Footballs 7th Week

With college football clicking along toward bowl time, one thing is certain. The era of domination by the Oklahomas, Notre Dames, Armys and Ohio States, so prevalent since the war years, has finally come to an end. After seven weeks of exciting and often turbulent action, there are at least half a dozen fine teams clamoring excitedly for recognition as the nation's best—a situation which is refreshing, to say the least.

THE MIDWEST

Northwestern, refusing to become fodder for the Ohio State meat grinder, met the Buckeyes on their own terms and gave them a thrilling lesson in ball control before winning 21-0 to stir up the Big Ten. After almost-three full periods of hard-nose, crunching football, wonderful Dick Thornton found Halfback Ron Burton running free as the breeze behind the Ohio State secondary and laid a perfect lead pass into his arms for a 67-yard touchdown play. In the last quarter Thornton covered 33 yards in two desperate runs for another score and completed the Buckeye humiliation with a short touchdown pass to End Elbert Kimbrough. Gloated deliriously happy Coach Ara Parseghian: "This is the only present I want. Nothing for my birthday. Nothing for Christmas. This is all I want."

Iowa, the only team to beat the incredible Wildcats, ended 34 years of frustration at Ann Arbor, finally mastering Michigan 37-14 to remain atop the nervous Big Ten heap. Coach Forest Evashevski, an old Wolverine himself, took the wraps off Sophmore Halfback Willie Fleming (see page 13) and watched him bewitch Michigan with a 72-yard punt return and a 61-yard touchdown dash.

Wisconsin stayed in the scramble, easing past thoroughly deflated Michigan State 9-7. At Lafayette, Ind. 46,357 fans who turned out to watch Purdue's Golden Girl, Adelaide Jeanne Darling, wiggle her way through the hula were disappointed when she left some wrinkles out of her act but were pleased when the Boilermakers, aided by stubby Skip Ohl's two field goals, beat Illinois 31-8. Minnesota, down deeper than a Gopher these days, took another one on the chin, losing to Indiana 6-0. The top three:

1. IOWA (5-0-1)
2. NORTHWESTERN (5-1-0)
3. OKLAHOMA (5-1-0)

THE SOUTH

Unbeaten LSU, reaching for the Sugar Bowl with 33 able hands, combined the best efforts of all three of its units to hand Mississippi its first defeat, 14-0. The Rebs, waiting anxiously for the (Billy) Cannon to go off, couldn't handle Halfback Johnny Robinson's diving cross-bucks from the double wing T and found themselves outmanned defensively by Coach Paul Dietzel's "white unit" and "Chinese bandits." The high-strung Tigers, alone now at the head of the SEC, took their cue from a gallant second-period goal-line stand led by Center Max Fugler (right) and rallied to turn a Mississippi fumble and an alert recovery of a blocked kick into two short-yardage touchdowns by Quarterbacks Warren Rabb and Durel Matherne.

Good-field, no-hit Auburn, easy to scare but tough to beat, had the pitching to squeeze past Florida 6-5. Trailing 3-0 after Gator Billy Booker's 23-yard field goal in the third quarter, Auburn passed its way downfield, scoring on a 10-yard toss from third-string Quarterback Dick Wood to End Joe Leichtnam. Minutes later the Tigers trembled again when Florida drove to the one-yard line but the Gators fumbled and Auburn gave up an automatic safety to get out of trouble.

North Carolina, preening for a bowl bid, coasted to a 21-7 victory over Tennessee when the mooselike middle bursts of Fullback Don Klochak parted the Vol line and kept the secondary honest for Quarterback Jack Cummings' passing.