Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-12-31
But They'll Remain
Fayorifes Despite
Injury 10 Faloney
By Merrell Whittlesey
Stov StoH CORRESPONDENT

championship football team that
even without their big guy the
TerpS rule q six-point favorite
on Orange Bowl Eve to beat
Oklahoma tomorrow.
The odds dropped only a half
point here yesterday. making
Maryland six-point favorite
instead of 612, but there was an
explanation for that. The TerpS
might well have been favored by
as much at IL points in the orig
inal quotations except for Quar-
terback Bernie Faloney's knee
injury. With Faloney's playing
status indefinite. Maryland
opened at 61a.
Now that Faloney almost def
nitely is being counted out, the
odds dropped only a half point.
However. an influx of Oklahoma
money could. and probably will,
lower the odds to 3 or 312 points
at game time.
Trainer Still Hoping.
Faloney sat out of the last
practice session, detected figure
on the steps of the locker room
at Miami High School. as the
other players worked 80 min
utes.. Bernie didn't even dress
for practice. Trainer Duke Wyre
said, I'VE still have 48 hours to
work on him, and are still hope
full" But nobody else, Faloney
and Coach Jim Tatum included,
was very hopeful. Tatum said.
"I'll leave it up to Bernie"
Tatum had no practice sched-
uled for today. While the Okla
homa team went through a dress
rehearsal in the Orange Bowl,
the Maryland players were to
hold a long meeting during the
afternoon. Every phase of the
game will be gone over in this
session. which some of the play
erS dread more than workout
Maryland already has been in
the Orange Bowl Stadium. beat
ing the University of Miami there
in October.
Game time tomorrow is 2
o'clock, with a full house of al
most 10000 assured, the biggest
crowd in the 20-year history of
the game. An 85-station tele-
vision network will carry the
game across the Nation, in WASH
ington over WTOP-TV. Red
Barber will be the commentator.
OF course. the game will be
coast-to-coast on radio, in Wash
ington over WTOP.
Showers Possible Tonight.
The cold wave sweeping the
Nation was expected to reach
mid Florida this afternoon. but a
drop of only a few degrees was
expected here. Some showers are
ossible for the mammoth
Orange Bowl parade (also tele-
vised). starting at Z o'clock to-
night. Game time temperature
may be between IS and 70 de-
grees. with scattered showers a
possibility. However, the rainfall
should not be serious enough to
affect the game, the Weather
Bureau said this morning.
Meanwhile, some people close
to the Maryland team were APP
prehensive lest Coach Tatum's
somewhat iittery attitude spread
to the players.
The fact that Maryland has
enjoyed all good luck and now
is beginning to get bad breaks is
of great concern to Tatum, and
while he has full day in which
to collect himself, he apparently
is much too tense. He was that
way when the squad arrived.
seemed to shake it. and now has
regained it, abetted by Faloney's
condition
It was Tatum who sold the
Maryland team two years ago
on the fact that it was in a
perfect position to knock off the
top-ranked team when it was
playing Tennessee, and he
knows his former coaching as
sociate, Bud Wilkinson. is SELL
ing the same bill of goods to his
Oklahoma players.
1t Happened to Bud.
Wilkinson knows it can happen
from personal experience. Okla
homa was voted the O'Donnell
Trophy, emblematic of the ma
tional championship. in 1850
and on New Years Day in 1851
the Sooners were beaten. 1877.
by underdog Kentucky in the
Sugar Bowl.
Tatum is emphasizing to his
players that Oklahoma's line is
SO quick that it's going to be
different than any Maryland
has played against. It's lighter,
but adopts different tack from
heavy lines. and knows all the
tricks.
Jim also says Maryland hasn't
met a team with so many good
backs. Oklahoma has a poor
passing record, but the Mary
land coach believes the Sooners
may pass from the spread forma-
ton, something they haven't
used to date. Tatum has the
(See ORANGE BOWL, Pig. A-90