19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

THE RANKINGS
Sir:
Notre Dame is the No. 1 college football team in the country. You picked a winner!

The Irish will wake up the echoes.
PATRICK BERGIN
Racine, Wis.

Sir:
With Notre Dame's schedule, Vassar could be No. 1.
LARRY FULLER
Lincoln, Neb.

Sir:
Any school that has a tad of talent and has all three military academies on its schedule ought to be heading for a great record.

Notre Dame should be ashamed, and should be dropped down to Division II. But they are probably just laughing about how they have snookered the sportswriters again.
STEPHEN BRUCE STOVALL
Wheaton, Ill.

Sir:
I will bet my maize-and-blue nose warmer, my Michigan helmet lamp, my "M" frisbee and my Wolverine wine decanter that Michigan will 1) win the Big Ten, 2) win the Rose Bowl and 3) win the national championship when Oklahoma's tough schedule and Notre Dame's lackluster offense show them up.
HOWARD WRIGHT
Matteson, Ill.

?Other letters proclaimed that USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, UCLA and Pitt would be No. 1—ED.

Sir:
You do not seem to know the mascot of No. 4 Texas Tech. Whatever that widemouth character is (an Indian brave?), he certainly is not a Red Raider! A Red Raider is a masked man wearing a flowing red cape and riding a black horse.
ROBERT GILL
Upland, Calif.

Sir:
While Texas A&I has indeed been the dominant force in NAIA football circles for the past three seasons, the Javelinas are not the only NAIA school worthy of recognition (SI Football Preview, Sept. 5).

Before the Associated Press discontinued its small-college poll last year, seven NAIA institutions were ranked among the top 15 small-college teams ( NCAA-NAIA combined) in the 1974 final football rankings, and in 1975 the NAIA placed six teams (three of them in the top six) among the 15 best small-college football teams in all of the country.