THE WEEK

WEST

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

Poor Jim Plunkett. Just as he and the Stanford Indians seemed assured of a grand season, they were stopped by impoverished Purdue. Plunkett had a most uncomfortable afternoon. Five of his passes were intercepted and he was tackled behind the line of scrimmage five times. In addition, he fumbled once and for the entire first quarter was unable to concoct a first down. The Purdue defense, which had allowed Notre Dame 48 points the week before, conceded the Indians only 14, while the Boilermaker offense scored 26. "Their defense was odd. We hadn't expected a three-man rush," said a Stanford assistant coach. Head Coach John Ralston was more inclusive: "We got whipped in every way from beginning to end. We underestimated them. We were Hat. It is my responsibility."

Saturday was more pleasant for Jimmy Jones, the USC quarterback who, it has been said, cannot throw a spiral. In a performance that he described as "my most accurate passing game," the Southern Cal junior went 15 for 21, including three touchdowns, while playing only three quarters against Oregon State. Musing on Jones after USC's 45-13 win, Trojan Coach John McKay said, "Let's see, that makes 11, 12, 13, 14, ah, 15 outstanding games he's played for us."

Arizona State, removing any doubt that it has one of the top teams, whipped Wyoming 52-3. Said Lloyd Eaton, coach of the losers: "They've got everything—a stingy defense and an explosive offense. They get the ball and do something with it."

The Aztecs of San Diego State extended their nonlosing streak to 26 games with an easy 31-11 day against Brigham Young.

MIDWEST

1. OHIO STATE (2-0)
2. NEBRASKA (3-0-1)
3. NOTRE DAME (3-0)

"I feel almost silly saying Ohio State is a great team," said Duke Coach Tom Harp in Columbus Saturday. "But it is. They're No. 1 and they'll stay there. And as far as I'm concerned, they belong there." With that, Harp and his Blue Devils flew rather happily back to North Carolina and Atlantic Coast competition. They had by no means been disgraced. At the end of the first half Ohio State led by only 6-3 and might easily have been behind by plenty. Duke had lost a fumble within two yards of the goal line. And with just 33 seconds left in the half Duke had punted while leading 3-0. Ohio State Tackle Ralph Holloway blocked the ball and batted it to End Ken Luttner who ran 45 yards for the Buckeyes' score. Luttner, incidentally, seems to have found his niche. Last year he was a reserve fullback. Last week, his first on defense, he recovered three fumbles.

The Ohio State offense woke up in the second half, scoring the first three times it had the ball, and won handily, 34-10. Quarterback Rex Kern, the North's answer to Archie Manning, ran four times for 97 yards and a touchdown. Ohio State Tailback Leo Hayden, whose half brother, an end on the Wichita State team, was killed when his team's plane crashed on Friday, felt he should play nevertheless and contributed his best effort, 165 yards in 26 carries.

Texas A & M played the Big Ten co-champions on consecutive Saturdays, thereby becoming a barometer for the Ohio State-Michigan game at the end of the season. Having been defeated 56-13 by Ohio State, the Aggies fared better against Michigan. They were leading with three minutes left to play when Wolverine Coach Bo Schembechler returned Quarterback Don Moorhead to the game with orders to sweep left end. Too late, Bo changed his mind, deciding upon an inside run instead. As the bench frantically waved for his attention, Moorhead took the snap and went around end seven yards for a touchdown and the victory, 14-10. So much for coaching genius.

Wisconsin gave Coach John Jardine his first victory and Penn State its second straight defeat, 29-16. In 1953 Penn State went to Madison and suffered a 20-0 trampling by Alan (The Horse) Ameche. This time Badger fans hoped Alan (A-Train) Thompson would emulate The Horse. The Wisconsin defense swept up four Lion fumbles and two interceptions, and the offense had something even better than A-Train. Films had revealed a weakness in Penn State's deep secondary, and Quarterback Neil Graff hit with scoring passes of 68 and 52 yards.

Lynn Dickey was out the previous week with bruised ribs when Kansas State lost to Arizona State. Last Saturday there was less purple in the bruises and a bit more in Kansas State's pride as Dickey led the Wildcats to a 21-20 victory over highly favored Colorado. "That's the kind of a team I've always known we had," said Coach Vince Gibson. "Boy, did we need that son-of-a-gun at quarterback!" That son-of-a-gun rifled passes for 171 yards behind a line that saved him and his sore ribs from dumpings. Dickey's spongy rib pads proved to be an unnecessary precaution.

Notre Dame rolled over Michigan State 29-0 for its second straight shutout and first win at East Lansing in 21 years. Nebraska's 35-10 win over Minnesota gave the Huskers their ninth victory in a row over a Big Ten team and reminded the Gophers that they have not beaten anybody in the Big Eight since 1960.

Toledo ran its winning streak to 15 with a 42-7 victory over Ohio U., but the high score of the week was achieved by Wittenberg. The Tigers took their 14th straight, 76-7, over Otterbein.

EAST

1. WEST VIRGINIA (4-0)
2. BOSTON COLLEGE (3-0)
3. PENN STATE (1-2)

For years the Pittsburgh Panthers have been unable to generate enthusiasm in their home city. They last provided the steel town with a winner in 1963. In 1966 Pitt hired a new coach, Dave Hart, who was expected to bring the Panthers back from their worst season on record. They had lost seven games, won three and given up 311 points. Among other things, Hart weighed his team underwater. The idea was to determine what portion of each body was excess fat and what was necessary muscle. What portion could block and tackle may have been neglected; the Panthers experienced a 1-9 season. In 1967 Hart announced that his team was "improved by 100%." The result was another 1-9 year. Even the team mascot, a real live panther, proved to be a loser. Insurance companies refused to accept the risk of its escaping, and it was put in a zoo. After his third 1-9 season, Hart quit. His replacement, Carl DePasqua, brought Pitt back to 4-6. This season the long years of black comedy seem to have ended. To be sure, Pitt lost its opener to UCLA, but the score was a respectable 24-15. Next the Panthers defeated Baylor. Last Saturday they outscored Kent State 27-6 even though four starters were injured. Nice to have you back, Pitt, over water or under.

Boston College followers are beginning to refer to Eagle games as "Willis Weekends." Against VMI, Fred Willis, BC's halfback, gained 146 yards on just 15 carries and scored three touchdowns as the Eagles soared over the Keydets, 56-3. Willis has gained a total of 408 yards in three games and is one of the nation's leading scorers with eight touchdowns. "He's as fine a back as you'll find in the country," says BC Coach Joe Yukica. "He breaks tackles, he blocks and today he made a couple of tackles under punts. What more could you ask?"

Columbia came from behind and fell just two points short (24-22) of becoming the first Lion eleven to defeat the Princeton Tigers in a quarter of a century. Dartmouth, best of the Ivys, smashed Holy Cross 50-14.

SOUTHWEST

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

Lunching on steak four hours before his Texas Longhorns were to meet UCLA, Darrell Royal considered the possibilities. "We've had a variety of defenses thrown at us," he said, "and we've tried to anticipate them all. I was wondering what we might have missed, so I got to thinking that UCLA might try to send their end after our wide man in the triple option on every play. It would be a bold move, and I wondered what it would do to us." Royal discussed the question with his assistants but decided not to bother Eddie Phillips, the Longhorns' new quarterback. It was too late to go back to the blackboard. By late in the afternoon the Bruins had successfully shadowed both Phillips and his wide man with a bearish brand of man-for-man defense and held the Texans to one touchdown and two long field goals.

Meanwhile, Quarterback Dennis Dummit of UCLA had passed for 340 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 19 completions, and the surprising Bruins were ahead 17-13 with 20 seconds left. The Longhorns' 23-game winning streak, the longest in college football, not to mention the defense of their national championship, depended on a third-and-19 play with the ball on the UCLA 45-yard line. All-America receiver Cotton Speyrer ran downfield and cut to his left past two defenders. Phillips threw. Speyrer caught the ball at the 25 and raced into the end zone. "You don't have to apologize for beating a fine team like UCLA, no matter how you beat them," Royal said later. "Sure, luck is involved—but you have to be in a position for luck to happen. Luck doesn't go around looking for a stumblebum."

Early last week it appeared that Bill Burnett's shoulder separation would keep the most-traveled ballcarrier in Arkansas history on the sideline against TCU. But when game time arrived Burnett said, "I can't see missing a game when I can stand the pain." Thereupon he scored four touchdowns as the Razorbacks routed the Frogs 49-14, the widest margin in their 50-year series. The Arkansas defense held Steve Judy, TCU's sprint-out quarterback, to minus seven yards rushing. "I've got another year to try," said Judy, "but it seems like that's what I say every year."

Rice Coach Bo Hagan is nothing if not optimistic. After his Owls were beaten 24-0 by LSU two weeks ago, Hagan said his defense had jelled. "It's hard for people to believe a coach when he says something like that," Hagan admitted. But as of Saturday Hagan could afford to look owlish, for Rice shut out California 28-0.

Texas Tech was slicker against Santa Barbara after its frantic loss to Texas the previous week. The Red Raiders oiled in 63-21.

SOUTH

1. MISSISSIPPI (3-0)
2. AUBURN (3-0)
3. GEORGIA TECH (4-0)

Army ventured into Knoxville, Tenn. to try its Southern strategy, but it was an ill-conceived campaign. Tennessee scored 28 points during the first half, and in the final quarter the reserves added three more touchdowns. The margin of defeat, 48-3, was Army's second alltime worst, but the day could have been even more embarrassing. Only a missed extra point prevented the Cadets from yielding the highest enemy score in the Academy's 80-year football history.

North Carolina, playing its first game on a synthetic surface, came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Vanderbilt 10-7 and remain unbeaten. Reserve Quarterback John Swofford, the younger brother of pop singer Oliver, threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Wingback Lewis Jolley to tie the game, and later drove the Tar Heels to the Commodores' two-yard line, where Ken Craven kicked the winning field goal. Earlier it was rumored that Morganna, the kiss-and-tell stripper, planned to buss Don McCauley, Carolina's star runner. Morganna did not show, but McCauley had enough to blush about as he managed just 75 yards, far below his average, and at one point fumbled on the Vanderbilt six.

Georgia Tech, also undefeated, had a crowd of 51,000 in Atlanta's Grant Field wondering what happened to the Yellow Jackets' sting. Tech was tied 7-7 with not-very-strong Clemson when, late in the fourth quarter, Larry Studdard, brother of Mississippi's Vernon, raced 43 yards to score on an end-around play. Next, Halfback Brent Cunningham traveled 69 yards for another TD. A pass by Eddie McAshan just before the gun ended the scoring at 28-7.

"An 8-and-3 record wouldn't be too bad, and might even get us into a bowl game," said John Ray, and those were cheerful words from a coach who had just watched his Kentucky Wildcats lose their third game of the year. The winner was Auburn, the score 35-15. "If we ever get to the point where we can stop the bomb, we'll start winning," said Ray. For a while the Wildcats were doing just fine. They led the Tigers 15-9 in the third quarter, and the homecoming crowd in Stoll Field began to anticipate a reason to celebrate. Then Wallace Clark, Auburn's fullback, returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, the Tigers tore on and the fans went home to cold biscuits and analgesic spirits.

Two Louisiana State quarterbacks, Buddy Lee and Bert Jones, combined to shatter three school passing records and the Baylor Bears, too, 31-10. Mississippi State surprised Georgia 7-6 in the first game of a double header in Jackson, Miss. Ole Miss went marauding in the second (page 14).

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

THE BACK: Senior Wingback Henry Hawthorne gained 129 yards in nine carries and caught four passes for 96 yards, one providing the winning touchdown as Kansas State defeated Penn State's streak-ender, Colorado, 21-20.

THE LINEMAN: Defensive End Charlie Weaver, a remnant of Southern Cal's 1969 Wild Bunch, picked up where the Bunch left off, making seven tackles and personally dumping the Oregon State quarterback three times in SC's 45-13 win.