Skip to main content
The largest online newspaper archive
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper

The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 19

Location:
Indianapolis, Indiana
Issue Date:
Page:
19
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

rr ifcturJayV January 2, THI INDIANAPOLIS NEWS Who Will Be No. 1 Nebraska Notre Dame I) VLJA ii Ara Parseghian gets Cotton victory ride. UPI. IN.U. Nebraska's Bob Devaney claims No.

I after Orange win. UPI. SVe Deserve It Shout Cornhuskers Mirror On Wall, Who's Fairest Of 'Em All? N.D.? FINAL POLL NEXT WEEK The final 1970 season major col lege football rankings, including the results of the post-season bowls, will be released by Associated Press early next week. Here's how the final regular-season poll ended: so they've got to be better. You could say they sort of engulfed us.

"You don't make mistakes Texas Ohit Stati Nebraska A By ED SHEARER MIAMI (AP) "I trust that the Associated Press poll you astute writers handle has more authority than th'e one we coaches have," shouted a jubilant Bob Deyaney. was claiming college football's national cham-piotfship for 1970 after his Nebraska Cornhuskers dumped Louisiana State, 17-12, in the Orange Bowl last night. Air Force Stanford Georgia Tech Dartmouth Toledo Southern California Houston Penn State Texas Tech Oklahoma Tennessee LSU Notra Dame Michigan Ariione State Arkansas Auburn By HERSCHEL NISSENSON DALLAS (AP) For 32 games, the last 30 of them victories, Texas had lived by its fearsome wishbone offense. Yesterday, the top-ranked Longhorns died, 24-11, in the Cotton Bowl at the hands of Notre Dame and a new-fangled wishbone defense. The stunning setback undoubtedly cost Texas a second straight national collegiate football championship, even though second-ranked Ohio State lost to Stanford, 27-17, in the Rose Bowl, because No.

3 Nebraska downed Louisiana State, 17-12, in the Orange Bowl and fourth-rated Tennessee trounced Air BOWL RESULTS ROSE BOWL Stanford 27, Ohio State 17 COTTON BOWL Notre Dame 24, Texas 11 ORANGE BOWL Nebraska 17, Louisiana State 12 BOWL Tennessee 34, Air Force 13 seghian. "We even adopted some wishbone offense last spring for the very purpose of knowing more about it." Notre Dame also showed some power-I, full house and pro sets and even used cornerback Clarence Ellis, voted the game's outstanding defensive player, to catch a 37-yard pass. "After Texas beat Arkansas so badly earlier this month, we knew that no conventional defense could possibly work against the consistency of attack and the super execution Texas manages. "They did what we wanted them to. They broke up their backfield by flanking Bertelsen and that took away their lead blocker on the triple option.

We broke their winning streak, we held the nation's top rushing team to 216 yards and we held the nation's No. 1 scoring team to one touchdown. We wanted them to throw the ball and we made them throw 27 times." Notre Dame also scored the most points against Texas in two years and they all came in the first half. Just as they unveiled the mirrored wishbone at the start, in the scoreless second half the Irish returned to their normal defense a 4-4 or split-6, with two linebackers moving up to form a six-man forward wall. "They didn't win by confusion," insisted Darrell Royal of Texas.

"They won because of their fine football team. They're big and strong and they played better than we did. We hadn't anticipated their defense and it surprised us a little bit. But we fumbled a kickoff at our 14 and gave them an easy touchdown. You can't give the defense credit for that one." against the No.

1 team in the country and expect to win," said McClendon, who was a New Year's Day loser for the first time. He had won four previous Jan. 1 bowl games. The turn of events in the Cotton and Rose bowls brought back bitter memories for Devaney. Exactly five years ago No.

1 Michigan State lost in the Rose and No. 2 Arkansas lost to LSU in the Cotton. Nebraska, ranked third, took on No. 4 Alabama in the Orange Bowl that night and the Crimson Tide soared to a 39-28 victory that earned them the No. 1 spot in the AP's first poll following bowl games.

"I told my players before the game that I knew they weren't going to do that," said Devaney. "We weren't going to muff it again." I LSU's hopes for a last minute miracle died when linebacker Bob Terrio intercepted Bert Jones' pass with 45 seconds remaining. The only battle remaining for the Huskers is that in the final poll. The race for No. 1 appears to be among the Notre Dame and fourth-ranked Tennessee, which whipped Air Force in the Sugar Bowl.

Charles McClendon, the genial LSU coach whose team lost to Notre Dame, 3-0, said, "They're the same type of team as Notre Dame. Nebraska's got a real tough offense and they're going to be No. 1, Force, 34-13, in the Sugar Bowl. The final Associated Press poll will be released next week. The sixth-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, bent on revenge for a 21-17 Cotton Bowl defeat by Texas a year ago and coming off a loss in the regular season finale that crushed their own national championship dreams, shocked Texas in the first half with their newly concocted mirrored wishbone defense.

The Longhorns must have been embarrassed no end at seeing Notre Dame line up its defensive line exactly the way Texas did behind its offensive Protho Rams' Coach LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Rams today dipped into collegiate ranks for a new coach and chose Tommy Protho of UCLA. Protho, 50, replaces George Allen. Allen's five-year contract expired this year and was not renewed by owner Don Reeves. Clarence Ellis Devaney, shedding a maroon blazer which was drenched after his poll-conscious players tossed him into a shower, left no doubt that he believed his unbeaten team should be No. 1 in the final AP poll next week.

"Hell, yes, we should be No. 1," Devaney said. "I can't see how they could go any other way. I couldn't even see how the3-Pope. could vote for Notre Dame." "It was a dream come true," said quarterback Jerry Tagge, aftec.

everything went right for theCornhuskers on New Year's l5ay: Tojjanked Texas bowed to NoVEbame in the Cotton Bowl andvSt a upset second-r Ohio State in the Rose jjjiflhere's no. doubt about it," smcq a "those two gSfffiSs. certainly gave our team more motivation but I must say this bunch motivated themselves pretty well all year. "This is definitely the biggest victory of my career," he said. It didn't come easy.

The Cornhuskers, ranked third, rushed out of the gate to take a 10-0 lead in the opening Why Hurry To Pick A Champ? Whatever the reason, all-American fullback Steve Worster was braked with 42 yards on 16 carries and Bertelsen carried eight times for a scant five yards. Only on an 18-play, 84-yard scoring drive in the second period did Texas look like the machine that chewed up 30 consecutive opponents, 10 this season. The butter-fingered Texans also lost five of their nine fumbles, with Worster bobbling four and losing three, and the miracles Texas fans have come to expect from their enchanted Longhorns never materialized. Meanwhile, all-American quarter line. It was like looking in a mirror and there was nothing they could do about it.

In the wishbone offense, the three deep backs form almost a straight T-formation, but the middle man the fullback is set a couple of feet in front of the halfbacks, resembling a Y. When that happened, Notre Dame linebacker Jim Wright assumed a position directly opposite the fullback the two lines separating them with linebacker Tim Kelly and defensive back Mike Crotty several feet behind him on either side opposite the Texas halfbacks. After a fruitless first period which saw them trailing, 14-3, the Longhorns, the nation's top rushing team but only 102nd among 118 major college football teams in passing, did what Notre Dame wanted. They broke up their wishbone and went, to more of a passing attack by flanking halfback Jim Bertelsen." Notre Dame simply moved Crotty out to cover him. The mirrored wishbone was the reason coach Ara Parseghian closed all practice sessions this week.

And just in case any spies managed to sneak a look, Notre Dame scrimmaged with 13 men on defense to camouflage their true alignment. After quarterback Eddie Phillips rocked them with a 63-yard gallop to the Notre Dame 10 on Texas' first play, the Irish stiffened. They limited Texas to a field goal and a mere 3-0 lead at that point and held the Longhorns to 216 yards on the ground, compared to their 374.5 average. "We learned a great deal here a year ago," said Par- LIKE PURDUE, PHIPPS Joe Theismann JpMEOUT! back Joe Theismann sparked the Irish to a 21-3 lead after only 16 minutes with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Tom Gatewood and scoring runs of 3 and 15 yards. The second TD followed Danny Lester's fumble of a kickoff at the Texas 14.

Phillips, Texas' slippery quarterback, was named the outstanding offensive player. He carried 23 times for 164 yards and completed nine of 17 passes for 199 yards before he was knocked groggy and sidelined with 9 minutes left. His total of 363 yards broke the record of 279 set by Theismann a year ago. By WAYNE FUSON, Sports Editor THE COLLEGE football season, already being elongated to 11 games, should be stretched out to include the bowl games. How can they, for instance, crown a national champion before the season really is over? Cases in point, of course, are Notre Dame's victory over No.

1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and Stanford's upset of No. 2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Orange Bowl winner Nebraska, unbeaten and No. 3, now probably will claim the title. Texas already had been acclaimed the champ by some.

Texas and Ohio State shared one national championship trophy. OSU Lacked Pass Experience Some observers wonder, too, how they can pick the nation's top football player before the season is over. The earlybirds might win that argument the way Jim Plunkett cut up poor ol' Woody Hayes' Buckeyes yesterday. Joe Theismann, who was pretty spectacular himself in leadine the Irish as thev period on a 26-yard field goal by Paul Rogers and a 3-yard run by Joe Orduna. Each followed a fumble recovery.

But the fifth-ranked Southeastern Conference champions kept lighting back, trimming the; lead to 10-6 on a pair of fied' goals by Mark Lumpkin. TAGGE VOTED OUTSTANDING BACK 6 With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, LSU drove 75 yards, helped by a 19-yard pass interference penalty, to score on the period's final play a 31-yard pass from Buddy Lee to Al Coffee. Tagge, voted the game's outstanding back, got his staggering club to regroup and promptly drove them 67 yards to thewinning touchdown. The II k.e quarterback scored, it from the 1 with 6:10 elapsed in the final period when he, sketched his arms, pushing tjie ball Into the end zone. -The- arm-stretching act on tb ihlrd-down play was quick iWJking by Tagge, who later thought I made a lot of mistakes.

Yes, those j' bfeken plays were my fault. I went the wrong way on some new plays we put in for UWgarae." "However, it was the Ncbras-! kif, defense that proved most dedjy for LSU as the Huskers dumped Tiger backs for losses i 14 times totaling 115 yards. Willie Harper, a I end, was the heart of i th4 defense. He blocked one paMi the lino of scrimmage, forced LSU's Wayne Dickinson Hm 4-yard punt late In the gphM-'ittole the ball from the Tigcf quarterback in the fourth quarter itrid made four tackles lor 48 yards in losses. He was voted th game's, outstanding lineman.

Mu. Z- 4-3-4 defense which corraled the Longhorns effectively. The victory over Texas will give Ara and his Irish a pleasant winter. They all were shellshocked after the loss at Southern Cal. Of course, they could have solved all of this business about a national championship if they hadn't lost to the Trojans.

Wishbone Or QBSERVATIONS scribbled on a reporter's cuff during 9 hours of football watching: The wishbone offensive formation seems to be the coming thing. Almost all of the bowl teams used it one time or another. Actually, it's a formation with the quarterback the lower point of the And, did you see all of those old end-around plays? ,) Speaking of outstanding football players, if there's a better runner around than Ohio State's John Brockington, he hasn't been discovered yet. Jim Plunkett, admittedly, is a great passer. But doesn't he have tremendous receivers! Time and again Ohio's fine defenders, including all-American Jack Tatum, were faked out of their sneakers by the Indians.

Bob Moore, the tight end, was fantastic. Darrell Royal, the Texas coach, is a great proponent of staying with his game plan. Royal wouldn't pass if he had 5 miles of straight, uncluttered highway ahead. But Notre Dame took the run away from him yesterday and even Royal had to call for an air attack. Generally, the yak-yiik boys who kept up a steady stream of wordagc during the bowl games, wcro pretty Innocuous.

But did you hear the one guy during the Cotton Bowl game who said: "Yes, but football, you know, Is a game of winning and losing." Both Stanford and Nebraska have taken a page from the NFL "book" by putting the players' names on the back of their jerseys. The NFL "borrowed" the Idea from the old AFL. It's a great Idea from the fans' point of view. Jim Plunkett ary receiver and Moore's instinct to keep moving when he saw Plunkett needed help to escape a blitz. The primary receiver was flanker Randy Va-taha.

"I saw Sensibaugh coming and I saw Vataha was covered, so I ran around, hoping somebody would get open," Plunkett explained. Three plays later, halfback Jackie Brown skirted right end for a yard to score. Steve Horowitz conversion made it 20-17, and Stanford was never headed. It was a victory of a pro-style passing attack, designed by Stanford backfield coach Jack Christiansen, former coach of the San Francisco 49ers, over a defense that is not equipped for that. Stanford netted 265 yards by air, with Plunkett completing 20 (it 30 throws.

He hud only one harmless Interception. OSU defensive super star, Plunkett said the Indians felt he was "a better run defender than pass defender" and usually more conscious of the tight end than the wide receiver, even when he was helping in the double coverage outside. "We took advantage of this," Plunkett said. The turning point of the game, as Hayes himself said, came on the first play of the fourth period. Ohio State was leading, 17-13, and had fourth down and less than a yard to go at the Stanford 20.

Nobody Is supposed to stop Ohio's mighty fullback, John Brockington, in a spot like that, but Stanford linebacker Ron Kadziel did. Then Plunkett went to work. He took his team 80 yards in 13 plays. Five of them were completed passes and two were quarterback runs. The big play was a 35-yard pass from Plunkett to ti(ht end snapped Texas' 30-game win- Hayes ning streak, lost the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the nation's No.

1 player, to Plunkett. Yet Theismann beat out Plunkett on one all-American team. Can you imagine the No. 1 player not making the all-America first team? The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which seems to manage everything else nicely, might step in and collaborate with the AP, the UPI and other pollsters who name the national champs. The NCAA might even correlate the all-America teams.

And, what would be wrong with the NCAA helping to line up the bowl teams? Maybe then the Big 10 could get rid of its silly no-repeat rule which prohibits a team from returning to the Rose Bowl two straight years 'even if it's No. 1, unbeaten, untied and unscored on. The Same Team? By RAY SONS Chicato Dally News Service PASADENA, Calif. Ohio State, like humpty dumpty, had a great fall. And it was Jim Plunkett, the best passer they had seen all season, who shot them off the wall.

That was the story of one of the biggest upsets in the 57-game history of the Rose Bowl, Stanford's 27-17 victory yesterday over the proud Big 10 champions who had been favored by 10 points. "They hadn't faced a passing team like us since Mike Phipps of Purdue last season," Plunkett said after he had thrown for 20 completions and 265 yards to knock the unbeaten Buckeyes out of a chance for a national championship. "Some of the other teams were better prepared for us." If Woody Hayes heard that last remark, his ears had to be burning all the way home to Columbus, Ohio. But it was the truth. Ohio State's great defensive team simply hadn't had any recent experience against a passing team of Stanford's caliber.

They had slaughtered Purdue and Phipps, 42-14, in 1969. the last time they saw a fine passer, but Plunkstt said the Stanford coaching staff correctly guessed that Hayes would try the same tactics that had worked against Phipps. So Stanford was prepared for double coverage of the wide receivers and quite a bit of blitzing. Plunkett read the blitz and checked off to audibecs "at least" 50 per cent of the time, and "maybe 60 or 70." Stanford center John Saniie, with help from others, "did a great job" on Ohio State's all-American middle guard, Jim Stillwagon, and Plunkett said he called some quarterback draws to make Stillwagon more cautious on his pass rush. As for Jack Tatum, the other SCI MISSING 3 IMPORTANT CALLS? Your Phone Answered By Llv Voic A NY Resemblance to the Notre Dame team which thrashed Texas and the one which lost to Southern Cal a few weeks ago Is purely Joe Theismann.

Almost everything but Joc'g classy maneuvering was changed. Ara Parseghian changed both the offense and defense. He found some runners he couldn't find at Southern Cal. He went to a Bob Moore, who made a fantastic catch at the Ohio State 2-yard line with a Buckeye defender landing on his back. It was an example of Plun-kett's ability to go to a second- I At Lew At II A Maelk Call 639 4111 AA Aa A U- A.

-A i A I I i- '-4. L- d. A A At. Al I A 4 A i A 1 A.

Get access to Newspapers.com

  • The largest online newspaper archive
  • 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
  • Millions of additional pages added every month

Publisher Extra® Newspapers

  • Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the The Indianapolis News
  • Archives through last month
  • Continually updated

About The Indianapolis News Archive

Pages Available:
1,324,294
Years Available:
1869-1999