Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 948574, member: 289"] THE GAME [URL='http://poststandard.newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-post-standard/1956-11-11/page-118?tag=syracuse+holy']http://poststandard.newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-post-standard/1956-11-11/page-118?tag=syracuse holy[/URL] cross Only 17,000 fans actually showed up on the 29 degree day with the 10MPH wind blowing across Archbold from the north and occasional light snow flurries. The game turned out to be proof of a statement various attributed to Woody Hayes or Darrell Royal, (or others): “When you pass, three things can happen. And two of them are bad.” Jim Ridlon returned the opening kick-off to the Orange 35 but SU couldn’t move the ball and Jimmy punted to Bill Smithers who returned it to the Holy Cross 23. Smithers completed a couple passes for first downs to the SU 49. But then he was sacked on consecutive plays and a short punt gave the Orange the ball on their 42. Ridlon “passed down the middle to (Ernie) Jackson” for 31 yards”. But then three plays gained 5 yards and a fourth down pass was intercepted at the 5 by Smithers who returned it to the 13. Ringel ran off left tackle for 11 yards but a subsequent a holding penalty put the ball back on the 12. Then Smithers faked a pass and swept for 33 yards to the Holy Cross 45. But then the tide turned- twice. Smithers passed to Ringel who bobbled the ball into the arms of Fred Kuczala who then handed the ball to Gus Zaso, who ran it back to the Orange 46. Then Kuczala threw an interception and Holy Cross had the ball back on its 42. From there they drove to the first score. It wasn’t Smithers’ passing that did it: it was Tom Greene’s. The pay-off was a 28 yarder over Ed Ackley’s head to Dick Bernadino. The kick was deflected wide but the visitors led 0-6. It was the last play of the first period. Chuck Zimmerman then returned “Massa’s flat kick-off” to the SU 38. He hit a leaping Jim Ridlon with a pass to the HC 37. Then Jim Brown “took a pitch-out from Zimmerman and threw a perfect strike to (Nick) Baccile, who took it on the Holy Cross 15 and romped over from there.” Brown kicked the extra point to make it Syracuse 7, Holy Cross 6. It didn’t take long to add to the lead. Ridlon intercepted a Smithers pass at the Holy Cross 37. Two running played netted 7 yards. Then Zimmerman made a perfect throw for 30 yards to Ridlon at the 7. He took two steps into the end zone. Brown again converted and it was 14-6. Holy Cross drove to the Syracuse 32 but another interception by Gus Zaso ended the threat and the half. Holy Cross got the second half kick-off but had to punt to the SU 42. Ridlon ran the ball to the Holy Cross 42 on a reverse but fumbled. Smithers tried to pass the ball but Jerry Cashman tipped the ball and Ed Bailey grabbed it out of the air and ran 40 yards to paydirt. Brown again converted and it was 21-6. But the Holy Cross Crusade continued. They penetrated to the SU 36 but had to punt to the 16. They forced a Don Althouse punt to the Cross 42. From there they went 58 yards for their second score, highlighted by Green’es 34 yard pass to Turrin. The capper was a 9 yard pass to Archand, who got his hands on the ball, was leveled by Jim Brown and dropped it. But it was ruled a catch by the head linesman, one Worthington Surrick. They didn’t have to “complete the play” in those days, although Holy Cross did after a fashion by kicking the extra point to make it 21-13.It was still anybody’s ball game. But Jimmy Brown made it his ball game. Held to only 13 yards rushing to this point, He ripped off consecutive runs of 17 and 18 yards on sweeps and then charged up the middle, “shaking off tackler”, for 30 yards to the Holy Cross 6. Three plays later Brown took a pitch-out and ran it in from the 4. He then kicked the point to make it 28-13. Ridlon intercepted at the Holy Cross 41 but Syracuse was forced to punt. Then came the clincher. “Smithers dropped back to pass, was chased hard, fumbled the ball and the ball bounced into the end zone. There Strid was the first of three Orange-clad linemen to leap on it for the easy score.” This time Brown missed the conversion but Syracuse still had a three touchdown lead at 34-13. But Holy cross refused to give up. They drove 56 yards, mostly through the air, Greene hitting Ringel from 27 yards out for the score. The snap on the conversion was fumbled but “Hohl made the 20th point when he when he scooped up the bobbled pass and dodged, dipped, did the fandangoed and ricocheted into the end zone.” To make it 34-20. There were three minutes left and the Orange worked the clock in a long, grinding 11 play drive that culminated in a pass from Kuczala to Baccile for the final score with 2 seconds left. It’s interesting that Syracuse didn’t simply let the clock run out. Was there some bad blood involved? Whatever the situation, Brown kicked the point, his 5th in 6 tries to make the final score Syracuse 41 Holy Cross 20. We’d finally scored some points! But we really didn’t dominate the play in this game by as much as the score indicated. Holy Cross gained more yards, 323-340 and first downs 13-18. They also ran 67 plays to 49 for Syracuse. Syracuse had the edge in rushing, 179-103, (Jimmy Brown rushed for 102 yards in 15 carries, 70 of them on the scoring drive that produced the fourth touchdown. He now had 789 yards rushing and needed only 17 more to break George Davis’ 1949 season rushing record. Holy Cross won the aerial battle, 144-238. But it was a scoop that Syracuse did that well in the air. The Orange completed 6 passes in 11 attempts for an average of 24 yards a catch and three touchdowns, (thrown by three different players: Brown, Zimmerman and Kuczala). The 6 completions were as many as Syracuse had had in their previous 4 games. The three touchdown passes were the first the Orange had since they got two in the opener vs. Maryland. The Crusaders attempted 31 passes, completing 18 of them for their 238 yards, (13.2 per catch). But they were playing with fire. SU intercepted five passes, one for a touchdown, got five sacks and forced that fumble into the end zone for another score. Tom Greene vastly outplayed Bill Smithers, completing 13 of 22 for 181 yards and all three HC touchdowns. The Orange had now won five games in a row since the loss to Pitt in the second game. It was their longest winning streak since 1942, when they’d opened with five straight wins. That steak had included games against small college teams like Clarkson and Western Reserve. Looking back through the scores in the SU Media Guide, the only other five game winning streak against schools then considered to be “major colleges” that I could find prior to 1956 was in 1917 when the Orange beat Brown, Bucknell, Colgate, Michigan State and Nebraska. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?