Evening star., 1940-11-20
Tech Slight Choice Over Western Payo Tomorrow for High Grid Crown
The
SP0RTLIGHT
Underdog Grave Menace
On November Grid
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
eneciaI Cnrrespondent Of The Star.

On November Grid
BY GRANTLAND RICE.
Special Correspondent Of The Star.
NEW YORK, Nov. 20 (NAN.A)
AS Jimmy Crowley of Fordham
and several other noted coaches
pointed out some time back, there
Is q vast difference between October
and November football, especially
when traditional foes land together
on the same field. The underdog is
In an emotional mood that is easy t1
churn up. The expected winner
ISN'T.
Once in while teams come along
such as Minnesota. Texas A. and
M. Stanford, Boston College and
Tennessee, which can hold about the
same pace all year. But not very
often. And even these are not en-
tirely safe-certainly no safer than
Cornell looked to be against Dart
mouth or Duke looked to be against
North Carolina
On playing form Kentucky and
Vanderbilt have little chance
against Tennessee-Wiscon has
little chance against Minnesota and
Texas has no better chance against
Texas A. and NJ
But again these are all traditional
battles in which the underdog has
q shining target for its aim-just as
Dartmouth had. BY winning one of
these in the stretch the underdog
can atone for a whole season of
heavy trouble.
Stonford in Rough Spot
Meeting Old Rival
Stanford is in slightly rougher
spot. California not only is her
Oldest traditional rival, but Stub
Allison also has a pretty fair foot
ball team that has been coming
along nicely. Stanford may run into
more trouble than the case now in
dicates on November 80.
Auburn and Holy Cross appar-
emily have only a slight chance
against Boston College
Il don't know so much about
Auburn" Frank Leahy, the B. c.
coach. told me, except that on its
good day it can play a lot of foot
ball. But I know that Holy Cross
always is tough for us and will be
tough again. I know we have a
great football team. 1t took a great
team to beat Georgetown.
But rain or snow or a few bad
breaks can make a lot of difference
to team that all year had looked to
this last Georgetown game. More
things can happen in a football
game than millions understand"
Georgetown Is Among
Tough Luck Teoms
The tough luck teams in football
are those which have lost only a
single game by single point. In
this list you can include Michigan,
Georgetown and Mississippi.
Minnesota beat Michigan, 7 to s,
IN a game in which every break
ran against Michigan. Boston COL
lege beat Georgetown, 19 to l8, in a
game in which the breaks were
certainly not Georgetown's. Arkan-
sas turned the same job loose
against Mississippi.
For example one of the leading
scouts Of the Midwest sends me this
information:
minnesota, Michigan and North
western are just about on a par. If
they had to play again Michigan
probably would beat Minnesota and
Northwestern beat Michigan. Min
nesota had all the breaks against
Michigan. Michigan had all the
breaks against Northwestern. These
are by all odds the best three Mid
western teams and you can rate all
three on even terms. All three
have good lines and each had a set
OF high-class backs. I'd say the
three of them, that among Mime
sofa. Michigan and Northwestern,
there are at least nine backs we'll
above good average. The scores
don't tell us everything, after ALL"
Hoyo o-EoeIe RepIoy Winner
Would Be Hard TO Pick
The same is true of Boston Col
lege and Georgetown. If they
played the game over no one would
know which team to pick.
But they don't play games over,
20 we must go by results.
Yet as our scout says, Every one
should know that results are far
from telling the true story of a
days play"
ran into a flock of football
coaches who were discussing the
coming Pennsylvania Cornell game.
The main argument was this
will the Dartmouth game lift
Cornell back to her old peak-or
pull her farther down."
They all knew that PENNSYLVANIA
IS out to win this game with every
thing 1t has TO give.
There is the chance, big chance.
that Cornell will rebound from the
Dartmouth contest in the hope of
proving again it is one Of the Ma
tons best
Cornell has no back who can do
as many things as we'll as Frank
Reagan can, If Reagan has one of
his good days and lets himself go
as he didn't do against Michigan.
A lot depends on the weather.
Cornell has only fair running at
tack. The Ithacan highway is in
the air. And you need fair weather
for passing show.