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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 164864, member: 289"] THE BUILD-UP The Fordham Rams had been playing football since 1882 and in the 1920’s and 30’s they had been one of the top programs in the East, playing before sell-out crowds in the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium. Famed for their line “The Seven Blocks of Granite”, (one of whom was Vince Lombardi), they had four straight 0-0 ties with Pittsburgh at a time when the Panthers were a major national power under Jock Sutherland. One of those was against the second ever AP (writer’s poll) national champion in 1937. The Rams were ranked #4 in the nation that year. They lost to Texas A&M 12-13 in the 1941 Cotton Bowl, and beat Missouri 2-0, (yes, 2-0) in the 1942 Sugar Bowl. SU had never beaten the Rams at the Polo Grounds, (or any other team at that venue since 1923). If you were to ask people in 1954 who the more prestigious football program was: Syracuse or Fordham, they would likely have picked the Rams. But things were not going well at Fordham in the 1950’s. The team was costing the school money rather than making it for them. They’d been 7-15-2 since the beginning of the 1952 season. Sadly, the school had made the decision to give up the sport at the end of the 1954 season. This was not their last game- they had a game scheduled in the Polo grounds vs. Villanova on 11/27- but it would be the last game against the Orange, who were, in any case, looking for new opponents to test themselves against. Rocky Pirro had scouted the Rams in their game vs. Holy Cross, which they had barely lost 19-20, and warned against a let-down following the Colgate game, such as happened last year when the team lost the finale on the road to Villanova. He said that the Rams are “far from the poor squad their record would indicate.“ That’s pretty faint praise. Billy Reddy was also wary of déjà vu: “That’s the trouble with the game. We saw what happened last year, after Syracuse beat Colgate. The Orangemen went to Philadelphia to play Villanova, and they didn’t look like the same players who had won the climax contest. A Villanova team which had no business to turn the trick beat a Syracuse team which didn’t have it’s mind on the business at hand.” Bill Reddy suggested that in future the Syracuse-Colgate game might end the SU season as a “Thanksgiving Day fixture”. A dozen SU seniors would be playing their last game for the Orange: Backs Ray Perkins, Bill Wetzel, Vince Vergara, Art Trolio, Sam Alexander and Mickey Rich; Lineman Paul Slick, Mike Skop, Joe Cappadonna, Paul Reimer, Paul Kernakian and Joe Orzehowski. Alexander was expected to miss the game due to a knee injury. Fullback Don Laaksonen had a “puffed up ankle” and was questionable for the game. Perkins was the team’s leading rusher with 429 yards on 81 carries, (5.3) but “soph Jimmy Brown, one of the most powerful runners ever to wear Orange”, had gained 385 in 64 games, (6.0). Mickey Rich had completed 17 of 52 passes, (.327) for 234 yards while Eddie Albright was 5 for 20 for only 47 yards. That was our total passing attack in 1954. Fordham was noted as a passing team with Dick Broderick throwing to Bob Donahue and Bill Liptack. Dick Ruth was a good fullback while Andy Romeo and Joe Palmieri manned the halfback positions. But their biggest threat was end Andy Nacrelli who had led the team the previous year with 28 catches. This year he had 23 catches for an impressive 470 yards. He’d also punted for a 36.9 average, fourth best in the East. SU had given up 7 TD passes in 7 games but four of them came vs. Boston. U. “Coach Ben Schwartzwalder and his staff feel that in Jimmy Brown, Ray Perkins, Bill Wetzel, Vin Vergara and Billy Micho, Syracuse has the weapons to control the ball against the Rams.“ On Friday there was a report that Nacrelli was in the hospital with a virus. The next day it was reported that Paul Slick of Syracuse had tripped down the steps of Slocum Hall and sprained his ankle, “Syracuse University’s chances to finish the season with a .500 record diminished considerably. The Carbondale, Pa. senior has been one of the mainstays of the orange line.” Halfback Sam Alexander, fullback Don Laacksonen and quarterback Mickey Rich were also “among the limping.” The Varsity Club held a dinner for the team on the Thursday night before the game. The players were introduced univocally before a film presentation of some highlights of the season. The players got up and filed out before the projector began to whirl. Art Trolio was asked why they weren’t staying for the film show. “No thanks, we see them often enough. And, brother, do we ever see them slowly!” Traveling squads were getting bigger: Ben Schwartzwalder announced that 55 players would be traveling to New York. In this one platoon era, less than 40 players was more the norm for a traveling squad. The fact that it was the last game for the seniors, including walk-ons may have had something to do with that. Sam Alexander made the trip even though he wasn’t expected to play. Fordham chose to wear white at home so SU brought it’s orange jerseys on the road for the first time. The Big Apple was shrouded in fog so it was possible that a passing game would be problematic. [/QUOTE]

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