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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 367204, member: 289"] THE BUILD-UP There was a new trend in college football: big-time teams playing big time teams from the beginning of the season. Herman Hickman of Sports Illustrated commented on it in his football preview article: [URL='http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1130184/index.htm'][U][COLOR=#0000ff][U][COLOR=#0000ff]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1130184/index.htm[/COLOR][/U][/COLOR][/U][/URL] “Gone are the days when football powers played only ‘breathers’ until the second or third week of October.” Pittsburgh had already played a game, beating California 27-7. Now they were going to play Syracuse for the first time since 1930. They had been 6-2-2 again Syracuse before that, in the Pop Warner/Jock Sutherland era. They were particularly impressive against the Golden Bears, who seemed to wilt in the 92 degree hear when the Panthers didn’t. Pitt, led by their outstanding halfbacks Dick Bowen and Bobby Grier, out-rushed the Californians 371-29 and held them to only 2 pass completions and one first down in the second half. Bill Reddy of the Post Standard: “In the 67 years that Syracuse has been playing varsity football, nobody has been called upon to play such a schedule. Pitt is one of the burgeoning powers on the national scene. Anyone in the Midwest or the Far West can’t hear mention of Syracuse without suddenly asking ‘Syracuse…where’s that?’…. The thumping administered by Pittsburgh to California Saturday has resulted in fans feeling sorry for Syracuse University’s gridders already. If Pitt can whip California, they’re saying, what chance has Syracuse against the Panthers?” Trying to find a positive note, he pointed out Syracuse had outscored Princeton in a scrimmage the same day, (not a small thing in the mid-50’s). Reddy suggested that the Tigers might win the Ivy league, (which they did). “A thing to remember is that some of the greatest football ever played on this continent was played in the old days when Syracuse played Pitt and there’s no reason to believe that the passing of the years has changed the formula.” Roy Simmons had a more pessimistic view. He had been at the Pitt-Cal game and said “They have tremendous backfield speed, excellent passing- their line is big, active and ambitious. My, they look like a professional line, for they average close to 220 pounds.” Jack Slattery of the Herald-Journal described the Pitt team as possessing “on a par with the kind of material Bud Wilkinson has at Oklahoma“. He quoted their former coach, Red Dawson, as saying that “It’s only a matter of time until this team jells. When it does, they’ll be one of the best teams in the nation“. Quarterback “Corky” Salvaterro and “lightening quick” running back Dick Bowen were “two of the best players in the nation. Slattery acknowledged that SU had “a rugged, strong team” and that this “would be one of the best games in the country” that weekend but he couldn’t favor the Orange. Ben Schwartzwalder backed off his grumbling about the schedule: “I don’t resent this schedule. It’s a challenge. We expect to grow into it.” That’s better than shrinking before it - as long as you don‘t get crushed under it. Neither could the odds makers who made Ben’s boys a 13 point home underdog. Pittsburgh was ranked #7 nationally, quite a challenge for an opening game, especially when it wasn’t their opening game. The game was televised throughout the East as a “regional” game. Tickets were being sold not only at the stadium but also at the hotel Onondaga downtown. A crowd of 20,000 was expected at the game. Meanwhile the squad was taken as a group to register for classes on Thursdays, September 22nd, so they could be eligible to play in the game. A new, plastic field cover the Athletic Department was very proud of was placed over the field after the last practice and would be removed an hour before the game. It seemed we were playing not the Pittsburgh Panthers but Al Capone’s gang when you looked at the nicknames for the players. There were “Bugs” Bagamery, “Slippery” Bowen and two “Corky’s“, Salvaterra and Cost. On second thought I don’t think Big Al employed anyone named “Corky”. (I’ve also seen Salvaterra’s name as “Corny”). But Pitt did employ a line that averaged 220 pounds, ten pounds per man more than SU’s. And with Pete Schwert, Joe Krivack, Jerry Cashman and Ed Bailey all nursing injuries, (Bailey, as it turned out needed surgery on his shoulder and was out for the year), Syracuse was short-handed up front. Ben did something that could only have been done back in that era: He sent fullback Bill Brown and halfback Al Cann to practice with the linemen, in case they were needed. There wasn’t that much difference in the size of a back or lineman in those days. Another sign of the times: The new Pitt coach, John Michelosen, (a former player there under Jock Sutherland, assistant of Red Blaik’s at Army and coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers- the youngest head coach in the NFL prior to Lane Kiffin) was bringing a traveling squad of 38 players into Archbold Stadium. SU’s starting line-up for the opener was Tom Richardson and Jim Ridlon at ends, Jim Brill and Pete Schwert at tackle, Cal Smith and Rudy Farmer at guard, Bill Brown, the ex-fullback at center, Eddie Albright at quarterback, Jim Brown and Billy Micho at halfback and Don Laacksonen at fullback. [/QUOTE]

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