Evening star., 1953-09-04
Game With Irish Due
To Make or Break
Season for Sooners
By the A.seeio.ed Pres.

NORMAN, Okla, Sept. a.
From the talk in these parts, one
would think there is only one
game on Oklahoma football
schedule this year-Notre Dame.
The chatter grows daily on just
how much of a stand Oklahoma
can make, what with the Sooners
losing most of their scoring team
from last season. The only thing
certain about that first game
September 26 here is a full house
of 57,687.
Coach Bud Wilkinson. whose
team last year ended with an
8-1-1 record and was rated No.
4 in the Nation. has a big rebuild
ing task. The only defeat was at
the hands of the Irish, 27-21,
after an early-season 21-21 tie
with Colorado.
Three Other Tough Ones.
While Sooner fans can't see
past that first game, Wilkinson
has three more headaches on sue
cessive weeks. Therell be no
pushoverS, with Pittsburgh. Texas
and Kansas coming Up in that or
der.
It's generally conceded, even by
Wilkinson, that the first game
will make or break the Sooners
this season.
"All anybody talks to our play
ers about is Notre Dame" Wilk-
inson sighs. IF we get beat badly,
we'll probably never recover"
1t will be all the harder be-
cause almost half of this years
team is composed of sophomores.
Most of the rest are returning
Squadmen.
The backfield that scored more
points than any other team in
the Nation is gone-Halfback
Billy Vessels, named Heisman
Trophy winner for his smashing
play; Fullback Buck McPhail.
who was All-Big Seven, and the
brains of the split-T formation,
Quarterback Eddie Crowder.
When you lose three men like
that plus an All-America center
like Tom Catlin, there are no
ready substitutes.
Strongest in Line.
The Sooners are strongest
from tackle to tackle. Wilkin-
sons big problems are at the
ends and backfield.
Buddy Leake, Oklahoma's
most publicized player, is ex-
pected to go the farthest in fill
ing Vessels shoes. Wilkinson
had been toying with the idea
of putting him at quarterback.
but he would rather have him
running full speed at left half.
In the first few practices, Leake
has been at half, with Gene
Calame. who played some last
year. calling signals.
Larry Grigg, safety man dur
ing the past two seasons, has
been moved to right half. Will
kinson hopes this will help
strengthen the teams defense
now that the free substitution
rule has been eliminated.
To take the place of McPhail.
Wilkinson has moved big, fast
Max Boydston to fullback from
end despite the need for good
f1ankers. To help the end prob
lem, Wilkinson is experimenting
by moving Joe Mobra, a second
string quarterback, to end.
Lightest Team in Years.
The 1853 Sooners will be the
lightest team in the last 38 years
with the exception of wartime
The line won't average above 1913
pounds, compared with 207 last
year, and the backfield will be
only 176.
Last years team rolled to
touchdowns virtually every other
time it got the ball to average
40 points a game.
To overcome the lack of
power, weight and experience
this year, Wilkinson is planning
to add more variety to the Of
fenSe.
Oklahoma is favored to take
its sixth straight Big Seven title
despite its rebuilding.
well have a good team by
the middle of the season if we
don't get crippled up" Wilkinson
says. eve won't know about
most of our players until they've
been in a few games, but we may