Rose Bowl Opponents Meet In Disneyland

ROSE BOWL OPPONENTS MEET IN DISNEYLAND

By Wayne DeNeff

PASADENA, Calif.—Michigan and Southern California football players, Rose Bowl foes, came face to face for the first time Monday at Disneyland.

Mostly they just eyed each other cooly.

Disneyland officials lined up the Wolverines on one side of the street and the Trojans on the other for the parade into the heart of the make-believe land and a few handshakes were exchanged as they marched.

Then the teams split into groups to tour the area. Later, they had dinner at Disneyland and didn’t return to their Huntington Hotel headquarters until long after dark.

It was a tiring but exciting day for the Wolverines who started off with two hours of practice at East Los Angeles Junior College.

Coach Bo Schembechler has scheduled double practices for Tuesday and Wednesday and the Wolverines are going to be more than ready to have Christmas day free.

As usual, the hotel has planned an elaborate Christmas party for the players, coaches, wives and families of the Big Ten visiting team.

After Thursday, Schembechler has arranged a schedule which will correspond as closely as possible to a week during the regular season.

The Wolverines will drill hard once a day until two days before the game and then taper off.

While it has been said statistics are boring, they do tell part of the story about how the Jan. 1 game will be played.

Statistics tell that Southern Cal (9-0-1) leans heavily on just one running back, Clarence Davis, but he is a good one and seldom stopped.

They tell that Michigan (8-2), primarily a running team, might have difficulty moving the ball on the ground.

While Troy quarterback Jimmy Jones is a master at pulling a game out of fire, statistics tell that he does not have a sparkling completion average.

The statistics show Michigan with a more diversified attack and that the Wolverines have the game’s most outstanding pass receiver, Capt. Jim Mandich.

To win this game, Michigan must stop Davis and keep pressure on Jones and his receivers from making the big play.

On offense, the Wolverines will have to exploit their diversity if they find they can’t punch holes through Southern Cal’s famous front five, known as the “Wild Bunch.”

It’s obvious Southern Cal will pin much of its hopes on a stubborn defense while hoping Davis and Jones have good days.

Davis, a 5-11, 195-pound junior who comes from East Los Angeles Junior College where he broke O. J. Simpson’s national JC rushing record, has gained 1,275 yards and no other back has gained more than 300.

Fullback Charlie Evans has an even 300 yards in 60 tries while Mike Berry, Davis’ replacement, has 263 yards in 60 tries. Davis has run with the ball 282 times, almost five times as often as any other back.

As for Jones, he has passed 193 times and has 78 completions for a .404 average, considerably below Michigan quarterback Don Moorhead who has connected on an even .500 (89 of 178). But Jones has bailed the Trojans out of trouble a number of times with long completions and has 12 touchdown strikes compared to Moorhead’s five.

The yardage gained on the ground by Southern Cal’s opponents is a significant figure and indicates the major problem for the Wolverines.

Southern Cal has yielded only 956 yards all year and how about these pre-game figures:

Oregon State, 90 yards; Stanford, 56 yards; Notre Dame, 90 yards; Georgia Tech, 99 yards; California, 64 yards; Washington State, 83 yards, and UCLA, just 31 yards.

The only team which really moved via land with any success against the Trojans was Washington which piled up 207. But Washington demonstrated excellent running ability in each of its games, reeling off 230 yards in a 45-7 loss to Michigan. Southern Cal downed Washington, 16-7.

No less than Southern Cal, Michigan has made good use of its tailbacks—Billy Taylor for 808 yards and Glenn Doughty for 732 yards—but it also has a nifty yardage total from Moorhead, 565 yards in 152 tries while fullback Garvie Craw has totaled 329 in 111 runs.

Michigan has completed passes to 11 different players and Mandich is far and away the leading receiver with 42 catches for 583 yards.

Southern Cal, which lists eight receivers during the season, is led by Sam Dickerson’s 24 catches for 473 yards.