Around The Country

The world series might have gripped the East, but football had a half nelson on the Middle West, where 101,001 fans flocked to see Michigan State tame Michigan at Ann Arbor, where 82,881 Ohio State partisans held their breath at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, as the home team barely squeaked past an injury-ridden Stanford with two last-period touchdowns. Thus Ohio State and Michigan State, who do not play one another, now remain as the Big Ten's only unbeaten candidates for top national rating. Oklahoma, with only one seriously testing opponent (a subpar Notre Dame team) on its 10-game schedule, retained its national stature—as it must through most of the season—by overwhelming a mismatched foe: in this case, Kansas State. Confirming its new status as a giant of the South, Tennessee gave Duke another nudge down the incline from its once-lofty national rating in a game of uninhibited scoring. Of the South's three other leading contenders, Georgia Tech was idle, Miami easily defended the homeland against Boston College and Mississippi successfully invaded the Southwest. Also in the Southwest, TCU gave a coast-to-coast TV performance of its tremendous strength, while Texas A&M, the area's other outstanding entry in the national sweepstakes, improved its reputation at the expense of Texas Tech. In the Far West, USC remained the only team open for national honors by invading the Midwest and scoring one of the Pacific Coast's two wins over Big Ten teams this year.

THE EAST

With all the Ivy League having now seen action, the positions were taking shape with Yale and Princeton at the top, Columbia and Dartmouth at the bottom and Brown in the middle. The event of first importance, of course, was Pennsylvania's emergence into the victor's circle, 14-7, over Dartmouth after 19 straight losses dating back to 1953 (see page 67). Overcoming an early Dartmouth lead, the hopped-up Red and Blue team tackled and blocked so hard that it had to be considered a team victory without individual heroes. Yale overran Brown 20-2 after one of its usual lackadaisical starts which gave the team a bare 6-0 lead at the half. But the Elis were full of adrenalin as the second half started, marched off a quick touchdown and thereafter dominated the game with a stronger line that thwarted Brown's abortive comeback passes. Good running by Halfbacks Al Ward and Dennis McGill indicated better days ahead for the Bulldog. The Princeton Tiger, still feeding off the tamer game of the league, chewed up Columbia 39-0 after the emaciated Lions lost Claude Benham, their ace passer and quarterback, early in the game. Harvard , rarely a serious threat to anyone until it takes on Yale and Princeton in November, bowed meekly to little Tufts 19-13. Navy and Army continued undefeated with respective wins over Cornell (14-0) and Penn state (14-7). Cornell, still to play its first Ivy League game, stopped the Middies effectively in the first half, but they were holding against Navy's second team, which Coach Eddie Erdelatz had started after he had soured on the practice drills of his regulars. The demoted first squad took over in the second half, however, and scored both touchdowns to win the game and Coach Eddie's favor. Army once again started like a steam roller and punched across two touchdowns before Penn State could say "time out."

That scare little Connecticut threw into Yale last weekend was no accident. The UConns hog-tied Rutgers , 27-7, and established themselves as the Yankee Conference favorite. They also came within two minutes of interrupting a Rutgers 97-game scoring streak which dates back to 1944. Rhode island, 1955 Yankee champs, lost their second in three games, 13-7, to New Hampshire . Rumored discord among teammates plus the loss of Head Coach Hal Kopp to Brigham Young seems to have compounded Rhode Island's problems in this, an obvious rebuilding season. Other scores:

Amherst 40, Union 27
Hamilton 47, RPI 0
Hobart 20, Rochester 0
Holy Cross 20, Colgate 6
Juniata 25, Moravian 0
Lafayette 28, Delaware 14
Lehigh 25, Bucknell 6
Maine 14, Vermont 0
Maryland State 28, Hofstra 0
Springfield 26, Northeastern 0
Swarthmore 13, Susquehanna 12
Temple 19, Muhlenberg 14
Trinity 40, Bowdoin 13
Wesleyan 19, Coast Guard 12
Williams 42, Colby 0

THE SOUTH

Though many top teams in both the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences were engaging outside opponents in miserable weather last weekend, a vague general outline of both conference races began to emerge. It is a picture of excellent balance that promises close races, with some unexpected contenders. Mississippi and Georgia Tech still rate at the top of the SEC, but Tennessee and Vanderbilt are coming fast, perhaps too fast.

While Tech was idle, Tennessee was blitzing a good Duke team 33-20, and Vanderbilt was blasting a much-improved Alabama with unforeseen violence 32-7; Maryland's 14-0 defeat by Baylor indicates the Terps have dropped to the level of the field in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In intraconference games in the SEC, Georgia finally managed its first touchdown in three games, but it came 25 seconds from the end, and Mississippi state already was far in front, winning 19-7. Favored Florida fumbled in the mud, and Kentucky capitalized twice for scores en route to a 17-8 victory. An interconference game saw Auburn breeze over little Furman 41-0.

South Carolina's Coach Warren Giese, who was an assistant to Jim Tatum at Maryland last year, forgot noblesse oblige as his new charges upended Tatum's new pupils at North Carolina 14-0. Fine quarterbacking by Mackie Prickett and elusive running by Halfback King Dixon gave Giese's gritty Gamecocks all the edge they needed over the rebuilding Tar Heels.