Reid shook oil effects of a painful Charley horse and forced two punts that led to State scores.