Football's Week

Exciting TEXAS TECH won another wild one when Tom Wilson threw an 11-yard pass to Mike Leinert, with 2:20 left, to beat TCU 28-24. Minutes earlier Frank Horak had put the Frogs ahead with a 102-yard kickoff return. Disappointing Houston was again beaten, this time by Glynn Lindsey's 26-yard field goal that won 10-7 for TEXAS A&M. And two other unbeatens stayed that way: TEXAS WESTERN, using 319 passing yards by the wondrous Billy Stevens, crushed Colorado State 35-0; WEST TEXAS STATE rolled over Trinity 34-6.

THE WEST

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

For USC's muscular, slippery Mike Garrett, it was a routine game—175 yards rushing in 31 carries, including a 58-yard sprint to set up one touchdown, and a crushing block to spring teammate Rod Sherman loose for another. But for Quarterback Troy Winslow, it was a wide-screen spectacular. He completed all 11 of his passes for two touchdowns and ran for one himself. By the time Coach Johnny McKay called off his brace of Trojans, Washington was dead 34-0.

It did not seem possible that STANFORD could beat Oregon. Long-pass receiver Bobby Blunt was out with an injury and Quarterback Dave Lewis was ailing with a sprained big toe, which prevented him from running options or punting. To make matters worse the Indians fumbled the ball away four times in the first half. But the Stanford defense, led by Guard Mike Hibler, did all the right things. It slanted, stunted, red-dogged and held the Webfoots down until Coach John Ralston dusted off an old play, a tackle-eligible pass. Lewis threw one to Blaine Nye to tie Oregon 7-7 in the third quarter and another to Ferg Flanagan with 1:12 to go to beat the Webfoots 17-14.

UCLA's Tommy Prothro had a couple of new plays of his own for Syracuse. The first time the Bruins got the ball, after a Syracuse fumble, Quarterback Gary Beban rolled right on the option and kept on going for 27 yards and a touchdown behind some specially devised blocking. The next time UCLA gained possession Beban rolled right again, the Syracuse defense edged up, and Beban passed over it to End Kurt Altenberg for 79 yards and another score. Unable to fathom such ruthless trickery, Syracuse bowed 24-14.

California was showing signs of improvement. The defense set up three second-quarter touchdowns with pass interceptions and fumble recoveries, and the Bears trimmed Air Force 24-7. WASHINGTON STATE, however, had to come from behind to take underdog Villanova 24-14. The difference was a scoring flurry that took only a minute. Quarterback Tom Roth threw a 78-yard pass to Halfback Bob Simpson, and Willie Gaskins ran back an interception 41 yards.

The smart money was on unbeaten Wyoming when the Cowboys came to Salt Lake City to play UTAH. Wyoming had whipped Arizona, the Utes had lost to Arizona and they always lose to the Cowboys anyway. So at half time, when Wyoming led 3-0, nobody was surprised. But then miraculous things began to happen. The mean Utah defense, led by Linebacker Pat McKissick, shook the Cowboys loose from the ball four times, swift little Ben Woodson suddenly found space and ran for three touchdowns, Quarterback Rich Groth passed for two more (one of them to Woodson), and Wyoming was shattered 42-3.

To make it a perfect Utah weekend, unbeaten UTAH STATE overcame a near disastrous first half, saved only by its rough, tough defense, and finally won over strong Idaho 30-19. Roy Shivers, a back the pros are watching carefully, was the Aggies' big weapon.
—MERVIN HYMAN