Evening star., 1932-09-09
MERRY FIGHT DUE
FOR TOP RANKING.
Tennessee, Alabama, Tulane
and Vanderbilt Appear to
Be Dixie Leaders.
BIZ II. c. BYRD.
7 T is always interesting to kno'

I T is always interesting to know
what one of a group of ia
i vored individuals thinks of the
others of his group, so the
writer asked Dan McGugin, head
coach of Vanderbilt for about 80
years, to talk little about him
self and the elevens he expects to
be strongest in The South this
Fall. For once Dan opened up
and talked more than he has be-
fore at any one time in his whole
coaching experience. , And what
he says just about substantiates
opinions of others as to the out
look.
McGugin does not pick Vanderbilt
as one Of the leading teams, but he
does name three that have been picked
by others and then says that possibly
Vanderbilt may be strong enough to
upset one or two of these three. This
IN view of the fact that generally
coaches are naming Vanderbilt as one
OF the four probable leaders at the end
OF the year and agree with McGugin
that Tennessee, Alabama and Tulane
should be at the top, is good indication
that the sentiment which apparently is
backing Vanderbilt, Alabama, Tulane
and Tennessee as the strong men of
the conference is not far from right,
at least, as the situation now shapes up.
"'TENNEssEE expects to have the
l. greatest team in its history" says
McGugin, and the chances are
that McGugin knows Just about as
much about the Tennessee squad as the
Tennessee coaches themselves, SO strong
is the rivalry between them and so close
a check does each of these schools keep
on the other.
McGugin picks Tennessee and Ala
bama to be the outstanding elevens,
with Tulane close third. Then. after
making this arrangement of what he
considers at this time the South's best
prospects, he continues, "and I am
hopeful that we can count in pretty
close and maybe upset one or two of
these teams"
AS matter of fact, Vanderbilt prob
ably will be fully as strong as any of
the three that McGugin has picked
as leaders. Last year the Nashville
school went out at the start of the year
and whipped Ohio State, rs to 0, in the |
first half, then let up. At that time |
1t was looked upon as potentially one
of the most powerful IN the country, |
but injuries to star backs and scholastic |
difficulties hurt the teams record. This |
year Vanderbilt has back the bulk of |
last years material and several other
good man from the freshman
VANDERBILT brings over from 1881
" Gracey and Powell, centers; Talley, |
Beasley and Surheinrich, guards;
Leyendecker, tackle; Foster and Myers,
ends, and Close, Roberts, Henderson,
Fortune and Whitfield, backs. OF these,
Gracey was touted as an All-America
center, Leyendecker generally was
picked as one of the best tackles in
the South and Roberts is one of TIE
most brilliant running backs in the
country, barring none. And all the
others are good foot ball players.
We had potentially good team last
year, but an awfully hard schedule and
some critical injuries that almost COM
pletely stalled us for awhile" says Nc
Gugin, "and especially were we handi-
capped last season by having our two
punters on the sidelines nearly all the
time. We bring over some good men
from the freshman team, and maybe we
shall have a first-class eleven. Anyway,
II we can develop a good punting and
passing game We should have a pretty
hard team to handle
And anybody who knows the caliber
Of the Vanderbilt squad knows that
friend Dan is extremely modest In his
outlook for his own season.
IN speaking Of some OF the other
i schools in the far South, McGugin
indicates that in his opinion Georgia
Tech should show considerable i'm
provement, Florida and Auburn ought
to be good, but that Georgia lost so
many men it can hardly expect to
measure up to the standard set last
season.
Vanderbilt opens its season Septem-
Der "a with Mercer at Nashville Then
it plays North Carolina at Nashville
on october /. It's game October is
with Western Kentucky Normal, and
on October Is it meets the first test
with the other teams picked as the
strongest four, being scheduled to make
a trip to New Orleans to face Tulane.
Georgia is to be played at Athens on
october %, Georgia Tech at Nash
vile October 20, Maryland at Wash
ington November 5. Tennessee at Nash
vile November II and Alabama at Bir-