A.d. Proves That 6 X 6 Equals No. 1

Well, it looks like One is One and ever more shall be—at least until New Year's Day—thanks to Davis and Newton and Langner.

One, as in No. 1, is personnel-rich University of Southern California, a principality on the West Coast of the United States which beat 10th-ranked Notre Dame 45-23 Saturday to round out the regular season as the nation's lone undefeated major college team.

Davis, as in Anthony Davis, is the sophomore USC tailback who held the ball out in front of himself—and wiggled it one way while going another—when threatened, danced on his knees when triumphant, and scored a miraculous six touchdowns against the harassed Irish.

And Bill Newton and David Langner are the Auburn combination that blocked two fourth-quarter punts (Newton) and ran the resultant squibbles back for touchdowns (Langner) to upset hitherto-undefeated Alabama 17-16 and confirm USC's Onehood absolutely.

When Alabama led 16-0 after three quarters, it appeared that Bear Bryant had maneuvered the Tide into a New Year's shot at the national title, but there was one flaw in the Alabama athletic program. Newton found it twice and so it was back to the drawing board for the Bear no matter what his forces do against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

The Trojans still face Ohio State in what may be a provocative Rose Bowl, but the big No. 1 is now virtually wrapped up—and any individual who has the speed, moves and blocking to score six touchdowns against Notre Dame could probably run over to the Ohio State bench, call Woody Hayes a pinko and get away with it.

Actually, if Davis' touchdown pace had not slacked off after the first quarter he would have scored 12. But six is still pretty good—one short of the NCAA record established by Mississippi's Showboat Boykin in 1951—and one of Davis' entailed a 97-yard run on the opening kickoff. Another one, a 96-yard return of a kickoff near the end of the third period, was the turning point of the game.

A.D., as Davis likes to be called, had already scored four times by then—and trotted to the other end of the field to kick off for the Trojans each time, just to keep his foot in—but all except one of the extra-point attempts had failed, so USC's total was only 25. And Notre Dame, trailing 19-10 at the half, had chosen the third quarter in which to make its big comeback move. Mike Townsend had intercepted two passes and Tom Clements had passed to Gary Diminick and Mike Creaney for touchdowns. USC's Steve (Sure As) Fate had broken up a two-point pass try, but the score was 25-23 and the Irish had whatever you call that stuff—momentum—working for them. The game bade fair to become a reversal of USC's 1964 upset of undefeated Notre Dame.

So Davis took the kickoff on the four, darted straight ahead into the blocking wedge as he had done with the opener, squeezed through a narrow gap between desperate, grasping tacklers and suddenly was past most of the Irish, who had streaked way downfield under the high, floating kick. As he had on his 97-yarder, Davis made for the left sideline. ("They were big and tough in the middle," Davis said after the game.) One tackier was coming at him with a good angle, but Davis responded by putting the ball out in front of himself. ("I just jack the ball up and down," he explained, "and whichever way they go, I go the other.") He feinted to the inside and then stepped out of the diving tackle. A second pursuer took a flyer at him but he high-stepped his way through and then it was just a matter of opening the throttle. "I have three accelerations," he said in the locker room. "One when I get the ball, one when I get to the line and one when I get to the open."

Once in the end zone, Davis did his knee dance. It's a little something new he has come up with—perhaps to distinguish himself from Showboat Boykin. He slides into the end zone as if he were stealing home and then does a sort of Charleston on his knees. It must have soothed Notre Dame's feelings immensely.