Evening star., 1952-10-20
Game
One Of Week S Best;
South, Far West Tops
BY The Assoeioted Press

AGW 4O1ScA, wv. zU.-4L u
pity the South and Far West did
not schedule more intersectional
games this season because those
two sections seem to be the class
Of college football as the cam
paign steamS into the second half.
Except for Michigan State-the
top-ranked team in the country
and Oklahoma. the Midwest has
not shown any particular power.
The Big Ten. in fact. does not
boast an undefeated team. Wis
consin and Illinois were supposed
to be loaded. but neither has
played UP to expectations.
Nor does the traditionally
strong Southwest have anything
to brag about. The Southwest
Conference does not have a team
in the undefeated class. It hardly
even has a favorite for the cham
|pionship.
The East has lived up Cor DOWN
to expectations. Penn from the
Ivy League, no less, heads the field
and should win top honors. Syra-
cuse. which was figured to be
about second best in the section,
took a 48-7 mauling at the hands
|of Michigan State Saturday. The
Orange was supposed to make it
close.
3 Unbeaten ON Coast.
But look at the Coast and South.
In the Pacific Coast Conference.
there are no fewer than three
outfits undefeated and united
California, Southern California
and UCLA-named in the order of
their chances Of staying that way.
All boast SO records and all
are hoping for the bid to the Rose
Bowl, which goes to the winner
of the league crown. One of them
probably will bite the dust this
week when California and use
meet in Los Angeles in a battle Of
mighty offense and stonewall de-
fenSe.
California has been rolling
through its opponents as though
they were sieves, while the Tro-
jams. their offense weak, have won
their games by stopping the
enemy cold. The Golden Bears
will be favored, but the defensive
minded teams have been showing
well this year.
In the South the big boys, in
their approximate order of rank
ing. are Maryland, Georgia Tech.
Duke and Virginia. The first three
have won five games without a
setback. and Virginia has cap
tured four.
Duke-Virginia Headliner.
Duke meets Virginia this week
and Georgia Tech the next week.
The Engineers could beat Duke,
but the Blue Devils figure to rule
slight favorites over strong Vir-
ginia. the leading independent in
the area.
From here on in. the word
crucial will be popping into
football stories with more and
more frequency, because for the
leaders every game will be a
crucial one.
In addition to the California
Southern California and Duke
Virginia games the big ones this
week will send Penn State against
michigan State at East Lansing,
lUCLA against Wisconsin at Madi-
son and Purdue against Illinois at
Urbana. The latter will be tele-
vised nationally.
The SpartanS should have no
trouble against Penn State. al
though the Nittany Lions have
been looking good so far. The
UCLA Wisconsin game won't
count in any standings, but it
will give another insight on the
relative strength of the Pacific
Coast and the Big Ten. The
Coast is leading this year, 5-3.
Two Minor Upsets.
The Purdue Illinois game could
decide the Big Ten champion.
The Boilermakers are tied with
Minnesota and Michigan, all with
20 records, for the league lead.
In the Ivy League, Yale and
Princeton could give Penn q tussle,
but the Quakers seem to have too
much all-around class. Houston
leads the Missouri Valley, but
Detroit could slip in, especially If
it defeats Oklahoma AIM this
week. Utah, defending champion,
is the class of the Skyline Con-
ference, while Idaho State just
about wrapped up the Rocky
Mountain Conference champion
ship with its 46-16 triumph over
Colorado State Saturday.
There were only two minor up
sets Saturday. Notre Dame
snapped up eight Purdue fumbles
to win, 26 IA, and Minnesota
dropped Illinois, 1877.