The Conferences

Should the Pirates be chained, William and Mary lurks in the background. Well, at least William does—Quarterback William Deery, that is. There is no Mary, not even in these days of fern lib. There are some nifty players though: Doug Gerhart and Terry Regan (they combined for 1,032 yards last season) and Center Joe Montgomery. Richmond Coach Frank Jones may have caused a few heads to spin when he referred to his team as "probably the most physical I've had here." Opposing coaches were much happier to hear Jones return to form by adding, "I'm particularly worried about the offensive line, strengthening the defensive secondary and our depth at all positions." One player Jones won't have to worry about is Barty Smith, a 6'3", 235-pound fullback who was the league's top blocker last year.

VMI's faint hopes rest on the passing combination of Quarterback Tom Schultze (120 completions for 1,728 yards) and Ronnie Moore (40 catches for 673 yards). An even more proficient catcher was Walt Walker of Davidson, who latched onto 62 throws for 1,031 yards. At Furman the offense will be built around the running of Donny Griffin, who picked up an average of 4.9 yards a try in 1972, and the defense will count heavily on Linebackers Keith Downey, Bill Anderson and Bayless Biles. Coach Bob Ross of The Citadel may have said it all when he surveyed his troops and stated that his offensive line "doesn't have any real size," his offensive backs are "very inexperienced," his defensive ends are "a real question mark" and his kicking game "could be our biggest question mark." The defensive line, at least, has the experience to help answer some questions.