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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 777217, member: 289"] Pappy Lewis was generous in his praise: “Too much Brown with the Orange, that was our trouble. If Brown ever played a better game, I’ve never heard of it. (He’s) the strongest runner we’ve played against. I’d sure like to have him on our team. He’s a marvel….I’ll say this without hesitation. Syracuse has a darn good football team. Both teams played well. If anything, West Virginia’s defenses were down a bit. But Syracuse played a wonderful game. “ Ben Schwartzwalder responded by saying that “We knew we were going to play a strong team and we certainly did. They were far from a pushover. Our win was a fine team effort. Jim Brown was just great. I thought our end play was very improved over the Pitt game. It really makes one happy to win a game like that.“ Jim Brown said “The boys really blocked for me today, especially Ed Coffin. All I had to do was get behind them. I just seemed to get my second wind after they called that touchdown back and then I really wanted to run. West Virginia suffered several dropped passes that could have altered the result, including a drop by Sizemore of Trimarki at the SU 7 early in the third quarter that would have given the Mountaineers the lead. But Don Althouse was sure he was in bounds when a completion deep in West Virginia territory was disallowed in the same period. So was Ben Schwartzwalder: That’s one play I’m sure they missed. Althouse was a full step inside the line and I saw it clearly.” Jim Brown gained 165 yards on 22 carries and scored twice. Jim Ridlon rushed for 57 yards. Alan Cann was praised for coming off the bench for gaining 62 yard. “Coaches generally agreed it was Syracuse reserve strength that made them a better ball club.” Syracuse out-rushed West Virginia 325-80Trimarki was only 8 of 20 passing with several drops but passed for 134 yards and a score while SU quarterbacks Zimmerman and Kuzala were 3 for 6 for 50 yards. Both teams lost 2 fumbles. Syracuse intercepted three passes to none. With a 378-214 edge in total yards and +3 in turnovers you’d think that Syracuse could have won more easily but they won and that’s the bottom line. The fans were certainly not lacking for entertainment. Or pictures. That front page on the Post Standard showed the card section flashing the flag with the band in their new uniforms playing the national anthem. A later edition had a shot of Nick Baccile falling on Jim brown’s fumble, which the caption pronounced “THE KEY PLAY OF THE GAME”. It has those wonderful labels and arrows I used to love as a kid. An arrow points to “Trimarki WV” and “Klim WV” Lunging for the ball but “Baccile S” is doing the same thing, just ahead of them. Behind them is “J. Brown S” lying ignominiously, flat on the ground but looking forward, hoping a teammate can make up for his bobble. It’s a nice sharp picture that shows the largely filled seats and Archbold Gym and other buildings seen over the top of the stands. The front of the Sports page shows “SYRACUSE’S FIRST TD” as “Jarrin’ Jim brown sped around right end 18 yards” after the Ridlon interception. An arrow points to the goal line as “J Brown S” takes the corner. Tricky Mickey Trimarki isn’t quite tricky enough to get there on time. Below that is “THE CLINCHER: Fullback Ed Coffin piles over the goal line for Syracuse’s fourth and last touchdown early in the fourth period…He broke through from the two-yard line on the second paly after Nick Baccile made a thrilling fumble recovery of Jim brown’s fumble on the four yard line.” “Coffin S” is seen bent over the line of scrimmage with the goal line, again pointed out with an arrow, below him. On the next page we see John Bowles catching Trimarki’s “blooper” in the first period. I see only two SU defenders, Jackson and Cann: Kuzala is not in the picture. Jackson is reaching out with his right arm. Bowles has his head pointed straight up but the ball is settling into his arms. Cann has over-run the play and is sticking his arms out backwards in a fruitless attempt to do something relevant. Jack Rabbits is just behind them, poised as if he expected the ball to come to him. That may have been the intention. There’s am small picture on the following page with the caption “Jim Brown powers away through the mammoth Mountaineer linemen, (average weight: 214) for this fourth period touchdown after racing 23 yards to put the ball on the 2 ½ yard line. (Arrow indicates ball” Underneath a mass of humanity you can see Jim’s left arm and the ball hugged to his chest with his right hand. On page 34 it says “NICE CATCH”, showing Nick Baccile catching Ferd Kuzala’s 37 yard pass in the first quarter to set up SU’s second score. Nick has beaten a fallen defender who helplessly looks up with an out-stretched arm as the ball settles in Nick’s open hands. At the bottom of that page it says “THE GENERAL MAKES HIS OWN BIG MOVE” showing Kuzala running for a touchdown after faking to Brown. He’s got no less than five defenders closing in on him but he has the angle on them, his head down and he’s running for the corner of the goal line. The Herald-American had no game pictures on the front page but on the sports page we see “STRANGE BOUNCE: Joe Kopinsky, West Virginia end, appeared to have clear sailing with first period forward pass but the ball hopped out of his hands into those of Syracuse’s Jim Ridlon who returned it to the Mountaineers 18 to set up first Orange touchdown. Kopinsky has both hands out but the ball has bounced off his hands and there’s a dotted line showing its path, directly in front of Ridlon, who is a step behind. Next to Jim’s feet is a solid line that turns behind him and goes in the other direction with an arrow at the end of it. On page 56 is a shot of Jim Brown on the next play. “ON HIS WAY- Jim Brown galloped unmolested for 18 yards and first touchdown of game to provide early thrill to crowd”. Jim has completed his sweep to the right side of the line and headed toward the goal line, (with a long arrow to show him the way). Four guys are closing in on him but they can forget it. Below that is “NOSE TO GROUND” which shows Ed Coffin scoring the fourth SU TD. The shot is couple of seconds after the Post Standard shot and poor Ed has fallen face first, getting a mouth full of turf for his trouble. But it’s end zone turf so maybe it tastes better that way. Page 57 is all pictures. “THIS ONE DIDN’T COUNT” shows Jim brown’s 27 yard scoring run that got called back for a clip at the 10. Jim’s following another black line with an arrow at the end of it. George Stock, who has a “B” over his head, clipped a West Virginia defender with an “A” over his head but did it 10 yards downfield, after the picture was snapped. Below that is a shot of Kuzala’s touchdown that focuses more directly on him. He’s almost to the goal line with three guys along the goal lIne running to cut him off. They never got there. Next to that is Althouse’s “DISPUTED PASS PLAY”. Don is at least a yard from the sideline, right on the numbers. He’s jumped for the ball and has his arms out-stretched . The ball is right above him, just behind his hands. It seems unlikely that he would have caught it out of bounds, unless he was bobbling it. I don’t think they looked for that in those days. Below that is “RAMPAGING FULLBACK” Alan Cann, who looks a good deal bigger than the other players, (Upperdeck’s site has him at 6-0 192). He’s following a black line that snakes from the 20 to the 35. He’s between the 31 and the 32 with a blocker to his right and a man bearing down from behind at about the 29. There are two defenders in front of him at the 35 but they better get ready for an impact. It was a 20 yard first period run. Bill Reddy was both impressed by the Orange performance but also concerned about a team that could run for 300 yards yet almost lose the game due a weak pass defense. “Some people saw the Syracuse- West Virginia game as an epic struggle in which the orange bounced back from the Pitt game with a determination which was not to be denied. I’m afraid I saw it differently. It seemed to me that Syracuse was three touchdowns better than West Virginia on the day they played that particular game. Yet it also seemed to me that Syracuse was lucky to emerge with a seven point win. It could just as easily been a tie score because the Orange pass defense was so poor that only the inability of the Mountaineers to hold onto good passes prevented at least one more West Virginia touchdown. As it stands, Syracuse looks better on paper than it has been on the field.” Reddy did have praise for Jim Ridlon. “Jimmy Ridlon is somewhat obscured by the big shadow which Brown casts, yet Ridlon, if you want a personal note, is the best all-around football player on a good Syracuse team. He doesn’t get the spectacular gains but he gets the short yardage that’s needed and he defends with a fury that nobody on his team can surpass.” Arnie Burdick had a more optimistic tone: “If you close your eyes and reflect on Syracuse’s 27-20 victory over West Virginia, you’ll focus on an orange array that has confidence in its own ability. It belts with the fury and vibrance of any team in the nation. It forced the Mountaineers into repeated mistakes, capitalizing same for the tremendous triumph. The Orange plays bruising “hard nosed football, but their confidence in themselves is the key to their most recent successes. “ “Syracuse is aggressive to the point of over-committing itself at times but teams that make the initiative are bound to make some errors, too. That’s true in life. Every gamble that one makes isn’t going to pan out- but you can still be successful if your percentage pans out. Schwartzwalder’s teams do gamble, especially defensively, but their overall alertness- their desire to succeed, the pleasure they take out of making contact have won a new respect for the Orange throughout the trade plus an unknown number of new fans.” “When the Orange head took over the grid portfolio on the Hill in the spring of 1949, the ship was listing badly. The football world knew that Schwartzie was an excellent technician that his offenses had always been able to gain plenty of ground. But building spirit and confidence were the problems. These have been overcome and that’s the greatest accomplishment that Schwartzwalder and his staff have engineered in their eight season. In fact, they’ve pumped so much life into the Orange that, whether you’re a Syracuse fan or not, you’ve got to marvel at the way the Hill squad goes about its business. Their combativeness, their aggressiveness, their ball-hawking, their fearlessness are all thrilling to behold. Sure Syracuse made mistakes Saturday. Its pass defense was sieve-like, its initial tackling was wanting in spots, it’s ball-handling and timing must be improved. It covered punts poorly. Even great teams make mistakes – but they’re great because they can overcome errors and still win big.” “The way the Orange tore into those Mountaineers, the way they opened holes for their backs when it counted and the way those backs churned for those extra yards as though their very life depended on it has rendered untold pleasure to the football fans of the area. In three games played this fall against teams that have all been ranked in the nation’s top ten, Syracuse has won two and lost the third by a touchdown. This is tops in football entertainment. Perhaps there are a few elevens that might outclass the Orange but by and large, Schwartzwalder has lifted Syracuse football to a point where they can take on the nation’s top machines and do all right.” [/QUOTE]

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