The Build-Up
Jack Slattery noted the irony of the fact that this was apparently the last year of the Syracuse-Cornell series, (it wasn’t quite) and that Cornell “Cornell doesn’t think enough of Syracuse to place the Orange on it’s schedule in future years, but regards a victory over Syracuse to the extent that it details five men to scout Ben Schwartzwalder’s team…There has been some bitterness between the teams and some unpleasantness between the coaches at times. However, that is all in the past now. At least claims have been made to that effect. And if two universities couldn’t overcome petty differences and arrange to meet in a football game then the educator’s education is remiss.” The feeling was that if this was the last game in the series, Cornell wanted very badly to win it. So did Syracuse. Bill Reddy reported “It’s no secret that Syracuse is eager to play Cornell anytime it can be arranged….the series has become one of the highlights of each football season in Central New York.” Since the series resumed in 1933, The Big Red had won 11 times and the Orange 9. The round-robin between Syracuse, Cornell and Colgate had been a great three-way rivalry. Surprisingly a complete round-robin was only played 20 times. Cornell swept it’s rivals 10 times, Syracuse 5 and Colgate once. But most of the games were fiercely competitive and 1954 was no exception.
Slattery noted that Cornell had gotten off to a bad start much like the Orange and that critics wanted Coach Lefty James’ head but that now that they were getting injured players back they would prove a formidable opponent. The biggest concern was that Billy DeGraff, the Cornell quarterback, “shot his touchdown pass total up to 8, one of the best records along the eastern seaboard.” That was in six games, during which they lost to Colgate 14-19, Rise 20-41, Harvard, 12-13 and Yale 21-47 before turning around to shut out Princeton, (the dominant Ivy League team in those days) 27-0 and Columbia 26-0. The previous year The Big Red had started a bunch of sophomores, (remember that freshmen were not eligible so sophs were first-year players), in 1953 and overcome a 1-3 non-conference record to go 3-0-2 in the conference to win the league. They were looking forward to another big finish.
That made them the pre-season favorites in 1954, which made the 0-4 start hard to take. Besides DeGraff, Cornell had two fine halfbacks in Dick Meade and Dick Jackson and a strong fullback in Guy Bedrossian. Johnny Morris was a 9.9 sprinter, (in the 100 yard dash). Two 1954 sophs, Art Boland and Cyrus Benson, showed a lot of speed in backing them up. Boland was averaging 7.2 yards on 32 carries and was being called “The Lightening from Lynn, (Massachusetts). The frosh also produced Art Sosenko, said to be a better passer than DeGraff, 205 pound fullback Steve Miles and halfback Jim Suiter. 6-4 Stan Intihar and Bruce Brenner were two more of the ’53 sophs. They had been among the injured but they were back. Cornell had 4 other TD passes from backs other than DeGraff, (for a total of 12, second in the nation), and was completing 40% of their passes. DeGraff was 28 for 74, (37.8%) for 415 yards, an impressive 14.8 yards per completion. Syracuse was second in the country in kickoff returns with 26.3 yard per pop.
Ben Schwartzwalder was still tinkering with his pass defense, even though they showed improvement vs. Holy Cross. Ben had had some success using quarterback Mickey Rich at safety and dropping his ends, Jim Ridlon and Tom Richardson, back in pass coverage, (to become, essentially, outside line-backers). There was praise for the SU running game and an improved punting game but continued concern over the lack of a passing game. Ben said “If Cornell uses an 11 man line, we’ll throw a few.” Ben was hopeful of continuing to improve his pass defense because the new formation was still experimental and Perkins and Trolio had just been in the hospital before the Holy Cross game, (which didn‘t prevent them from running the ball well but pass defense is harder).
Mickey Rich played tribute to linemen. He had played defensive end vs. Holy Cross on defense and quarterback on offense. “Mickey claims that an afternoon on the line makes a backfield man really appreciate what a tough assignment linemen have. Rich says it’s shame they get so little attention while the backs capture all the headlines. …’Believe me, every time I make a move I hurt all over and I don’t think I’ll ever forget what a great job those guys do.”
An article claimed that the two teams running attacks were being ignored in all the talk of passing. Ray Perkins and Art Trolio were averaging over 100 yards rushing per game between them. Perkins had scored on runs of 78 and 74 yards on Cornell in the 1952 game and gone 68 yards vs. Holy Cross the previous week. Trolio was averaging 7.5 yards per carry. Dick Jackson and Dick Meade of Cornell were not only strong, fast runners but also fine pass receivers.
The game was to be played in Ithaca, leading SU SID Arnie Burdick to project a tie. “Syracuse hasn’t won on the road and Cornell hasn’t won at home.” The odds makers made the Big Red a one point favorite. Bill Reddy felt that was appropriate because we’d missed so many extra points on the season. (The line went up to -3 by the time of the game.)
On Tuesday a snowstorm hit, forcing the teams to practice indoors and reminding many of the storm the 1953 game was played in, (that was 11 inches: this was six) . Trainer Julie Reichel was happy: “They’re all in top-flight condition now and I’d hate to see any of them catch cold.” But Ben Schwartzwalder had other ideas. “No matter what the weatherman offers today, (Wednesday), the Orange will work outdoors. “We need the work’, said Schwartzwalder, ‘and there’s not many days left.’” The best Ben could do on Tuesday was a “dummy signal session” in gym shoes with no pads and some calisthenics. They were said to be working on “several new formations and ideas that are going to be unveiled against the Cayugans.” SU was in Archbold Gym: Cornell was in something called the “Bacon Cage.” Cornell remained indoors on Wednesday while Ben had his men outside in the rain, in case the conditions on Saturday were sloppy.
Jack Slattery noted that a further problem for the Orange was that “a huge chunk of the practice field (was) taken from them when the state started construction on the back part of the field Monday…the kids were kept on their toes dodging lacrosse balls, soccer balls and itinerant bulldozers…they make so much noise that players can’t hear their coaches and the quarterbacks have a battle on their hands making themselves heard.” I’m not sure what practice field this would have been or what the state was constructing.
A picture appeared in Wednesday’s Herald-Journal of two Orange “cubs”, (freshman), 5-8 175 pound back Bobby Hart, who had scored twice vs. the Army Plebes and 6-4 245 Jim Armstrong. I’ve not heard of either one of them and the uniforms they are wearing look nothing like I’ve seen SU wear. Dark, (presumably blue) jerseys with off-color, (orange) lettering and while pants. They didn’t have helmets on. The jerseys had three narrow elbow strips, also likely orange. Saturday’s paper had a shot of the SU frosh losing to the Cornell Frosh in Archbold Stadium, 12-25. Hart is shown catching a pass in the same uniform. The Helmet is orange with a blue stripe. They must have looked something like Army at that time but with Orange for gold and “royal” blue for black.
