The Ely miner., 1943-12-23


But these civilian teams still did
their part.
against Any Rankings
Ranking football teams for 1943 is
now in order, but the order seems
out of joint. In fact, it makes no
sense whatever.
Here is a note I have just re-
ceived from one of footballs vet
eran observers through the last Is
years
"How many games could Michi-
gan have won without the help of
Daley of Minnesota and the ten Wis
consin transferees? How many
games could Purdue have won with
out Butkovich, GEMS, Agase and
others transferred for naval train
ing? And yet they are rated Western
conference co-champions.
"To claim any championship is
silly, and to keep football going,
schedules next fall should be so
made up as to let civilian teams
meet only civilian teams, college
trainee teams meet only college
trainee teams, and service teams
play only service teams. Sending
teams with only IL and 18-year-old
high school players against trained
veterans is highly unfair.
''Take Ohio State as an example.
Michigan and Purdue each scored
five touchdowns against Ohio State
in the last Is minutes of play. The
17-year-old boys, just out of high
school, lack the stamina, and their
teams lack the reserves. This sort
of competition certainly does not
help undeveloped boys, and it cer-
tainly doesn't help football"
This is 100 per cent true. There
should be no schedules arranged
next fall between civilian kids and
navy trainee teams or any service
teams. 1t isn't even decent, much
less fair, to have these 17-year-old
kids, who play their hearts out,
thrown against seasoned veterans
who are older, bigger and far more
experienced.
I agree with the writer above that
this is completely unfair to these
game, eager but outclassed kids and
very bad for football as a major
sport. I'd like to add that a num-
ber Of these kids, as long as they
could stand up, gave the veterans
all they could handle.
There were several teams that
had five or six men at these i'm
mature ages-Ohio State, Indiana,
Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, etc., who for
a good part of the game stood up
well.
They lacked the stamina and the
body fiber to go the full route, but
they were in there .tackling and
blocking, running and passing until
the time came when superior man.
power wore them down.
Just how many of these will be
left for the season of 1914 is any
body's guess.
But they will be something to stop
a year from now where they are
not outclassed.
A few more months of hardening
exercise is all they need.
They have had to learn the road in
the hard way and this will make
them all the better for whatever
football may have to offer when an
other autumn rolls around.
For there will be no such crushing
juggernauts as Notre Dame next
fall.
Outside of Army and Navy there
will be a far better balance all along
the line, which is the way it should
be.
In Regard to Stars
So far as individual stars go for
any All-America group, 1943 easily
held its own with past years.
Consider this group of backs:
Bertelli, Miller, Mello, Notre
Dame. Prokop, Georgia Tech. Odell,
Pennsylvania. Daley, Michigan, via
Minnesota. Butkovich, Purdue. Da-
Wis, Army. Hamberg, Hume and
Jenkins, Navy. Dark, Southwestern
institute. McCardle, Southern Cali
fornia. Podesto, College Of the Pa
cific. Harrison, Washington. Steuber,
DePauw. This is only partial list.
In the same way there have been
a greater number of fine tackles
this season than in long time.
AS a rule the matter of locating
high class tackles is no easy job.
The campaign of 1943 was entirely
different. There were at least seven
or eight tackles of high grade, who
in other years would have been a
big help to those chasing the Golden
Fleece of the All-America.
There have been few outstanding
centers this season, and few out
standing ends. There have been
good men in both positions, but many
of these were on level.