Tuesday, November 28, 1967
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
9
Pepper spices KU football squad
By Chip Rouse Kansan Sports Editor
Kansas, a team which many football experts picked to finish no higher than sixth in the conference race, closed out its gridiron season Saturday with a 17-6 triumph over Missouri and a share of second place in the Big Eight.
The victory, the Jayhawks' first over Missouri since 1957, enabled coach Pepper Rodgers to lead KU to a second place tie with Colorado in his first year as head coach. Both teams finished with 5-2 league records.
In addition, the loss was MU coach Dan Devine's first to Kansas in ten seasons (including a KU forfeit in 1960 when halfblack Bert Coan was ruled ineligible). There have been two ties in the ten-year span.
The game marked the end of a collegiate football career for 12 KU seniors. Graduating Jayhawk gridders are Ward Coleman, Larry Dercher, Mike Sweatman, J. C. Hixon, Jack Perkins, Drue Jennings, Harold Montgomery, John
Greene, Jack Medford, Bill Lynch Ben Olison and Gary Ard.
A record crowd of 46,000 viewed the contest under a cloudless sky. The temperature hovered near the 50-degree mark for most of the game.
The trend of the game was apparent from the beginning as Rodgers led his grid forces out of the dressing room in a spirited sprint and then climaxed his exhibition by doing a somersault with the team during a limbing-up drill before the opening kickoff. The game pitted a proud and spirited Kansas football team against an equally proud and defensive-minded Missouri team.
KU quarterback Bob Douglass accounted for 152 yards of total offense on 117 passing yards and 35 yards rushing. His total, however, was eight yards shy of establishing a new conference mark for total offense in a single season.
Douglass finished the season with 1,741 yards of total offense. Tim Van Galder, a former Iowa State star, set the Big Eight total offense record last fall.
"I didn't know I was that close to the record until someone told me after the game," Douglass said. "I'm not worried about it though. It sure doesn't beat winning."
After the game, Rodgers yelled to a highly partisan KU student body, "Football is over. We've had a great climax. Now let's get behind our Big Eight champion basketball team."
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe proudly eluted on to the gamewinning football which was presented to him by the KU players after the game.
"They tossed it to me, and I didn't even fumble it," he said. "This is only the second time I've ever had a game ball. I'm going to keep this one. I had to give the other one back."
The ball Chancellor Wescoe had to give back was presented to him after the 1960 KU-MU game that was won by Kansas 23-7, but later forfeited to the Tigers because of an ineligible KU player.
As to the controversial situation which developed when Devine announced he would not release the films of the Missouri-Nebraska game, Rodgers commented, "We had no agreement with Devine to receive the films of that particular game. There is a Big Eight ruling which says any film exchange may be made. It is left up to the discretion of the opposing team."
Rodgers reported Devine made an agreement with Oklahoma to receive the films of the Oklahoma-KU game; however, Nebraska coach Bob Devaney has a policy of never releasing a film from the game before, which in KU's case would be the one from the MU-NU contest.
"We were not hurt by this development," Rodgers said. "In assistant coach Doug Weaver we have one of the best scouts in the business. He knows Missouri inside and out. Besides, the Tigers have not changed much from past seasons." Rodgers added.
Rushing is what Missouri does best, and the Jayhawk defense stood up to the challenge limiting the rugged Tiger ground game to 142 yards, 104 of which came in the first half.
Asked why he was eating an apple instead of an orange after the game, Rodgers replied, "I've forgotten about the Oklahoma loss and so has everyone else.
Missouri is well coached and they do everything well." Rodgers said. "To stop them you have to play with a great deal of intensity and you have to stop them at what they do best."
Final KU Football Statistics
| | KU | Opp. |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| First downs | 153 | 164 |
| Pushing yd. | 1503 | 1454 |
| Rushing yd. | 1374 | 1794 |
| Passing | 85-184-12 | 113-129-10 |
| Punting | 72-37-6 | 72-36-9 |
| Return yd. | 936 | 89 |
| Fumbles lost | 8 | 8 |
| Yds. penalized | 562 | 192 |
Composite Score by Quarters
40 40 - 69 46 - 20 -- 166
KU 40 - 69 46 - 20 -- 146
Opp. 40 - 69 46 - 20 -- 146
Rushing Leaders
Douglass, 75-62 yards; Riggs, 99-8
322 yards; Reeves, 46-243 yards; Hixon,
50-175 yards; Shanklin, 20-127
yards; Butler, 29-107 yards.
Fassing Leaders Douglass, 87-173-1,326 sheets—11 intercepted.
Receiving Leaders
Mosler, 37-495 yards; Olison, 7-196
yards; Anderson, 14-171 yards; Shank-
lin, 10-163 yards; Riggins, 8-161 yards.
Scoring Leaders
Douglas, Earl 24 points; 34 points;
Riggins, 24 points; Moster, 24 points.
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