DUCK TRACKS
By BOB REED
Co-Sports Editor
Jim Aiken's Webfoots gave us a merry preview of Oregon’s
new football edition with a rousing victory over Santa Barbara
Saturday. The hopeful uncertainty which has enveloped most
Oregon rooters throughout the summer has been somewhat
cleared.
The tilt with Santa Barbara gave everyone a heartening
picture of the terrific punch wrapped up in the Oregon eleven.
At the first, and at the last, Oregon played cat and mouse with
tne mucn-Datterea uaucnos.
But there was more material
or perhaps evidence in between
tire first and the last from which
to fit together piece by piece
some well-rounded conclusions.
We saw Saturday that Aiken j
has two backfield men, one
Johnny McKay and Bob Eas
ter, who in all likelihood will
make the fans forget that Jake jj
Leight no longer plays for
Oregon. Both ball carriers i
showed considerable skill in
broken field running, McKay
deftly finding scoring territory *
three times. Elaster, although
not participating in the scoring-,
• '' ^ wMi s' V o3&
NORM VAN BROCKLIN
showed his ability in the third quarter, breaking the SB second
ary and wiggling his way for fifteen yards, leaving many would
be tacklers with only a handful of turf.
Backfield Foursome Looks Good
We saw too, that the backfield combination of Bell, Van
Brocklin, McKay, and Sanders gives the Ducks all-around scor
ing power. Sanders proved he was a handy man to have around.
He is a fast starter and op four plays through the middle aver
aged over six yards per try.
Joe Tom, 160 pound quarterback who would rather scrub
opponents than laundry, proved he could make an able subsit
tute for Van Brocklin. His signal calling and ball handling, as
well as his passing, could be considered good in the light that
he has had no previous varsity experience.
The Aiken theory that his eleven must be shaken up with
changes any time the other team gains more than five yards on
any play was followed strictly'by the head mentor. The practice,
along with other Aiken habits, such as allowing no water on the
field for the players, has definite merits.
Penalties Could Hurt Oregon
In a lop-sided game, penalties were given little considera
tion, but Oregon lost 115 yards via this route. The boys were
accused of illegal use of hands four times. As we said before, it
didn’t matter in the Santa Barbara game, but in an encounter
with a team like Michigan a fifteen yard setback could be very
costly. Jim Aiken will undoubtedly do a lot to remedy this habit.
We saw lastly, and with a sinking heart, that the Duck re
serves could do no better than hold their own against Santa
Barbara. Saturday’s game gave the reserves ample opportunity
to play, and future games, promise better reserve performance.
Maybe you can call it irony, maybe it is something else, but
things can never be as rosy as possible pictured above when you
stop and ask yourself, "Just how good is this Oregon football
squad,” or, “Which back is the better of them all.” Against a team
such as Santa Barbara it is hard to take the impressive results
Oregon manufactured and from them try to rate the Ducks
alongside any other team in the country. After the Michigan
game will be time enough to get out the pencils and start
figuring.
New Ratings Confusing
‘Football “Prevues” the latest publication to hit the stands
with a pre-season football round-up seems to contradict itself
over just where Oregon will finish in the Pacific Coast confer
ence standings.
Emmons Byrne, sports writer of the Oakland Tribune
handles the job of previewing the coast football season. The
correspondent rated the conference teams, placing California at
the top, and giving the runner-up spot to Oregon.
Yet, when you get near the back of the magazine and run
across their weekly forecasts for the 1948 football season, you
have to thumb back quickly to the spot where Oregon rated
second and see if they said what you thought they said. For
here, under weekly forecasts, the experts pick Oregon to lose
six ball games. According to ‘Football “Prevues,” ’ the Ducks
will bow to Stanford, Michigan, Southern California, Wash
ington, UCLA, and Oregon State.
A note of appreciation should be tacked on here for Wayne’s
flower shop for providing corsages for the Rally Squad girls to
wear at the downtown rally last Friday, and for providing seven
more fresh corsages for the girls to wear at the game on Saturday.
AAA Advice:
Don't Take Car
To Stanford Tilt
Many Oregon students planning
to drive to Palo Alto for the Oregon
Stanford grid contest Saturday
may be forced to cancel plans, ac
cording to word received from the
American Automobile Association.
Athletic Business Manager How
ard Lemons said Monday that the
AAA had advised against motoring
to the game because of gas short
ages—a situation which will likely
affect a sizeable number of Uni
versity pigskin fans.
Lemons said, however, that the
Southern Pacific railroad will ar
range for ample space to accommo
date students wishing to make the
trip. Bus companies will also pro
vide space for the jaunt.
The Athletic bureau will refund
ticket prices to those students forc
ed to cancel plans.
Game Statistics
TC
Gillies . 1
Cuffel . 1
Bell . 9
Lewis . 2
Sanders. 4
McKay .11
Oas . 2
Aiken . 2
DeCourcey 6
Hines. 2
Easter. 4
Boqua . 3
Tom . 1
Maine . 2
Moore . 1
Total .51
YG
0
3
72
32
25
114
1
22
22
5
67
14
0
24
0
401
YL NT AV
0 0 0
3 3.0
72 8.0
32 16.0
25 6.3
0
0 114 10.4
0
1 0.5
22 11.0
22 3.7
6 , 3.0
67 16.8
14 '4.7
0 0
24 12.0
1 —1 —1.0
12 389 7.63
Webfoots To Leave
For Game Thursday
Jim Aiken’s high-flying Duck
gridsters will entrain early Thurs
day morning for their clash with
the Stanford Indians, slated Satur
day afternoon at the Stanford sta
dium.
The Ducks will leave Eugene
shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday and
will arrive in Palo Alto late that
evening. The return trip will begin
soon after the game Saturday, with
the team expected to arrive back
in Eugene at 8:15 Sunday morning.
The Webfoots will be housed at
the Old Hearst ranch in Pleasanton,
Calif., during their stay in the Gold
en state. Coach Aiken will put the
boys through their practice paces
on the estate’s golf course.
Aiken Calls
(Continued from page jour)
but the receivers dropped four of
them.”
The battle for left half is still
wide open, as evidenced by the fine
showings of Johnny McKay and
Bob Easter. Easter, leading scorer
in the nation last year, averaged
over 16 yards per carry, while Mc
Kay picked up 114 yards in his
rushing attempts and scored three
touchdowns.
Lewis Ready
Woodley Lewis, who started at
left half for the Webfoots, only car
ried the ball twice before receiving
a slight elbow injury, but he ram
bled 14 and 18 yards on those two
attempts.
The quarterbacks looked well,
with Brocklin adding points after
touchdowns to his other abilities.
Van booted seven out of eight and
would have had a perfect day ex
cept for a holding penalty. Little
Joe Tom, the Hawaiian star,
showed he could come through,
handling the ball well and com
pleting three out of seven passes.
His average would have been high
er had his receivers, like Van’s been
able to hold onto the ball.
Oregon tf Emerald
SPORTS
Glenn,Gillespie, Bob Reed, Co-Sports Editors
Dick Cramer
Fred Taylor
SPORTS STAFF THIS ISSUE
Ron Brown
Tom King
Ducklings Continue Work
For Opening UW Pup Tiff
With the days of practice left
before their opener dwindling, Ore
gon’s Duckling football squad con
tinued their work yesterday under
Coach Bill Bowerman and assist
ants Steve Mezerra and Bill Abbey.
Mezerra is helping Bowerman with
Frosh linemen, while Abbey has
charge of the backfield men.
The Yearlings have been work
ing out daily with pads, and should
be in good shape for their first
game with the University of Wash
ington Pups, set for the night of
October 8 at Portland’s Multnomah
stadium.
Frosh Work on Plays
After a conditioning drill yester
day, the Frosh concentrated on
straight offensive fundamentals.
Linemen worked hard on blocking,
while the backs got to work learn
ing plays based on the Aiken T
formation. The whole squad was
given their plays after the workout.
Bowerman has not done any cut
ting as yet, and has not made any
set decisions as to his first two or
three teams. There are still more
than 80 candidates suiting up for
every practice. A scrimmage with
the varsity is scheduled in the near
future.
Ducklings Eager
Work so far has been limited to
plain and fancy conditioning, plus
a steady drilling in football funda
mentals. The boys seem eager to
learn, exhibiting plenty of spirit
and fire during their drills.
After the Washington game in
Portland, the Ducklings face an al
ways tough Oregon State Rook
game October 23 at Corvallis.
I-M Touch Ball
DeadlineToday
Men’s living organizations in
terested in entering a touch foot
ball team in this year’s intramural
program have been requested to
turn in entrance blanks to the in
tramural office or to the physioal
education office by 4 o’clock this
afternoon.
Intramural director Paul R.
Washke emphasized that this is
the absolute deadline to turn in
blanks, since the touch football
schedule has to be made out and
mailed to organization athletic
managers in a week’s time. Intra
mural football play begins Septem
ber 28.
Washke also announced that any
one interested in officiating in
touch ball play should contact Jim
Vitti, intramural manager, at the
I-M office.
1948-49 copies of the annual in
tramural handbook are also avail
able at the office.
J
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