Oregon W Emerald
SPORTS
Wally Hunter, Editor
Don Fair, Fred Taylor, Assistant Editors
Ducks Start Heavy
Drills for WSC Tiff
Oregon's high-riding gridders started heavy preparations for
their weekend invasion of the Palonse hills, where the Ducks
tangle with the Washington State Cougars.
Yesterday’s workout pitted the Webfoot reserves against the
Frosh grid squad in their weekly mix-up, until heavy rain
forced the practice to shift to the ROTC drill shed. The top 15
gridmen worked out without pads as the Ducklings gave the
substitutes scrimmage practice.
Another wet weather tilt is in
store for the Ducks Saturday at
I'uliman, and the Oregon of
fense is likely to again feature
their power attack, instead of
the passing wizardry of Norm
Van Brocklin.
As a result of his sparkling per
formance against the Idaho Van
dals last Saturday, the number one
man of the Webfoot’s ground at
tack, Jake Leicht, now paces the
coast conference in scoring.
Leicht’s two touchdowns and four
extra points against Idaho
boosted his seasons total to 45
markers. I n eight carries h e
racked up 139 yards from scrim
mage.
Oregon has already turned in
a better season in the statistic
department than the Webfoots
did in the whole nine-game sea
son last year. In scoring, the Eu
gene eleven is 4(i points ahead
of last year’s total, and in first
downs is 32 ahead.
Last season the Ducks gained
1428 yards on the ground and 440
in the air. Already this year the
Webfoots have netted 1453 yards
rushing and 766 yards from
aerials.
In individual statistics,
leicht’s hall-carrying average
jumped to six yards per carry
■is a result of his ground-cover
ing against Idaho, to lead the
Oregon team. Fullback Bob
Koch, who had an outstanding
day also, took over second place
in the team standings, with five
yards yer try. Keith DeCourcey
is in third place in the averages,
with 4.8 yards per pack.
Left end Dan Garza still leads
the receivers in both number of
catches and yardage, as he has
snagged 14 tosses for 286 yards.
Van Brocklin’s passing average is
now .430 percent, as he has tossed
55 completes out of 128 attempts.
Next Saturday’s tilt at Pullman
will be the twenty-fifth meeting
of the two rivals. In the past the
Cougars have belted out 11 vic
tories to the Webfoots’ eight, with
four of the contests ending in ties.
Last year on Hayward field the
two clubs battled to a scorless tie
in the mud.
Cougars Gird
For Webfoots
Keyed up after their 25-0
trouncing of Portland last week,
Coach Phil Sorboe’s Washington
State Cougars ran through a spir
ited workout yesterday, concen
trating on pass offense and defense
for their game against Oregon
here next Saturday.
A pair of Spokane boys supplied
the punch and spirit that was the
undoing of the Portland squad.
Fullback Hal Akins counted two
touchdowns and set up a third with
a brilliant 31-yard runback of a
Portland punt. The other Spokane
boy, Jerry Williams, ripped off sev
eral long gains during the after
noon and propelled his 165-pound
frame over several enemy tacklers
in registering a TD from five yards
out.
Phil Sorboe’s gridders expect to
be in top shape for their Saturday
date with the Webfoots. The
Ducks and Cougars battled to a
scoreless deadlock in last year's >
fracas at Eugene.
Cal, USC Top Coast Statistics;
UO Leads Conference Kickers
Los Angeles, Nov. 4. (UP)
; Southern California and Califor
nia. the two leading football teams
in the west, topped Pacific Coast
Conference statistics today in of
fense and defense.
California, defeated by Southern
California, had a slight edge in of
fense but the Trojans led in de
fense. The best passing team in the
west, however, was Coach Dixie
Howell's Vandals.
California i n seven games
piled up 28(14 yards for ail aver
age of 887.* per games Southern
California, in six games had
I (Mil yards for an average of
327.8 for total offense. Oregon
and ICLA tied for third with
an as? rage of 817 yards per
game each.
In rushing alone. California was
first with a total of U>43 yards and
an average of 234.7. UCLA was
second with an average of 217
yards and Oregon was third with
207.7 yards.
In passing Idaho piled up 870
yards in six games for an aver
age of l l(i. Southern California
was second with an average of
127 yards per game and Oregon
was third with 1051.4 yards.
In total defense California held
its opponents to 170.7 yards per
game with Washington second
with 217.2 yards and California
third with 226.4 yards per game.
Southern California's rushing
defense held opponents to 80.!)
yards a game, followed by I'CI.A
with 107 and Oregon with 121
yards.
Oregon led the conference in
punting with an average of 40.3
yards per kick, followed by Mon
tana with 351.2 and UCLA with
38.3.
Frosh - Varsity Tilt
Halted by Weather;
U of P Contest Next
The scheduled frosh-varsity re
serve football battle was brought
to an abrupt halt yesterday by a
sustained downpour that turned
the already-sloppy praotice field
into another Amazon Flats and
halted the proceedings before a
dozen plays could be run.
After the torrent had ceased,
Heldt’s Duckling charges spent
the remainder of the abbreviated
practice working on plays that will
be used in Saturday’s clash with
Portland University babes.
In order to preserve the already
badly torn-up turf on Hayward
field, Saturday’s game is tenta
tively scheduled to be played on
the practice gridiron. Bleachers
will be erected on the east side of
the field to accomodate frosh root
ers.
Coach Carl Heldt said yesterday
that little is known of Portland’s j
offensive power or the type of
plays they will employ against the
Ducklings. The only indication of
their comparative strength was a
6-0 defeat handed to the OS(j
Rooks, in the final minutes of
their clash two weeks ago. The
Staters had previously downed the
Oregon frosh by a score of 27-19
in the season's opener.
After this week’s encounter
against Portland, only one game
remains on the Duckling’s five
game schedule. They will meet the
Rooks again, who will travel to
Eugene November 15 for the re
turn engagement.
Grid Briefs
By UNITED PRESS
Moscow, Ida., Nov. 4. University
of Idaho gtidders, hoping to stop
Montana’s aerial attack, today
sharpened their pass defense in a
hard workout in preparation for
Friday’s Grizzly game. The Van
dals, after practicing in snow flur
ries today, were ready for any
kind of weather for Friday’s con
test, Idaho’s last conference game
this year.
Los Angeles, Nov. 4. The UCLA
Bruins today chose Guard John
Nikcevich and Fullback Jack
Myers as co-captains for the Ore
gon State game. The Bruins went
through a dummy scrimmage and
a defensive drill against Oregon
Slate plays.
Los Angeles, Nov. 4. Coach Jeffl
Cravath today sent his varsity
through a brisk scrimmage against
the junior varsity in preparation
for their encounter with Stanford
here Saturday. Paul Salata, second
string end, worked out today for
the first time since the Ohio State
game when he broke liis hand.
Seattle, Nov. 4. Line Coach Herb
Duggins, newly returned from
scouting the University of Califor
nia, took over a. red-shirted Uni
versity of Washington second team
today and ran Cal's offensive rep
ertoire against the Washington
varsity.
Meanwhile Head Coach Ralph
Welch reported all his charges re
covered from the numerous bumps
and bruises suffered at the hands '
of USC last Saturday.
Corvallis, Ore., Nov. 4. The Ore
gon State college orangemen were
working out today in preparation
for the important clash with the
U.C.L.A. Pacific Coast conference 1
defending champions Saturday. It
will be the Orangemen’s only Port
land appearance this season and a j
large crowd is expected. 1
U 0 to Rose Bowl?...
‘Why Not’ Asks Fan
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 4 (UP)
_A discomfiting possibility was
voiced tonight that the University
of Oregon grid eleven, a three-time
loser, might wind up in the rose
bowl because of a freakish Pacific
COACH JIM AIKEN
Can He Do It ?
coast conference football schedule.
The Webfoots, although defeated
by Texas, UCLA and Nevada, still
have lost only one league game.
And by the breaks of a fantastic
round-robin schedule, Oregon this
season does not play either South
ern California, the undefeated pace
setter, or the. number one contend
er, California.
Instead, Coach Jim Aiken’s im
proving Webfoots face a compar
atively mild set of games against
Washington State, Stanford and
Oregon State.
Football representatives from
northwestern schools, notorious
ly bitter against the “big four”
teams from California, admitted
if Oregon finished in a cham
pionship tie with USC and Cali
fornia, they might vote the
Ducks into the post-season Pas
adena classic. '
“Why not?” one Oregon support
er asked. “The Ducks may wind up
with as good a record as USC in
the conference—and that’s what
counts.”
The West’s rose bowl represen
tative is selected by a poll of 10
Pacific coast conference members
with the champion generally get
ting the nod. In event of a tie,
however, the northwestern schools
conceivably might band together to
outvote the four California univer
sities 6-4; thus putting Oregon or
any other club they decided upon
into the bowl.
But even the most ardent Oregon
boosters conceded that neither the
Webfoots nor any other team had
much chance of overhauling South
ern California.
The Trojans have only a romp
against Stanford this week and
their battle with UCLA two weeks
after that to finish out their
fourth championship drive in five
years.
UCLA to Start
New General
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5 (UP)
UCLA’s erratic Bruins, still look
ing for a quarterback to get their
sputtering T-formation football at
tack rolling, today pinned their
fading rose bowl hopes on a sopho
more who has been riding the
bench all season.
Coach LaBrucherie will start
young Roy Nagel in the key
backfield post against Oregon
State Saturday, in a battle that
will bump one club out of the
contention for the coast title.
Nagel, a minor sensation in
UCLA’s loss to top-flight Califor
nia last week, will be the third and
last hope for a field general to fill
the shoes of Ernie Case, who guid
ed the Bruins to an undefeated sea
son and the 1947 Rose Bowl as
signment.
I
LaBrucherie previously tried
Benny Rieges, Case’s understudy,
and then Carl Benton at the
quarterback spot—but neither
appeared capable of getting the
big Bruin team untracked. Na
gel, however, showed flashes of
brilliance in both is passing and
signal calling against Califor
nia, and earned a chance to take
over the helm in the Uclan’s
“last chance” game against Ore
gon State.
The powerhouse from USC
faced no threat this week, how
ever, taking on a weak Stanford
club that has lost all six games to
date. The Stanford “woe boys”
(successor to their one-time “wow
boys” of 1940) planned a gambling
aerial attack in an effort to make
a decent showing against USC. But
Coach Marchie Schwartz gloomily
admitted the Indians had “absolute
ly no chance” to halt the Trojans.
Come In
and
tackle one of our
HAMBURGERS
EVERYONE'S “AIKEN” TO TRY ’EM
MIDDLE OF THE ROW
744 E 11th . Across from Sigma Nu