University Daily Kansan Monday, Nov. 20, 1961
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Bowl Hopes Lifted; Missouri in Finale
Missouri, Beware!
KU's 53-7 Win Better Orange Bowl Chances
By Bill Sheldon
A Kansas football team played its first game in the San Francisco Bay area Saturday and came home with a win which left fans from along the entire West Coast dumbfounded and impressed. Only 30,000 spectators turned out for the non-league intersectional initial meeting between the Jayhawkers and the Golden Bears, but from the first play, there was little doubt of the superiority of the visitors.
Kansas kept alive its Orange Bowl hopes and kindled a spark of excitement among the Rose Bowl selection committee as it unmercifully handed California its worst beating in 31 years, scoring freely for a 53-7 win.
Only in 1930 had the Bears suffered a more devastating loss when Southern California beat them, 74-0.
WITH COLORADO downing Nebraska, 7-0, and maintaining a seemingly unmatchable 5-0 Big Eight record, Kansas knew it had to leave the tight bowl formed by Cal's Memorial Stadium at the base of the beautiful Berkeley Hills with an impressive win over the floundering Bears to stay in the picture as a possible choice for the Orange Bowl.
With conference tilts against Missouri, for KU, and Iowa State, for Colorado, remaining (Colorado must also face Air Force), Kansas has only a slim chance of attaining a tie for the title and an almost guaranteed bowl bid.
Almost all of the fans stayed seated throughout the entire game despite suffering as their local heroes absorbed a beating such as has never before been administered by a Jack Mitchell coached squad. This interest in the awesome Kansas play was reflected yesterday with the announcement that members of the Rose Bowl committee now hold considerable interest in Kansas as a host team in the oldest of all the post-season extravaganzas.
How did Kansas, a 14-point favorite, win so easily?
The answer was basic football.
THE BIG FACTOR in the Jayhawker's win was the never ending ability of the Crimson and Blue line to stretch out gaps in the slower, less experienced Cal line through which their backs galloped for 408 vards, another high under Mitchell.
COACH MITCHELL, usually one to come up with some new little twist every game, showed the fans, and rival Missouri's scout, little which had not previously been displayed.
The defense, a 4-3-4, was to bunched to stop a well executed draw with Bear Rudy Carvajal scooting 77 yards down the west side of the KU three before reserve Armand Baughman made an excellent play for the tackle. Two plays later the losers connected on a six-yard pass from Randy Gold to Bob Wills for a score.
The California score came late in the fourth quarter with Kansas leading. 47-0.
Curtis McClinton churned for 99 yards and crossed the single yellow chalk mark four times to total 24 points to lead the KU assault.
Two noticeable exceptions were the farcical successful playing of guard Elvin Basham and center Kent Staab in the backfield late in the game, and a defense not common to the Jayhawkers which allowed the Bear rooters their only chance to cheer.
This point total came five shy of the school mark established by Charles Black in 1923 with 29 points against Washington of St. Louis. But, unfortunately for McClinton, he had another score nullified by a penalty when he snared a perfect John Hadl pass deep in the end zone.
Jim Mills, the other guard, also had a ball-toting opportunity. He surcried eight yards with the oval on the kick-off return to start the second half.
(Continued on page 7)
NEW-FOUND TALENT AS BALL CARRIERS — These two outstanding Kansas linemen were shuffled into the Jayhawker backfield in the final minutes of the win over California and both performed surprisingly well.
"It's a lot of fun," said the senior center in describing his run after the game.
Elvin Basham, at the left, carried twice for four yards.
"Carrying the ball is a pud," said Basham. "They had me defensed and the line wasn't blocking," quipped the 195-pound senior guard explaining why he didn't gain more yards.
The explanation of the shift of the linemen after the game by Coach Jack Mitchell was:
"I didn't hear any backs volunteering to play in the line," the soft-spoken Basham concluded.
Kent Staab, at the right, burrowed through the center of the Cal defense for seven yards on his lone try with the ball.
"Some of our seniors were about to die, they wanted to play so badly so we sent them in."
BIG EIGHT STANDINGS
Season Standings
Team W L T PTS. OP.
Colorado 7 1 0 114 67
Kansas 6 2 1 229 71
Missouri 6 2 1 114 50
Iowa State 5 4 0 151 99
Oklahoma State 3 5 0 96 145
Oklahoma 3 5 0 80 114
Nebraska 3 5 1 105 114
Kansas State 2 7 0 58 187
Conference Standings
This Week's Games
| Team | W | L | T | PTS. | OP. |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Colorado | 6 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 39 |
| Kansas | 5 | 1 | 0 | 154 | 41 |
| Missouri | 4 | 2 | 0 | 66 | 20 |
| Iowa State | 3 | 3 | 0 | 93 | 79 |
| Oklahoma | 2 | 3 | 0 | 53 | 59 |
| Nebraska | 2 | 4 | 0 | 52 | 72 |
| Oklahoma State | 1 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 96 |
| Kansas State | 0 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 146 |
Saturday: Missouri at Kansas; Oklahoma at Nebraska; Kansas State at Oklahoma State; Iowa State at Colorado.
Wichita Loses; Accepts Bowl Bid
By United Press International
Coach Hank Foldberg's Missouri Valley Conference champions were upset by Dayton 23-12 in last week's season finale, but accepted a berth in the Sun Bowl immediately after the game.
The Sun Bowl will be played in El Paso, Dec. 30.
Wichita's Wheatshockers blew their final game, but got a bowl bid anyway.
Wichita's opponent will be Villanova, which compiled a 7-2 record during the regular season.
Villanova, coached by Alex Bell,
defeated Miami (O.) 33-0, Virginia
Military Institute 22-0, Holy Cross
20-6, Massachusetts 33-13, Buffalo
28-6, Quantico Marines 34-13, and
West Chester (Pa.) 40-13. Its losses
were to Boston College 22-6 and
Detroit 20-6.
Wichita disposed of Toledo 12-7 Cincinnati 21-13, West Texas State 41-34, North Texas State 26-14 New Mexico State 42-27, Tulsa 9-7 Oklahoma State 25-13, and Drake 26-13. Its losses were to Daytor and Arizona State, the latter being a 21-7 defeat in the second game of the season.
Fans, Not Players Jubilant After One-Sided KU Victory
The Kansas locker room following the Jayhawk demolition of California was a place of jubilation-for friends and alumni, not the players.
Coach Jack Mitchell spoke to his team immediately after the win and told them of the importance of the Missouri tussle. The expressions and feelings of the players showed they were obviously happy over posting such an impressive win, but their thoughts had quickly become centered upon the coming battle, almost completely forgetting the triumph over the Bears.
IN ADDITION TO THE DOZENS OF JAWHAWKER ROOTERS who stopped by to congratulate the team and players, were numerous professional scouts who talked to the players on the Kansas team in whom they have an interest.
Off in a corner, Coach Mitchell kept the pencils of Bay area scribes hurrying across note pads as he commented on the game, the Orange Bowl, the players, the season, and almost anything asked.
"We were ready to play because we came out here scared to death. We were lucky to catch them the week before their big game (Stanford) and at a time when they had a lot of injuries," said Mitchell in explaining some of the reasons for the tremendous margin of the KU win.
ASKED IF HE WAS TRYING TO BUILD UP THE score (Kansas tallied 19 points in the final period) to make an impressive showing in an effort to stay in contention for an Orange Bowl bid. Mitchell said:
"We would have been satisfied with a 21-0 win—that would have been impressive enough. I don't think we were trying to either build up or hold down the score. Since we could only bring 35 players along, we had to go with the players we had (everyone but Willis Brooks, who has an injured foot, played). I think the third team played as much or more than anybody else."
Several times during the game players from both teams had trouble keeping their feet. During the game Jim Marshall, KU defensive back, said the field was "hard, slippery and difficult to cut on."
"THAT WAS THE HARDEST FIELD WE HAVE ever played on," said a perturbed Mitchell in the locker room. "If we had to play on a field like that as often as California has, we'd have half our team out with injuries. No wonder they have a lot of boys who are hurt. As it is, many of our players are bruised from the hard turf.
The luxurious green grass of Cal's Memorial Stadium was clipped to about one-half inch in length, providing little cushion and had been watered.
As the people milled around the room, there were comments such as "the greatest team I've seen in a long time," "They (KU) remind me a lot of the great Oklahoma teams, fast, small lines and strong backs."
Tension Mounts As Tigers-Jays To Meet Here
KU vs. MU
KU vs. MU
Every fall gridiron enthusiasts throughout the plains area await the meeting of Kansas and Missouri, traditionally the finale for both schools. But, this fall the interest is at an exceptionally high level.
The game has great bearing upon the outcome of the seasons of the respective teams, but this is not the main reason for the added incentive, on the field and in what should be overflowing seats, for a victory by both sides.
THE TENSION which arose last October with the NCAA probationary action against Kansas and was revived in Columbia for the football game (won by the Jayhawkers, 23-7) and the basketball game (at which there was an almost uncontrollable fight) and, according to some, here at Allen Field House for the hoop contest (there was some uncalled for booing of the Tiger players).
Now, with Kansas bidding for a tie with Colorado for the official Big Eight title and an opportunity to play in the Orange Bowl, while Missouri attempts to gain a second place deadlock with KU, the game becomes one of the greatest attractions in recent conference history.
MISSOURI BRINGS the toughest defense in the league and one of the sternest in the entire land to Memorial Stadium to try and stop a Kansas offense which has become virtually uncontainable in the past six games.
Every coach frequently tells his players "this is the game you've been waiting for ever since you first started playing football. This is the biggest game of your career. Everything you have done since you have come to college has been in preparation for this game," or similar statements. Probably both KU mentor Jack Mitchell and MU's Dan Devine will employ such oratory before their players take the field.
MU, although losers in two of its last three games — to Colorado and Oklahoma while beating Kansas State — has still proven to be almost impossible to beat on the ground.
"Missouri has the toughest line we have faced all season and what we think is one of the best in the nation," said Coach Mitchell speaking about the coming game.
"Man for man they have more strength and power than we do," continued Mitchell.
ALTHOUGH THE Missouri defense has allowed only slightly better than five points per game, the Tiger offense can be counted upon for only somewhat more than 11 points per contest.
Missouri lost considerable backfield strength from last season and is being held together, offensively, by the bulls of fullback Fred Russell, the sweeps of Norm Beal and the running passes of diminutive quarterback Ron Taylor.
COACH MITCHELL stated his staff considers Beal to be a "treemendous" ball player and added that the Tigers have varied their offense somewhat this fall.
No longer do the Tigers depend upon the wide power sweep as their basic ground gainer. The play of Russell and Taylor has allowed Devine to keep the opposing defense more on the alert.
Mitchell said this may be a factor since the KU defense in last year's win was set to force the wide play to the sideline—which it did very successfully.
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