Evening star., 1950-12-24
Favorites Have Had
Rough Year; Bears
Choice Over Michigan
BY the Assoeiofed Press

BY the Assoeioted Press
NEW YORK, Dec. %. - Okla
homa and Texas occupy unenvi-
able roles among the college foot
ball powers who play in the vari-
Gus bowl games January l.
They have been established as
solid favorites, and as everybody
who has been watching the crazy
pigskin bounce this year well
knows-that flashes the red light
of danger.
It's been a bad year for the
chosen. One by one, Notre Dame,
Southern Methodist, Ohio State
and Army hit the top rung and
then tumbled off. Navy climaxed
the season with a 14-2 stunning
upset of Army.
OF the several gaudy winning
streaks intact when the regular
campaign began, only Oklahoma S
31-game skein still is alive and
kicking.
Sooners 61@ Point Choice.
The Sooners will defend this
modern record of sustained Sue
cess against Kentucky's versatile,
high-scoring Wildcats in the
Sugar Bowl at New Orleans.
Oklahoma, named national cham
pion in the Associated Press poll,
is favored by 6l2 points.
Big. fast Texas rules a seven
point choice over Tennessee in
their bit of business in Dallas Cot
ton Bowl.
So if the pattern of this dizzy,
rock-the-favorite season is to be
maintained through the final fling.
the Sooners and Longhorns are
teams most on the spot.
There is not much to choose be-
tween the rivals in the other two
main postseason extravaganzas.
California is conceded point bet
ter than Michigan in the Rose
Bowl at Pasadena. University of
Miami is rated one point over
Clemson in the Orange Bowl at
Miami.
The holiday football program
actually gets under way with the
North-South all-star game Christ
mas night at Miami. This clash
of picked college seniors is rated
toss-up.
Two Games Saturday.
Next Saturday offers two of the
older all-star classics-the East
West Shrine game at San Fran
cisco and the Blue-Gray joust at
Montgomery, Ala. Fans will get
a look at some of the games out
standing stars, including gen.
erous helping of All-America
talent.
Eleven bowl games complete the
dish January /. More than half
a million fans are expected to pay
about $2,0o0,000 to see the scat
tered shows.
The largest crowd-some los 900
will attend the grandpappy of
the postseason fixtures at Pasa-
dena. where Michigan, beaten
three times and tied once. will try
to maintain the Big Tens su-
periority over the Pacific Coast.
Pappy Waldorf's California
Bears, tied only by Stanford in 10
games, hope to break the hold
with a smart, speedy team that
seems to have more scoring punch
than in years past. Michigan,
beaten by Army early in the cam
paign and tied by Minnesota in
the middle of it. appeared on the
rise at the seasons end.
Approximately 82.500 will see if
Oklahoma can get Sugar Bowl
history by winning its third
straight in the Louisiana metro
polls. ....
The question seems to be whether
the Sooners can stop Babe Parilli,
the Wildcats ball-handling wizard
who threw % touchdown passes
during the year.
Each Has Great Tackle.
This game matches two of the
sports great tackles-Bob Gain of
Kentucky and Jim Weatherall of
Oklahoma, both All-Americans.
At Dallas Cotton Bowl, turn
out of some rs, 900 will get glimpse
of two of the fiercest, hardest hit
ting lines in modern football.
Sponsors of the Orange Bowl
could hardly have made a closer
match than Miami and Clemson.
Wyoming carries nine straight
victories against Washington g.
Lee in the Gator Bowl at Jackson
vile and rules a seven-point favo-
rite over the Southern Conference
champs.
Once beaten Emory and Henry
plays unsullied Morris Harvey in
the Tangerine Bowl at Orlando,
Fla. Valparaiso and La Crosse
(Wis) who play in the Cigar Bowl
at Tampa, have identical 800
records.