Big Eight ready for banner year as six teams battle for loop title
By JOE CHILDS Assistant Sports Editor
Big Eight football has lost its appeal.
No longer can a non-conference team schedule an opening game with a Big Eight club and expect to start the season on a winning note. No longer can sportwriters overlook the teams from the Bible belt when choosing the nation's top ten. And most important, no longer is the league dominated by a single power. Yes the old
Considered two of the Big Eight's premier signal callers, Colorado's Bob Anderson and Missouri's Terry McMillan will
be leading their teams into action this weekend as the conference kicks off one of its biggest years.
gray mare from the Midwest just ain't what she used to be.
In recent years the Big Eight has been thinking seriously about playing football. This season their train of thought has reached a zenith. Six teams are fighting for the conference title and receiving national recognition. Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas are consistently being listed in the country's twenty best, with Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas State listed as possible breakthroughs.
It's a whole new thing this year. Everybody wants to be a winner. Everybody is doing their thing.
According to most forecasters and sportwriters Oklahoma has been doing their thing best. Head Coach Chuck Fairbanks (who in his first two years at OU has run up 17 wins against only five losses, two first place conference finishes and two trips to post season bowl games) has a smooth quarterback, a strong defense, a potent offense and a winning tradition in his bag of tricks.
Last season OU lost more players to graduation than any school except Kansas. Included in the list of vacancies were two of their top offensive guns: quarterback Bob Warmack, and flanker Eddie Hinton. Jack Mildren, an Abilene, Texas, sophomore is slated as the number one signal caller and boasts the credentials to be a super star. He has Steve Zabel, one of the league's best receivers as a target, and Heisman trophy candidate Steve Owens at tailback.
The Sooner offense, strong as it is, gets second billing to the defense which is faster and more experienced.
The Missouri Tigers, everybody's second choice if not first, feature a turnabout from the perennial squad of defensive power which is characteristic of the teams of Dan Devine. Returning 28 lettered holdovers from his Gator Bowl squad, Devine's Tigers will be able to move the ball, get up and move the ball, get up and score and while you're getting up win the game.
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Through the spring and into the fall Gibson has been stressing his running game of which Russell Harrison is the foundation. A 218-pounder with 9.8 speed, Harrison has the talent to have a banner year. Wingback Mack Herron also has the speed and the moves to make him a constant scoring threat.
seasons, but the key to their success depends on their ability to make the short down situations.
Oklahoma State's head coach Floyd Gass in his first year as mentor at OSU said, "I don't feel one team will dominate it. I'd have to put Missouri. Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado in the top four." But Gass has changed the attitude of Cowboy football and could, along with greatly improved Iowa State, be the giant killers of the era.
Quarterbacked by Gator Bowl hero, Terry McMillan, who is more poised and a year smarter, the MU offense keys around a strong running game that features James Harrison and Joe Moore at tailback. Ron McBride at halfback, Jon Staggers and Tyrone Walls at the slot back and sprint champion Mel Gray at split end. Harrison, McBrade and Staggers
The Wildeats are an explosive team for the first time in many (MARK, 5)
have proven themselves as crunching runners, Gray is a threat to score at any time and McMillan runs the option as well as anybody around.
Anchoring a defense which can promise to be stingy as long as Devine stays at the helm are two standout tackles, Rocky Wallace and Mark Kuhlman. Sports Illustrated gives the Tigers the edge over OU and also over several other teams, rating them seventh nationally.
Last year the Jayhawks were ranked 20th in the country by the same magazine. This year SI has
again slotted KU in the 20th position, but respects their power and the savvy of their coach. Pepper Rodgers. In the Big Eight the 'Hawks are tabbed as challengers to Oklahoma and MU.
Nebraska, a favorite by many to jump back into the ranks of the contenders, suffered a critical injury when all-American candidate Joe Orduna pulled his left knee putting him out indefinitely. Before the injury to his star running back coach Bob Devaney knew the offense was a question mark. Now the Cornhusker boss will have to come up with a really big answer.
Roundting out the other contenders are ever-dangerous Colorado and guess who? K-State. How about that! Vince Gibson has brought his Wildcats out of the shadows and into the daylight, and believe it or not is stirring up quite a commotion.
Lynn Dickey, upon whose shoulders rest the hopes of K-State fans, is one of the nation's best passers at quarterback. Last season Dickey drew the football 314 times and led the Big Eight in passing as a sophomore.
Win, lose or fade away into oblivion the Big Eight has a race battling for the title anything from injury to bad breath to true grit may be the deciding factor.
(Tomorrow: Kansas)
7:30 & 9:30 Adults $1.50
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