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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1948)
|duck tracks By BOB REED Co-Sports Editor Numerous new sideline thoughts are likely to be impressed , |pon sports scribes after Oregon's tough battle with Stanford this afternoon. Quite different from the ✓after-thuoghts of the Santa Barbara—Oregon tilt one week ago. we feel that perma nent ideas on just what type of ball club Oregon does have will result. Remembering the comments after last week’s game, one ' tnust notice the somewhat uncertain style with which fans and writers reierrea to me Oregon football machine. Breaking clown the impres sions we think will result from today’s battle, we come up with something on this order. Firstly, the Oregon line will take plenty good care of itself. They have the know-how and determination to help build up the confidence of the Duck ball carriers, and also be able to stop the enemy attack. The reserves will be better, in all around de fensive and offensive play. ! Van Brocklin will prove con clusively that he is a pretty nifty manipulator of the Aiken T formation. His experience in signal calling will Oregon us ing plays at the right spot and time. Joe Tom will be able to LYNN WALDORF snow ms somewnat inexperienced quarterDacKing laients to a , better advantage. By the time Oregon makes the Oregon State trek Tom is likely to be quite a boy in the T spot. Kicker Gets Added Distance Oregon punting will be better than fair. Van Brocklin seems to have added distance to his boots and gives early season prom ise of being able to boom away long punts calculated to get his team out of trouble in perilous moments. The Oregon encls, defensively, are likely to give opposing punters considerable trouble if the .defensive backs have mo ments of carlessness. They have the punt blocking idea. Of fensively'they have power tp lend heavy aid. The Oregon pass defense will be better than fair. With Lewis, Bell, Holcomb, and DeWayne Johnson in the backfield alert for a bat-down or an interception, the Duck secondary has potential runback threats. All four should show an alert ness and intuitive sense of where the ball runner is going that - 1 will please Jim Aiken. With Van Brocklin throwing, the Oregon passing attack should prove to be a key factor in the Duck offense. Norm has an uncanny eye forkeing able to spot receivers and hit them with the pigskin. We could probably list more, but there are some of the important aspects that should be watched for in the play of the * Oregon eleven. villanova s Upset a bur prise The unexpected display of football might by Villanova last week doesn’t mean that the teams of the week should be picked, because it is too early in the season. However, it would seem to warrant the running of Villanova colors to the grid mast head for a flutter in the hot winds. The Pennsylvania Wildcats made the visit of the Texas Aggies their home-coming date and the carried on the cele -bration on the playing field to the tune of a 34 to 14 victory over the Texans, who had been 7-point favorites. Allowing for the spiritual uplift that must have inspired the Villanova Wild cats you still reckon that the team has something extra special in order to run up a score like that against a strong team from Texas. Villanova will be playing Army and Boston College and Detroit, Kentucky, San Francisco, and North Carolina State, so the way is beset with thorny bushes. An Easterner picks California to fall before Navy today. Big Jim Tatum of Maryland is one of the few who thinks this way. “In the first place,’’ the ex-Tar Heel says, “Sauer is one of the star coaches of the country. I couldn't name a better one. “In the second place, Navy’s material is better than many seem to think. Navy has two backfield stars in Pete Williams and Hawkins. Navy has a pretty good line. California will have to be much better than last year to win this game. I still say Navy will win either four out of nine or five out of nine.” Grantland Rice in a recent column points out the the class of Eastern football will improve this year, but hardly match the play of teams in the mid-west, the Southwest and the South. He ' claims that Penn State. Pennsylvania, Army, Princeton, Colum bia, Rutgers, Boston College, and Villanova will be the teams that should be good. Veteran Backs Spark Indians Against Ducks Oregon’s grid team tangles with a Stanford squad today that some observers rate as capable of knock ing over any and all elevens on the coast. Both teams are loaded with vet erans from last season's rugged campaign, which saw the Ducks tie for second place in the final con ference standings. Stanford wal lowed in the depths of the cellar, failing to win a game in nine starts. Aikenmen Favored Because of Oregon’s superior showing last fall and because both teams suffered about the same through graduation, the Ducks have been given the favorite’s role today. It will be a key game for both teams. Oregon will be shoot ing for a good start in the confer ence race, while the Indians will be trying to win their first conference game in two years. Two fine tackles, Atherton Phle ger, all-coast a year back, and Ham Budge, will lead the Indian line. Backfield sparks will be Paul Campbell, a nifty passer and fine all-around star at quarterback, and speed-boy Marty Anderson at the fullback spot. Game Captains Steve Dotur, George Bell, and Norm Van Brocklin were named as honorary captains for the game. Oregon will go into the game with a slight edge in both the line and backfield. The overall heft av erage will be about 199 for the Ducks and 193 for the Indians. The backs will favor the Webfoots, 186 to 177, while in the line their ad vantage is 207 to 202. Freshmen Drill For Opening Tilt Freshman football coach Bill Bowerman yesterday stuck to his talent developing routine of calis thenics, blocking and tackling, and passing, climaxing the practice with a scrimmage. The ex-Medford high mentor ap parently is a firm believer in the necessity of conditioning exercises, and should have the Ducklings in first class shape for their opening game Oetober 8 with the Washing ton Pups. The scrimmage consisted of an offensive eleven running plays against a defensive combination. Once again, midgets Tommy Ed wards and Emile Holeman showed their heels to the defense in con sistent fashion. Both are proficient either rambling through or around opposing lines. Ken Kirkpatrick and Jerry Leslie both stood out as blockers in the offensive line, while Langer joined Edwards and Holeman in gaining huge chunks of yardage through the defense. The passing of Longview’s Leo Gilnett and the ball-handling of Calderwood also brightened up the muddy workout. Harlan P. Stone was appointed chief justice of the United States supreme court by Calvn Coolidge, who was once Stone’s football coach at Amherst college. We invite and will appreciate your banking business. EUGENE BRANCH U.S. National Bank of Portland, Ore. -" -Sports Side Grid Guesses i By LARRY LAU ATTENTION! Register-Guard Sports Staff! . . . We figure foot ball prognosticating ought to be something more than just a head ache. Call this a cnallenge if you will, but how about a small wager (say a bottle of your favorite tea) on pigskin predictions? Party with the highest accuracy rating at the season’s end takes the jug. C'mon! What can you lose except the faith of your readers ? Starting in our own backyard with the Oregon-Stanford game. The Indians are laying for the Web foots, and the Aikenmen are plenty burned about the "PE 190” story. In this kind of a scrap, we’ll tab the Ducks for a 35-point victory. . . . In Los Angeles the Bruins of UCLA tangle with the .Wildcats from Northwestern. This is the first game for the Wildcats, and they’re far from home. The Bruins are fresh from a convincing win over the WSC Cougars. It should be close, but we’ll take Northwest ern, by 7 points . . . Idaho plays Utah Saturday at Salt Lake City. On comparative performance, and OSC injuries to the Vandal eleven, we’ll pick Utah to win by 7 points. Washington and Minnesota tan gle at Seattle in what looks like a “no-contest” ball game from here. The Huskies may be a darkhorse but we doubt if they’ll dent the Go pher line too frequently. Minnesota by 28 points . . . Navy and Califor nia clash at Baltimore in the first stiff test for Waldorff’s highly re garded Bears. Eastern scribes are picking the Middies, but if you can believe the rosters, the Bears are quite a bit deeper in reserves. A close one but we’ll tab California to sink the Navy, by 7 points . . . Ter rific Texas bumps up against a rough, tough Tarheel squad from North Carolina in an opener that should press the Longhorns for the full 60 minutes. The Tarheel line is thin and Cho-Choo Charlie Jus tice can’t play alone. Texas by 14 points. Notre Dame and Purdue open their ’48 season in a Saturday tilt that will have the eyes and ears of most of the Midwest. The Boiler makers finished fast last year and weren’t hurt too much by gradua tion as were the Irish. Purdue’s line, made up of sophomores and juniors provides the key. Maybe it’s a habit, but we’ll pick Notre Dame, by 14 points . . . Alabama and Xulane open their season Sat urday at Tulane. Alabama is far the best on paper, but the Green Wave is enthusiastic and should be harder to handle on their own field. For an upset then, and strictly on a hunch, Tulane by 1 point. Army inaugurates its 1948 sea son by bumping headlong into Vil lanova, currently rated No. 3 in the nation. Bigtown scribes say Vil lanova will make it two straight, but Army still has Vieir iron line, and the Texas A & M team that Villanova beat last Saturday was none too impressive. Army by 7 points . . . North Carolina State and Duke tangle Saturday in what should be a thriller ball game. N. C. State has a bang-up nine, but is two short in anything that even faintly resembles a tac kle, Wallace Wade's Blue Devils aren’t good bowl contenders, but we think they’re good ehough t® grind out a 14-point victory. .. .Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt will provide another spectators’ dream. Look for the Commodores to finish, strong, but at this stage of the game, Bobby Dowd’s Engineers should win handily. Georgia Tech by 20 points ... In the Big Nine, Wisconsin and Indiana open their season Saturday. Indiana has a new coach, Clyde Smith, whose prede cessor, Bob McMillan, left him. nothing but a tough schedule. Har ry Stuhldreher’s improved Badgers shouldn’t have any trouble. Wis consin by 20 points . . , Michigan and Michigan State tangle in an intrastate fray that the experts say could go to Michigan State. The little fellers are good, but not that good. Michigan by 20 points. Ohio State and Missouri meet in a game some pre-season dopesters have already given to the Buck eyes. Ohio State lost what few standouts they had. Missouri’s Don Fourot is fielding an eleven that’s a co-favorite to win the Big Seven. Remember last year when the Ti gers were barely nipped by a great Kansas eleven, 20-14 ? Anyhow, we _(Please turn to page six) ihe GEORGE KEMP SEXTET “Music that’s Different” Featured musicians— phone 1056-J ‘ -WHEN YOU SEND IT HOME BY RAILWAY EXPRESS * Laundry worries got you? Then start using the direct conven ient, personalized laundry service offered by RAILWAY EXPRESS. 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