Daily News from New York, New York • 78

ehmslm-khmi mat The Qmmi mphssship uS By Gene Ward Miami, Dec. 31 Thumb back to all he pages of football history, and you won't find a game which so meets all of the prerequisites of a national championship as the 1 one here tomorrow night in the Orange Bowl After 12 Satursays of a gruel Who's No. 1 Nebraska 34 Oregon 35 Minnesota 34 Texas A8.M 42 Utah State 36 Missouri 7 7 7 6 0 0 55 Kansas 41 Oklahoma State13 31 Colorado 7 42 Southern Mississippi 38 Florida 40 Mississippi 42 Vanderbilt 32 Tennessee 34 Houston 41 Mississippi State 14 LSU 31 Miami 31 Auburn .0 37 Iowa State 44 Kansas State 35 Oklahoma 45 Hawaii year in Lincoln, as to which platoons were superior, the offense or the defense. The same has been true in Birmington. The result has been competitive rivalry between the units on each club, a dream situation for both coaches.

THE NEBRASKA defense is bigger, poundage-wise, but the 'Bama unit would appear to be a speck faster. In the Nebraska defense, tackle Larry Jacobson, linebacker Rich Glover and end Willie Harper have been named to All-American In the 'Bama defense, ends Robin Park-house and John Mitchell rate as one of the strongest tandems in the country, particularly on the country, particularly on the pass-rush. Tagge could be in for a rough evening. Usually, it's the underdog who has the most incentive, but Nebraska will not be lacking in this commodity in thatcoach Devaney's teams bowed to 'Bama and the Bear in the 1966 OrangeBowl and in the '67 Sugar Bowl. The Bear, an old pro, when it comes to getting a team up for a bowl game this is his 13th 'Bama bowl team in a row ing campaign, Alabama, with an 1-0 record, goes against 12-and-0 Nebraska as a six point underdog1 attempting to do what no college team has done for 234 years beat the mighty Corn-huskers.

IT IS THE opening half of the biggest weekend in football, with the hometown Dolphins due to take the PolyTurf 16 hours later, on Sunday afternoon, in an AFC title-showdown against the Baltimore Colts for a berth in the Super Bowl. The last team to whip Nebraska was Missouri, 17-7, early in the '69 campaing. The following Saturday, coach Bob Devaney's lads began a skein which now has stretched to 31 games without defeat and to 22 victories in a row since their lone tie. This season they played 12 games and won 11 of them with no strain, no pain, the lone exception being their dramatic come from behind Squeaker over Oklahoma. ANDYET, out of that game has come hopes for an upset.

a 3.1 e-i to l5 power-eye formation, basically, and stress the word power because that's what the Cornhusk-ers generate with the therun-ning of Jeff Kinney and Bill Olds, and in certain situations quarterback Jerry Tagge himself. AND TAGGE is a tremendous passer 2.019 yards through the air for 17 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. Johnny Rodgers, receiver and kick-returner par excellence, is 'Bama's finest long threat. The wishbone is a mistake-prone offensive, conducive to fumbles because of the option moves of the quarterback and this could "work to Nebraska's advantage. On the other hand, 'Bama exhibited astounding ball control in its rout of Auburn.

It cut down its mistakes to a minimum. There have been arguments all and his record is 5-5-2 can be expected to come up with a Keeping Their Hand In up.Teiepho.o I.ydeM Mitchell takes handoff from quarterhack John Hufnagel during Penn State's workout for today's Cotton Bowl collision against Texas. new wrinkle he usually does, and with 'Bama practices locked up tight all week, it mieht iust be a new offense. I renn jiaie momu up for By Norm Miller Dallas, Dec. 31 Seventeen Penn State football players overpowered a hotel elevator operator today, leading coach Joe Paterno to suspect that maybe, just maybe, his Nittany Lions finally were ready to take on Texas tomorrow in the for Oklahoma gave Nebraska fits with its triple option attack, known as the wishbone-T, and that is the offense used by coach Bear Bryant and the Crimson Tide.

The Bear uses the wishbone much as Oklahoma does, but it hasn't been quite as dominating against such major foes as USC and LSU, each beaten by only one touchdown. The man who makes or breaks the Bear's wishbone is junior quarterback Terry Davis and his job will be to seek and exploit the toughest defense in captivity. In Johnny Musso, 'Bama will have the best long-range running threat on the field. He toured the flanks against Auburn and murdered a very strong team. Musso has carried the ball 191 imes for 1,103 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Many consider him the player of the year. THE 'BAMA wishbone has produced 324.1 rushing yards per game; Musso's contribution has been 108.8 per game. The defense of the defending national champs had better be at its best. Quarterback Davis probably will go inside early to pull in the Nebraska defense, Musso can run inside; so can Joe LaBue, Ellis Beck and Joe Biceglia. Davis doesn't pass much, but, when he does, Nebraska will have problems because he has connected on 42 of 66 for a .636 percentage and eight touchdowns, with Dave Bailey on the business end of five of them.

Nebraska operates from the 17 day. My biggest concern is that we might have left our game on the practice field. We had so far to come (in preparation). "WE LOOKED a bit heavy-legged yesterday, he went on. "That's why 1 gave them off today." Just about the entire Penn State cast felt its prospects of an upset depended on how successfully they defended the Long-horns' trick wishbone attack.

What made it tougher for the Lions was the return of quarterback Eddie Phillips, whose option-play wizardry beat Notre Dame two years ago, 21-17, and who set a Cotton Bow record of 303 yards (164 rushing and 199 passing) in last year's 21-11 loos to the Irish. PHILLIPS, OUT since the season-opener with varied leg, toe and shoulder injuries, played briefly in the last three Texas games and has been named by coach Darrell Royal to start Cotton Bowl game. The 17 players, weighing somewhere around 3,500 pounds, all piled into the same elevator at their Fairmont Hotel headquart-llowing a morning team meeting. The load overtaxed the capacity of the lift and stopped it cold like the Lions wish they could do to Texas' sishbone-T offense. AFTER BEING trapped between floors for 37 minutes (as clocked by their precise linebacker and captain, Charlie Zapiec), they were freed by an emergency mechanical crew.

Besides Zapiec, the first-stringers trapped were de-fensive end Bruce Bannon of Rockaway, N.J., defensive tackle Jim Heller and linebacker John Skourpan. "Nobody panicked but there was a bit of cursing," Zapiec smiled afterward. "When it rted getting a little warm, somebody cracked that the whole scene would make a great Ban deodorant commercial." The incident provided some comic relief for Paterno, who has fretted all week about his team's capacity for handling 3'i -point-favored Texas in this 36th Cotton classic, to be televised by CBS-TV starting at 2 p.m. (New York time). I WAS IN THE bathroom when I received a phone call from the elevator saying, "Coach we're Paterno laughed.

"I asked him, "What do you want me to do about "It serves them right," the coach added. "They never should have overloaded it." All week since arriving here, Parerno has complained that his "Go in at quarterback, Harper. Just be sure to throw the ball and not the ice bag team's preparation has lagged, just as Notre Dame's Ara Par-seghian had done prior to the past two Cotton Bowls. Paterno was asked again today if his Lions were "ready." "We're as ready as we can be," he replied. "We had good workouts Wednesday and Thurs- Continued on page 35) IS os Kou I Lineups (NBC-4.

4:38 P.M.) Orange Bowl Lineups This Hay in Sports Choice Rose Michigan NBC-4. 7:5 P.M. NEBRASKA Pasadena, Dec. 31 (AP) Michigan's undefeated Wolverines match their potent running- fame and powerful defense against Stanford's sophisticated passing tomorrow in the 58th Rose Bowl game. With an 11-0 record, the Wol No.

Name Pos. No. Nam Pos. 11 Manstedt DE ST Brauch LB 12 Brownson QB 54 Dumler 14 Tagge QB 55 Janssen DE 16 McClelland 56 Pitts LB 18 Anderson CB 57 Adkins DE 19 Borg CB 58 Hyland DE 20 Rodgers WR 61 Weber 22 Dixon BB 62 Beran 24 Kosch 65 Wortman 25 Mason LB 68 Robison DT 26 Hughes WR 71 Johnson 27 Blahak CB 72 White 29 Hollstein CB 75 Jacobson DT 32 Cox WR 76 Wolfe 35 Kinney RB 77 Rupert 37 Johnson MG 78 Austin 40 Morell LB 79 Glover MG 44 Olds FB 81 Harper DE 45 Terris LB 85 List TE 46 Damkroger FB 86 Longwell TE 48 Hae LB 89 Anderson WR 50 Jamail 90 Durton DT pro- the passing attack in th type offense. I07I MoTRB PAME verines rate as 12'.

2 -point favorites over the Pacific-8 champs, who bring an 8-3 mark into the New Year's Day classic. Still, no one forgets that Stanford, with Jim Plunkett directing the attack, whipped favored Ohio State, 27-17, in the bowl a vcar ago. THIS TIME it's Don Bruce at quartet back for the Indians and he has proved adept at operating MICHIGAN No. Name Pos. 49 Walker RB 2 Casey OB 52 Hulke 7 13 Cipa OB 53 Murdock 14 Gusich LB 55 Sexton LB 15 Rather 5E 56 Hart 16 Zijccarelli DB 60 Covle 17 Slade OB 61 Hoban 18 McBride OB 63 Schumacher 20 Banks 65 McKenie 21 Elliott.

B. DB 68 Ellis LB 22 Doughty RB 69 Hainrrhar 25 Dotzauer DB 71 Gallaqher DT 26 Drake DB 73 Coode 30 Thornbladh RB 74 Smith DT 31 Shuttlesworth RB 75 Troszak DI 32 Seyferth RB 76 Brandstattrr 33 Taylor. M. LB 78 Tucker 35 Darden DB 79 Poplawski 36 Coin LB-K 83 Seal TE 37 Kee LB 84 Oldham hE 38 Steqer LB ,65 Seymour Tt 39 Coleman DE 66 Eaton DE 40 Coakley SE 90 Keller DL 41 Logan DB Grambau DT 42 Taylor. B.

RB 93 Lh 43 Haslerig RB 94 Carpei.Kr Dt 45 Elliott, D. DB 96 Spearnwi Dl 46 Vercel LB 99 Beckmar, DI 48 Gustaiscn RB I STANFORD No. Name Pov No. Name Pr; 10 Moore 53 areola Bunce OB 5. Verio Lfc 12 Boryla CB 58 Sheehan 14 Garcia 6i Khooert C- 21 McClcud C6 65 Askea 24 F'guson, Ji DB 66 hair 25 Mfjrrriv 70 Ferguson.

Jc. CT 26 Vvineberrv FL 71 Reynolds 27 Kehl RB 72 Hancock 27 Earne'. DB 74 Schailich 30 Bragonier DH i 73 Butter DG 32 Sanceron 75 Meyers 33 BrOA-n 77 Jones 36 Polti Db 78 Lazelich CG 36 Shock Icy ft 84 Scotl TE 40 Cro'S FL 62 TE7 H7 Rohnett DB V0 Perrpault DG 45 Mco1 91 Samp: on DT 50 Simone If Sierrcn Lb 5 artre LE S3 L. BCS4 TANP STEBAis. JOB THBISMANH l-EPA 24-H ViiTCRY IN Tri BOTTOM 1968..

O.J.SIMPSON RAM FCR. BCh rCJCHPCW SZ ALABAMA Pos. LB Billy Taylor, the record setting running back named the MVP in the Rig Ten for 1971, spearheads the Michigan attack and he says his club aims for revenge. Two years ago, Taylor and Michigan were beaten, in thf- Hose Bowl on a (lay when Coach Bo Schembechler suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital before the game started. Schembechler is hack this time with a hard-hilling squad and respect for John Stanford aggregation.

A full house of about 1U1.000 is expected for the 5 p.m. (New York time) kickoff phis a national te'evision audience 4.) No. Name 50 Hall 53 Raines 54 Kraof 55 Gramrr.er 56 Rouzie 57 Rowell 63 Barron 65 Brown 66 White 72 Rosser 73 Hannah 77 Beard 80 Jackson 81 Lufk 82 Wheeler Jimmy Tiie Glreek's flow I IJiie Pos. TE GB CB DB RB RB LB CB V.R DB DB RB DB RB RB LB RB DB LB No. Name 1 W.

7 Woodruff Gantt 10 Davis, T. 14 Sexton 18 McMakin 21 Adkinson 22 Musso 24 Soivev 25 Blitz 26 McKinney 77 Sawyer 28 Williams 29 Rowan 30 LaBue 32 Wade 34 Steak lev 35 Beck 36 Strickland 39 Knapp 40 Norris 42 Surlas LB DT DT-G DT WR DE WR DE WR-TE TE 63 Crovle 84 Bailey Favorite Pis. Underdos SUGAR BOWL Oklahoma 13 Auburn COTTON BOWL Texas Penn State R05E BOWL f.ichi9an 13 Stanford RANGE BOWL Nebraska 7 Aiatarna 85 Simmons 90 Parkhouse 92 Wood 93 Watkins 96 Patterson 97 Mitchell DE WR DE DT DE RB 44 Bisceglia 49 Hl99inb ham DB.