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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, September 19,1968
Illinois attack similar to 'hawks
Illinois University and the University of Kansas have not met on the football field since 1929 ... and KU got the worst of that meeting, losing 25-0.
This Saturday at Champaign, Ill., many consider KU the favorite, but the Jayhawks might be in trouble if they take the "Fighting Illini" lightly.
Leading the Illinois attack, which is remarkably similar to KU's quarterback oriented offense, will be senior quarterback Bob Naponic. Naponic was out his junior year with a knee injury after a successful sophomore year when he completed 70 of 162 passes for 998 yards and rushed an average of 1.7 yards a carry.
"Naponic is a tremendous leader for our offense," Illinois coach Jim Valek said early this week. "He has great poise, and outstanding abilities. His attitude is outstanding. He leads the sprints at the end of every practice, and is superbly conditioned."
Illinois, say the pre-season guessers, should not finish higher than 7th in the Big Ten.
But with personnel like the 6-0,186-pound Naponic, senior
Illini Quarterback Bob Naponic
runback Rich Johnson, who was second in Big Ten rushing statistics with 604 yards on 153 carries, and sophomore split end Doug Dieken, a 6-5, 220-
Illini Tackle Tony Pleviak
pounder who caught four passes for 91 yards in the final intrasquad game of off-season practice, Illinois could surprise a few people.
Saturday, KU will have its hands full in containing two highly rated defensive tackles. Senior co-captain Tony Pleviak, 6-3 and 226 pounds led the conference in tackles for losses with 14 stops. He was in on 83 tackles and broke up six pass attempts.
mickey Hogan, a 6-5, 204-pound junior who plays next to Pleviak at tackle, last year recovered three fumbles, broke up two passes and had nine tackles for 48 yards in losses. In all, he was involved in 53 tackles.
Much of coach Valek's worry comes because of a lack of depth on the offensive line.
"We're really 'thin' in the off- offensive line," Valek said, "and we feel that at best we can come up with only one extra man at center, guard and tackle."
KU is behind in the series with Illinois three games to one.
College football: 1869-1968
By STEVE SNIDER UPI Sports Writer
New York (UPI)—College football officially is entering its 100th season and the school that won the first game way back there in 1869 still takes a serious view of the sport.
Rutgers University of New Brunswick, N.J., a 6 to 4 winner over Princeton in that very first game played at Rutgers near the site where College Football's Hall of Fame now stands, long ago went off the big time but football fever runs high on its modest level.
A year ago, Rutgers had a sophomore quarterback who managed to operate fairly well despite a bad shoulder. Bruce Van Ness, everyone said, would be a whiz-bang if it weren't for that injury.
Recognizing he had a highly valuable property who could be a meal-ticket for two more years, Coach John Bateman saw to it that Van Ness went into off-season surgery.
Van Ness now is better than ever, with everything pinned back in place.
"And I went along to watch," says Bateman. "I sat in one of those glass observation booths, looking straight down on him. Believe me, I counted all the sponges and instruments to make sure the surgical team didn't leave any inside him."
"His right shoulder is stronger than the other one now," says John with a sigh of relief.
Not that Ness will put Rutgers in the top 10 or 20 or even 30, but Rutgers, which hopes to keep near the Ivy League level, at least figures to have a little serious fun with its passer in the pink.
Rutgers, as well as Princeton, almost took the game too seriously in the beginning.
Rutgers won the first game on Nov. 6, 1869 but Princeton won the return match a short time later. They wanted to play a third and were denied permission.
Word of the Princeton-Rutgers games, which were played under rules borrowed mostly from soccer, spread throughout the east and there was no stopping the development of a sport that gradually took shape as American football.
Over-emphasis has set in, the professors ruled, and nothing good will ever come of this madness.
"We have no record of playing any games in 1870," says a Rutgers spokesman "but that was the only season we missed."
Other teams played in '70, though, and rules changes came so quickly that the colleges pinpoint the start of our present sport as the 1869 date.
It's possible if the early professors had their way completely, outlawing this type of game.
Notre Dame might still be a little college in the midwest hardly known outside the state of Indiana.
Soccer, however, was permissible. So maybe Notre Dame and Southern California would be battling this year for the soccer championship of the nation instead of the right to be No. 1 in a game we call All-American.
Pepper confident for Illinois opener
Head football coach Pepper Rodgers said after Wednesday night's practice that he feels more confident of the football team before the Illinois game this season than he felt before the 1967 season opener against Stanford.
The varsity players have been practicing so long for Saturday's game, Rodgers said, that the concentration of the players has leveled off. He added, however, that the Illini are probably encountering the same problem.
Rodgers said that kicker Bill Bell will play against Illinois even though he has not worked out in a week because of toe injury. Bell practiced today but Rodgers said he was not kicking as well as usual.
Two no-hitters in just 48 hours
San Francisco (UPI)—"This is the year of the pitcher," Willie McCovey recently observed and the 48 hours just passed have been the clincher.
Ray Washburn of the St. Louis Cardinals achieved a 2-0 no-hitter Wednesday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants less than 24 hours after the Giants' Gaylord Perry had no-hitted the Redbirds.
Lucius Allen faces narcotics sentence
Buffalo, N.Y. (UPI)—Marvin Bass, former head coach at South Carolina, and Bob Celeri, ex-California quarterback, Tuesday were named by new coach Harvey Johnson to complete the Buffalo Bills' coaching staff.
Both masterpieces were recorded at Candlestick Park and marked the first time since 1917 that such gems had been accomplished back to back.
Los Angeles (UPI)—Sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 17 for Lucius Allen, 20, star guard of the 1967-68 UCLA Bruin NCAA basketball championship team, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of maintaining a place where narcotics are used.
Buffalo staff set
Bass, who will be offensive line coach, and Celeri, who will handle the Bills' receivers, join holdovers Tony Sardisco, Richie McCabe and John Mazur. Jerry Smith retired when head coach Joe Collier was fired Sunday.
Allen, former all-Kansas star at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kan., appeared before Superior Judge William A. Munnell.
At the time of sentencing, Munnell will decide whether the charge will be a felony or misdemeanor. He also will rule on a companion charge of possession of marijuana.
Allen was arrested May 23 with four other persons, two of whom pleaded guilty Tuesday to
knowingly being in a place where narcotics are used. They were given 30-day suspended jail sentences, fined $200 each and placed on probation for one year.
Another defendant was placed on probation for two years when he appeared two weeks ago. Charges against the fifth defendant were dismissed.
The five were stopped by traffic policemen for allegedly speeding. Police said they subsequently found a packet of marijuana in the car.
Allen, who had one more year of eligibility at UCLA, dropped out of school shortly before his arrest and joined the National Guard.
Jayhawk speed awes Illini scout
University of Illinois scout Jim Brown had high praise for KU's tremendous speed after observing a Jayhawk practice session last week.
Brown singled out quarterback Bob Douglas and backfield speedsters Don Shanklin, John Jackson and John Riggins as threats in Saturday's game. In his scouting report Brown said, "Douglas runs and throws equally well, and has top-notch receivers in Jackson, John Mosier and George McGowan."
"They certainly aren't a grind-it-out' club," Brown summarized.
Brown was impressed with the kicking of Bill Bell, and with both offensive and defensive lines, stressing the huge defensive ends Vernon Vanoy (6-8, 250) and John Zook (6-4, 230).
Brown described KU's offense as "interesting," and predicted the game to be a battle between high-powered offenses.
"Kansas came on strong late last season," Brown reported. "In my opinion they are a real 'sleeper,' not only in the Big Eight, but also nationally."
Uniforms picked for KU's opener
Here's the way the Jayhawks will be decked out for the season opener at Illinois: Short-sleeved white jerseys with blue numbers and two red stripes on the sleeves; silver gray pants; royal blue helmets; short white sox. For home games the jerseys will be royal blue with white numbers and white-red-white stripes on the sleeves.
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