Evening star., 1953-11-28
Cadets Are Favorites
By 1-Point Margin
Over Midshipmen
By Francis Stonn
Stor Steff Correspondenf

its 54th year today, and with a
Weather Bureau forecast of good
football weather the usual crowd
of 100000 headed toward Mu-
nicipal Stadium.
After yesterdays day-long rain
and snow. prospects for good
weather appeared bad. But the
Weather Bureau issued this FORE
cast: Considerable cloudiness
with some sunshine, high tenn
perature A."
The chief absentee from the
huge crowd. it appeared, was
President Eisenhower, a one
time West Point fullback. But
even critics who faulted his
choice of a golfing week end at
Augusta, Ca, were more or less
envious. It wasn't really cold
here, but is was raw and damp
and the climate must be better
in Georgia.
Army, winner of six games,
tied in another (Tulane) and
beaten only by Northwestern in
an early-SeaSon game, 1920,
was 1-point favorite over Navy.
Had the two service rivals
played up to preseason predic-
tionS. Navy would have been a
favorite. But after getting up a
head of early-season steam, the
Midshipmen fell short of expec-
tations. They have a record of
only 4 wins, 2 defeats and 2 ties.
Field in Good Shape.
On the other hand, Navy was
seeking it's fourth straight win
over the Cadets, whose football
program still is on the upswing
after the 1850 smash. when
nearly all Army players were
ousted from West Point as a re-
suit of the so-called "cribbing
scandal"
Fine, wet flakes of snow which
fell yesterday were not consid-
cred threat to the field. The
gridiron in the vast stadium has
been protected by a tarpaulin
for many hours. 1t was removed
only briefly yesterday to permit
both teams to hold light work.
outs. Both squads were attired
in Sweatsuits and more or less
went through motions.
The chief idea of both coaches,
Red Blaik Of Army and Eddie
ErdelatZ, was to acquaint the
athletes with the vastness of the
stadium, although 10 of the
midshipmen and 13 of the cadets
were to be playing their final
games in their respective uni
forms and had seen it before.
Dignitaries by the scores,
mostly from official Washington
began to gather last night and
early this morning, some by
special trains which 'park" on
sidings close by the stadium.
Neither Army nor Navy is
highly-rated as a national foot
ball power, but as a spectacle
the meeting was, as usual. un-
parallel for attendance and
worldwide interest.
Navy Scout Dissents.
Navy. rated highly by experts
last summer in preseason polls
in contrast to Army'S lesser re-
views by the same critics, ad-
mittedly was facing the Strong
est attack since Notre Dame. "
One voice, that of Chief Scout
Frank Foster, dissented, but
only to a degree.
Foster, who never sees Navy
but only the Midshipmen's op-
ponents, reported to Head Coach
Eddie Erdelatz in effect:
"Army's real strength lies in
it's line-backers. They are as
good as you'll find on any team.
I think we can hold Army to a
reasonable score. The question
is: Can we score?"
On paper Navy appeared to
have the deeper squad, but
Army's generally was rated as
stronger. The West Pointers
count on only Is players-one
backfeld replacement and, four
on the line, but they're getting
a lot of mileage out if this thin
gray line-thin only as to num-
ber. Blaik only brought "a
cadets to suit up and one, Full
back Freddie Attaya, wasn't
scheduled to appear at all, unless
in a punting capacity. Attaya,
long injured, was considered the
best of Army's backs.
West Pointers Durable.
It's a durable team that West
Point is presenting. The regular
backf1eld-Penn Vann, Pat Uebel,
Gerry Lodge and Tommy Bell
played so minutes without respite
in a 21-14 win over Penn, which
is an oddity these days.
Navy was countering with
George Welsh or John Weaver
at quarterback and Bob Hep
worth, Phil Monahan and Joe
Gattuso at the other backfield
positions. For one stretch of
three weeks when Navy Smoth-
cred Dartmouth by 55-7, Cornell
by 26-7 and Princeton by a near
incredible 65-7-thiS offensive
combination appeared to be tops.
Since, however, Navy has aver
aged only one touchdown a game
for four weeks and, indeed, didn't
even score against Duke. This,
more than anything else, was
why Army was rated a favorite
for the first time since 1850.
The series score up to date
showed Army winning 81, Navy
%, with 4 ties.