1968 SI college FB preview

[Franks Tanks]

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1148025/1/index.htm

Very interesting read and a barometer of how things have changed over the last 41 years. The article runs down all "major college" conferences including the Ivy, Southern, and Missouri Valley (which had what is pretty much now C-USA teams). Many current FCS teams are also mentioned in the Indy section including Nova, Holy Cross, Colgate, and Dayton. In fact many of these teams get more press than Penn State or Notre Dame in this article. Also mentions that Davidson will have a tough OOC schedule this year as they are playing Virginia and Vandy. Interesting stuff.

[Green26]

Calvin Hill of Yale was a 1st round pick of the Dallas Cowboys after the '68 season. Brian Dowling was already becoming "BD" in the Doonesbury cartoon series being done by Yalie G. Trudeau for the Yale newspaper (I believe). In the next several years, several Ivy (Yale and Dartmouth) players would be named to the first team of the coaches all-american team.

In 1970, the below linked article on the Yale/Dartmouth game appeared in Sports Illustrated. Dick Jauron was Yale's running back, along with Martin, who also played in the NFL. An excerpt:

"With both Dartmouth and Yale unbeaten and rated nationally not only in both of the wire-service polls but also in the NCAA statistics, the largest crowd to see a non-Harvard game at Yale Bowl since Army was there in 1954 assembled on one of those crackling red-and-gold New England afternoons that helped to make football popular in the first place. A large part of the conversation was somewhat defensive, with people assuring one another that this whole thing was really great, that Dartmouth and Yale could certainly perform respectably against Ohio State or Texas or anybody else, and that Ivy League football, after all, is played by students. So without question in the minds of the 60,820 people who had come to watch it, this Yale-Dartmouth match was going to settle at least the amateur college football championship of the season."

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1084268/index.htm

[Lehigh Football Nation]

There can hardly be title hopes at Harvard, but there is excitement over Richie Szaro, the Polish halfback Bobby Kennedy found on a New York City playground one day and helped recruit. Szaro set a Harvard freshman record for scoring. He, Vic Gatto—soon to be the alltime Crimson rushing leader—and Ray Hornblower add up to a strong running attack. Cornell, which came on well last year, will continue to worry the leaders, but the same cannot be said for Brown, Columbia and that fallen giant of long ago, Penn. They had best play for the pure pleasure of it.

I beleive Szaro ended up playing in the NFL - I want to say as a halfback for the Saints?


Holy Cross has a good passing combination... The team will score, but a rebuilt defense may have trouble keeping Holy Cross ahead.

Plus ca change... xlolx

[Monarch History]

Richie Szaro was a kicker for the Saints from '75-'78 and kicked in one game for the '79 Jets.

[Green26]

Ed Marinaro came to Cornell in the fall of 1968. Ted Wells played frosh football for Holy Cross in the fall of 1968. Wells is now one of the best white collar criminal lawyers and litigators in the country, having represented many high profile clients, including Elliot Spitzer, Scooter Libby, Mike Espy, etc.

[RichH2]

I do recall losing to Yale , I think it was 54-0, I lost track after awhile.

IL may want to drop us if PL goes scholarship but, in the meanwhile who will they schedule?

[bostonspider]

Richmond ended up having a good year in 1968 after a tough start to the season.

1968 (8-3 • Southern Conf. Champions)
Coach: Frank Jones
Captains: B. O’Brien,M. Bixiones,T. Johnson
Sept. 14 at Toledo L 14-31
Sept. 21 at West Virginia L 0-17
Sept. 28 Davidson W 24-14
Oct. 12 at The Citadel W 21-16
Oct. 19 Furman W 34-0
Oct. 26 at East Carolina W 31-7
Nov. 2 VMI W 35-0
Nov. 9 at Virginia Tech L 18-31
Nov. 16 at Southern Mississippi W 33-7
Nov. 23 William & Mary W 31-6

TANGERINE BOWL (Orlando, Fla.)
Dec. 27 Ohio University W 49-42

Ohio was ranked 15th in the AP poll going into the Bowl and still finished up 20th.

[Husky Alum]

There's a joke there about the Kennedy family violating NCAA rules, but I'll pass.

[Go...gate]

Neil Wheelright was Hal Lahar's Defensive Coordinator. "Wheels" went '5-5 in 1968, his first season.

[93henfan]

Interesting that Army was still a Top 20 team going into 1968.

[MaroonDoom]

I love this quote- "Perry Moss, the new man at Marshall, has brought in a number of junior college transfers but the Thundering Herd is still mostly pitty-pat."

[carney2]

Interesting that Army was still a Top 20 team going into 1968.

Army: 7-3 in 1968

And only 11 winning seasons since.

[Franks Tanks]

Interesting that Army was still a Top 20 team going into 1968.

Well they werent a perennial top 20, but they were naturally more competitive than now.

[Go...gate]

I love this quote- "Perry Moss, the new man at Marshall, has brought in a number of junior college transfers but the Thundering Herd is still mostly pitty-pat."

And two years later most of the team was killed in the plane crash. :(

[Fordham]

Plus ca change... xlolx


Buffalo, striving mightily to go big time, may be the best of the lesser independents in the East.

xnodx

[NoCoDanny]

Steve Ramsey the QB from North Texas was the Broncos starting QB in '76.

[93henfan]

Army: 7-3 in 1968

And only 11 winning seasons since.

This article was preseason 1968, so I guess they were calling Army Top 20 by virtue of their 8-2 records in '66 and '67.

While I was flipping through the Army media guide, I couldn't help but marvel at how dominating the '44 national championship team was. Five TDs and 35 points allowed for the year; no more than 7 in any game and four shutouts. 142-0 against Catholic schools.:p Amazing stuff:

1944 (9-0)
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Head Coach: Earl Blaik, USMA ’20
Captain: Tom Lombardo
S30 North Carolina ......................... W 46 0
O7 Brown .......................................W 59 7
O14 Pittsburgh ................................ W 69 7
O21 Coast Guard Academy ............ W 76 0
O28 Duke# ...................................... W 27 7
N4 Villanova ..................................W 83 0
N11 Notre Dame+ ........................... W 59 0
N18 at Pennsylvania ....................... W 62 7
D2 Navy* .......................................W 23 7
#Polo Grounds, New York, N.Y.
+Yankee Stadium, New York, N.Y.
*Municipal Stadium, Baltimore, Md.

[apaladin]

Ah yes 1968, not too many fond memories as Furman was in what they called the football for fun bunch years in which they did not give scholarships. Wasn't much fun at all. Thank goodness, this lasted only a few years and by the early seventies FU had seen the error of their ways and resumed scholarships.