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Page 2
THE BATTALION
Friday, September 12, 1952
Around The Conference
Aggies Not In Cellar;
Steers Ranked No. 1
By Ed Holder
Battalion Sports Editor
The Aggies won’t finish last.
Texas or TCU is favored to take the title.
Both teams should be • strong. The Long
horns boast three proven all-American can
didates and one good possibility. TCU fields
a team made up mostly of juniors, . . . the
men who last year as sophomores downed a
mighty A&M and went on to take the con
ference.
The Battalion picks it this way:
1. TEXAS
2. TCU
3. RICE
4. ARKANSAS
5. A&M
6. SMU
7. BAYLOR
Here’s why:
Texas will have three All-American can
didates back. Harley Sewell at guard, Gib
Dawson at halfback, and Tom Stolhandske at
TCU Has Leadership Trouble
Leadership is the problem of the Horned Frogs. Depth is one
of the stronger points. The center post is perhaps the weakest spot
on the squad. At this position only two men now are counted on.
The majority of the team is 29 juniors. Coach Dutch Meyer has 18
seniors. He has a strong backfield, although perhaps the strongest
man, Bobby Jack Floyd, will not play. He is ineligible for scholastic
reasons.
Malvin Fowler, 205-pounder who ran tailback most of last year,
looms as Floyd’s replacement. Bill Doty and Jim Amburg will back
him up. Mickey Teems, a letterman, and Malcolm Wallace, a trans
fer from Arlington State College also show plenty of promise.
The Frogs were hurt defensively. Keith Flowers, last year’s All-
America linebacker, will'be hard to replace. A good fill-in for him
appears to be Bobby McEachern, senior center from Austin. The
platoon system will be used again. In fact few, if any, of the de
fensive men will learn offensive signals. In the tailback spot will
be either Gilbert Bartosh or Ray McKown. Bartosh is a senior
with plenty of experience. He led the conference in 1950 in total
offense, and was fourth in the nation. A leg injury kept him largely
in the background last year. McKown showed promise last season,
and is now a junior.
All the top punters, runners, passers, and pass receivers will be
back, and with the ever-wise Coach Meyer at the helm, TCU rates
second.
Rice Strong and Solid
The Owls will be strong and The other problem is a lack of
solid. Looking back at what they defensive halfbacks. Both of last
did to the Aggies last year, and year’s graduated, and they put in
considering 21 of last year’s 29 90 per cent of the playing time-,
lettermen are returning, we rate for the entire season.
Rice high on the list. Coach Jess Drake will do the passing again,
Neely lost All-America end Bill and is considered one of,the,best in
Howton, and Sonnir. McCurry, who the cohfei'encc. But his* lights
played in the East-West hand thun, Howton, is gone. It
end will give the Longhorns all-around pow
er.
Richard Ochoa, who looked like a power
house against the Aggies last year, will re
turn. He stands as a possible candidate for
honors, and he also adds that needed punch
at the fullback slot for the Orange and White.
Coach Ed Price will use the split-T form
ation. This was the attack last year from
which he generated so much running power.
The ground game should be as strong if
not better. But the big trouble is the pass
ing. Texas needs a quarterback who can pass.
And it looks like Bunny Andrews will get
the job. Andrews logged only 12 minutes
of playing time in ’51,'but showed up well in
spring training. His passing is improving,
and if he can turn in a good tossing job, Tex
as should take top honors. However, a lot
depends on sophomores who have the tough
job of taking over places vacated by men like
Halfback Don Barton, Quarterback Dan
Page, and Fullback Byron Townsend.
4
Horned Frogs to Field
Team Of 24 Lettermen
TCU’s Horned Frogs are expect
ed to field one of the strongest
football teams in the conference.
Leo R. (Dutch) Meyer begins
his 19th year, as head coach of
the Frogs with 27 returning let
termen and another veteran who
lettered in 1950.
With the exception of the center
post, where only two men now
are “counted on,” the team is fair
ly deep at all positions. There
are 18 seniors, 29 juniors, and the
rest of the 70-man squad is soph
omores.
But from these 29 juniors came
the bulk of last year’s team which
handed the Aggies their first de
feat, and went on to take the con
ference.
Light Line
Once again the Frogs will not
depend on a heavy line. Both
the offensive and defensive for
ward walls average 200 pounds.
Back in the lineup are the top
passers, top punters, pass receiv
ers and all but one of the best
Rice Weak On Ends
But Still Has Drake
both played in
game. End positions are weak,
with only two returning lettermen.
R. J. Schroeder and Bill Fisk saw
enough action to earn their let
ters, but the wing slots , will be
lacking in the old “know-how.”
At the other positions, the re
turning men are well distributed,
with four tackles, four guards,
will' be interesting to see how
Drake manages without this spec
tacular All-America who rolled
up 747 yards and 7 touchdowns
the past year. Coach Neely needs
only to develop two prospective
ends, find two defensive halfbacks,
give his boys some experience in
non-conference frays, and you can
three centers, one quarterback, count on his fielding a squad that
four halfbacks, and one fullback, can, and might, beat everyone.
Another Heavy Arkansas Line
Arkansas lost their line. But believe it or not, they have another
to take its place. They might not have the experience, but with their
size, and two non-conference games for ^arjn ups, they easily could
prove more than a match for at least three of the conference teams.
With Larnar McHan doing their passing, running, punting, etc. . .
we rate the Porkers high. McHan is a 205 pounder who likes rough
stuff, can throw better this year than ever, punted a 37.3 yard aver
age last year.
The Razorbacks have a strong defensive backfield. All but one
are seasoned men. The newcomer is a least big enough. He is 215
pound sophomore George Moranz. The stout Arkansas defense will
be a decisive factor in their success this season. And it’s hard to see
how they can miss with the manpower and experience. We rate
them fourth, but if McHan is injured, you might place them on bot
tom
Rice Institute will be the Ag
gies’ last opponent before the Tur
key Day contest with Texas in
Austin.
The Owls lost some of their
power of 1951 when end big Bill
Howton, Sonny McCurry, Billy
Burkhalter, Glenn Walls and Ted
dy Riggs were graduated last
spring.
Even with the passing of such
a fine quarterback as Dan Drake,
the Owls are weak in the receiver
department as a result of How-
ton’s leaving. The big end had
an uncanny ability at catching
“impossible” passes.
Comparatively weak Owl con
tingents have, in the past two
years, defeated vastly superior
A&M tgums. Scores for the last
two seasons have been Rice 21 and
28 to A&M’s 13 and 13.
In the 37. years since the Cadets
first played Rice Institute in foot
ball,,,the Aggies have won 21, lost
13 and tied 3.
The last time A&M won a game
from the Owls was in 1944. During
the reign of Smith and Co., the
Aggies didn’t win a single match
from Rice.
•
Owl Schedule
Sept. 27—Texas Tech, "■‘Houston
Oct. 4—LSU, ’“Houston
Oct. 11—UCLA, Los Angeles
Oct. 18—SMU, *Houston
Oct. 25—Texas, Houston
Nov. 1—Wisconsin, Houston
Nov. 8—Arkansas, Fayetteville
Nov. 15—Texas A&M
College Station
Nov. 22—TCU, Houston
Nov. 29—Baylor, Waco
*night game
•
Rated a fairly strong contender
for SWC honors this season, Rice
won’t be an easy opponent for the
Farmers, but they have a good
chance to take revenge for the
last seven years on Nov. 15 in
Kyle Field.
Although possessing a strong
backfield crew, Rice is a little
short in the line department be
cause of the departure of McCur
ry, Howton, and Weills.
(See RICE, Page 3)
A Sincere Welcome . • .
TO ALL FRESHMEN AND
RETURNING STUDENTS
AGGIELAND STUDIO
NORTH GATE
OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER FOR
THE AGGIELAND ’53
Aggies Lose Backfield
Coach Ray George has lost his
dream backfield. In its place he.
must put inexperienced sopho
mores, juniors, and some seniors.
However, he has four non-confer
ence games to season them, he has
a top-notch coaching staff and his
Aggies will be rated the under
dog.
In the backfield it looks like
Ray Graves at quarterback. Graves
is a top passer and ball handler.
He gained good experience last
year and you can look for him to
show a sharper passing arm and
smoother ball handling. Doing the
carrying choi’es probably 'will be
Connie Magourik at fullback with
Raymond Haas and Don Ellis at
the halfback posts.
In the line will be Jack Little,
All-America tackle. The ends will
be the strongest spot on the team
and have the gfeatest depth. Eric
Miller and Darrow Hooper are
likely starters. Eight other ends
are ready to back them, while
Walter Hill,' benched last year
with an injury, will head the de
fensive end department.
Few of the position assignments
are final, but we see Coach George
coming up with something better
than a cellar team and bigger sur
prises.
SMU Weak—Inexperienced
The Mustangs are supposed to
produce their best team since the
championship squads of 1947 and
1948. We don’t see it that way.
SMU hai Jerry Norton in the
•(See SMU, Page 3)
Welcome . . .
RETURNING STUDENTS
and NEW STUDENTS
3 Convenient Locations . . .
• Main Plant behind Sbisa
• Above Exchange Store
• New Dorm Area
Campus Cleaners
Phone 4-5114
ball carriers. Bobby Jack Floyd
was the leading scorer but now
is ineligible due to scholastic diffi
culties.
The platoon system will be used
again. In fact, few of the defens
ive men will learn offensive sig
nals.
TCU will operate from the Mey
er Spread. This is the formation
which drew national attention last
year as the Frogs scored three or
more touchdowns in eight of their
11 games and two or more six-
pointers in 10 of the 11.
They averaged almost 14 first
downs per game and rang up the
remarkable totals of 1,672 yards
running and 1,542 passing.
Better Passing
The passing attack promises to
be better than last year’s with
Gilbert Bartosh, Ray McKown,
Malvin Fowler, and Danny Powell
having more experience.
TCU Schedule
Sept. 20—Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.
Sept. 27—UCLA
Los Angeles, Calif.
Oct. 4—Arkansas, Fort Worth
Oct. 11—Trinity, San Antonio
Oct. 18—A&M, College Station
Nov. 1—Baylor, Fort Worth
Nov. 8—Wake Forest
Fort Worth
Nov. 15—Texas, Fort Worth
Nov. 22—Rice, Houston
Nov. 29—SMU, Dallas,
•
All the top receivers will be
back in the lineup including Ends
Ted Vaught and Bobby Blair.
•
In the backfield all the strong
runners will return. The loss of
Floyd may weaken the fullback
slot, but the other spots hold fast
and experienced men.
Punting Same
McKown, who averaged 37.6
yards on 48 punts last year, will
give the Frogs about the same if
not a little better kicking power.
Defense seems to be the big
question mark with the 1952 ver
sion of the Frogs. The loss of
such men as Keith. Flowers, Doug
Conaway, and Hei'b Zimmex - man,
will definitely leave some blank
spots.
Pass defense should be better
with veteran defensive backs, and
the light hustling line should be
tough to crack on the gx’ound.
Bears Weak
(Continued fx-om Page 1)
The last time the Aggies played
Baylor in Waco, the Beai*s took a
27-20 triumph fx’om Smith, Lipp-
man, Tidwell and Co., in a hax’d-
fought game.
Since Grantland Rice, in
LOOK magazine, put the Aggies
in the cellar of the SWC with
Baylor running right ahead of the
Cadets in sixth place, the Cadet-
Bear tussle could px-oye to be as
exciting a game as the Aggies
play this season.
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