Evening star., 1954-12-29
|hiddies May /,
All Game Time
Players Not as Fast
As Expected Is View;
Roin Likely Saturday
spseiai Di.poseb 70 The s.ar

= ~
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. a.
Football talk continues to mount
in this historic town as game
time for the Sugar Bowl meet
ing Saturday between Navy and
Mississippi draws nearer.
Every seat-81 ,975 Of them
has been sold and scalpers are
asking as much as $50 for pair
Of seats in the end zone.
Some are calling this the most
colorful of all Sugar Bowl foot
ball games and adding to the
general picture is the fact that
the South is getting more solidly
behind Ole Miss.
Desire. a word which came out
of Annapolis this season with the
repetitiousness of q broken rec-
ord. viii not be enough New Year
Day. in the opinion Of many here.
Navy Fails to Impress. .
Observers at Navy's final
scrimmage on the open Tulane
practice field yesterday came
away muttering: They are not
nearly as fast as we thought" !"
Among those watching was Andy
Pilney, former Notre Dame half
back and now head football
coach at Tulane. Pilney was
not impressed.
II just don't see how such
little guys will be able to beat a
team like Mississippi" he said.
Mississippi has just about
everything a football team
needs"
Actually, the role of underdog
which Navy might well be at
the kick-off-should suit the
Middies to a T. They did ex-
tremely well with that status all
season long. They played their
best games against Army, Duke
and Notre Dame and in the
fourth quarter in a come-from-
behind burst against Dartmouth.
Except for a back injury to
Tackle Jim Royer, the Middies
came away from the last hard
contact work in good condition.
Roger was, injured in a light
workout before the hard scrim-
maging began. He took a knee
in his back while recovering a
tumble. There was no sprain or
fracture and Roger probably will
be able to play.
Perhaps not so fortunate is
Bob Adams. one Of Mississippi's
regular ends and notably a de-
fensive star. Mississippi, practic-
ing at Biloxi, Miss, about 80
miles up the coast, went through
another light drill in the pouring
rain yesterday. but Adams still
showed signs of favoring a knee
injured against Houston in mid
The loss Of Adams would be
q hard blow, in the opinion of
Coach Johnny Vaught. Strong
defensive end play is vital
against Navy's style of attack"
he says.
Nays attack, 'Vaught says, is
similar to that of Kentucky and
Villanova, two teams which
bowed to Ole Miss this season.
Eddie Erdelatz, the Navy coach,
countered facetiously by COM
pairing Mississippi's attack to
that of the pro Cleveland
Browns against the Detroit Lions
last Sunday.
Rain Due to Stop.
The rains. which were ex-
pected to let up today, have kept
Vaught from putting his squad
through drills on the long pass.
The Weather Bureau has limited
it may rain here Saturday. If
it does, Erdelatz says 1t will hurt
his team more because 1t Is light
and fast.
Intermittent rains have fallen
for two days here, but the Sugar
Bowl field is constructed to drain
off and consequently is still COM
paratively dry.
While many observers are
switching to Mississippi's side,
the Middies will get some boost
erS New Years Eve. The USS
Monterey, a 14,500-ton aircraft
carrier, will dock here to offer
not only moral silnnort ha,t hons.