Football's Week

1. PURDUE (3-0)
2. KANSAS (3-0)
3. NEBRASKA (3-0)

"We ran every place but across the goal line," complained Purdue's Jack Mollenkopf. That may sound like strange talk from a man whose team had just scored six touchdowns and ravaged weak Northwestern 43-6. Mollenkopf could tell, though, that for his No. 1-ranked Boilermakers it was a letdown after the performance against Notre Dame. For instance, Leroy Keyes was just an everyday run-of-the-TD immortal. He only scored three touchdowns, all on six-yard sprints. Northwestern could just be thankful it didn't get Purdue on one of its good days.

This is what Ohio State is likely to encounter when it meets Purdue in the first Big Ten showdown in Columbus this Saturday. The young Bucks were themselves pretty subdued in beating Oregon 21-6. Woody Hayes, naturally, did not want to show Purdue scouts any part of his team's "new look," so Ohio State just mushed along with Fullback Jim Otis pounding the Ducks' middle for 102 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown run. Even so, OSU's defense was impressive, holding the visitors without a first down in the second half.

Regardless of what happens in Columbus, Michigan State and Indiana remain quite alive in the Big Ten title race. Still unbeaten, Michigan State mashed Wisconsin 39-0, while Indiana, up to its old cliff-hanger tricks, got a touchdown pass and a five-yard scoring run by Quarterback Harry Gonso in the last quarter to beat Illinois 28-14. Michigan and Minnesota, meanwhile, helped to bolster the record against non-conference opponents as Michigan routed punchless Navy 32-9, and Minnesota squeaked past Wake Forest 24-19. Iowa tested Notre Dame with a few early scores, but Notre Dame was just teasing and eventually the Hawkeyes succumbed to Terry Hanratty's running and passing, 51-28.

Kansas Coach Pepper Rodgers did everything conceivable to hold down the score against New Mexico, short of telling his team to refuse the ball. He used 52 players, but when he put in kicking specialist Bill Bell at quarterback, Bell—using the only play he knew—took the team 65 yards to a touchdown. Kansas won 68-7.

Nebraska had an off day, resting up for its Big Eight game with Kansas this week, but Missouri overcame its own ineptness and an improved Army pass defense that picked off six passes to edge the Cadets 7-3. Colorado built up a 21-point lead and beat Iowa State 28-18.

The last Toledo loss was to Ohio U. After that the Rockets won 12 straight—and then they met Ohio again. Both teams ran and passed with precision and ease, and their Negro quarterbacks, Cleve Bryant for Ohio and Steve Jones for Toledo, were superb. But Bryant had the edge, three touchdown passes to two, and Ohio won 40-31 to take the Mid-American lead. There was some personal consolation, however, for Toledo's Ken Crots, who has never missed an extra point in college. He kicked four and now has 54 in a row for an NCAA record.

SOUTHWEST

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

The season has hardly started, but with a 30-12 win over the Mean Green of North Texas State, conference newcomer Memphis State already looks like a cinch champion in the Missouri Valley. "Whoever wins the title will have to beat us," said Tiger Coach Spook Murphy back in August—and even then everybody figured "whoever" was North Texas on October 5. Memphis State made its worst error at Denton—a fumble—in the first minute, then spent the rest of the game forcing North Texas to make mistakes. The Tigers grabbed six interceptions and won easily.