The Build-up
Street and Smith’s 1957 preview noted that Pitt had lost 15 letterman and 8 starters from its fine 1956 team that went 7-3-1, (including a 14-21 Gator Bowl loss to Georgia Tech), against a schedule with four top ten teams. That being the one platoon, limited substitution era, 8 missing starters was a lot. They needed a new quarterback, (junior Bill Kalliden, “”a tailback type of runner”, was the favorite, challenged by Ivan Tonsic). Jim Theodore with 405 yards, was the leading returning rusher. Jimmy Coxm Andy Sepsi, Dick Haley John Flara and Joe Scisly, (some sources spell it “Sicily”), were other halfbacks. A visiting scout on Haley: “That kid’s faster than a shotgun marriage. ”Dick Bowen, Bob Stack, Fred Riddle, and Ralph Cifer were the fullbacks. All-America Joe Walton and his mate at end, Bob Rosborough had graduated. The new ends were Dick Scherer, Jim Zanos, Art Gob, Joe Pullkines and Gordon Oliver.
The Sunday paper had a picture of two Panther, co-captains : 245 pound Jim McCusker, and 220 pound Charlie Brueckman, both in their down stances, ready to take on the Orange. The McCusker shot also appeared in Monday’s paper, which noted that McCusker “is so highly rated that Army…didn’t run a single play at McCusker’s territory”. Street and Smith’s listed Brueckman as an All-America candidate. Sports Illustrated called him “the best pivotman in the East.” The NCAA Guide described him as “a jolting linebacker”.
But SI also warned that “Coach Johnny Michelosen guided his first two Pitt teams to bowl games with the strength of great benches. This year he sorely lacks that bench.” Although he had “a grand first-string line”. SI said that Michelosen was ”itching” to switch to the single wing and had the personnel to do it.
The Panthers had had a tough opening assignment, getting rolled by Oklahoma 0-26, the Sooner’s 40th straight victory. Then they went west and squeaked by an Oregon team that would wind up in the Rose Bowl, 6-3 and beat Southern California in LA, 20-14. Then they came home crushed Nebraska 34-0. Army, the #1 team in the east beat them 13-29 and Notre Dame, rallying from their disastrous 1956 season, beat them 7-13. Against a heck of a schedule, the Panthers were 3-3. Syracuse against a lesser schedule was 3-1-1 but had much less respect naitonally.
Bill Reddy warned: “Pitt figures to be the best team Syracuse will face this season. This is the same Pitt team that lost their third game in six starts by bowing to Notre Dame Saturday but not before Pitt had dominated most of the play against the unbeaten Irish. For a certainty, Syracuse will have to be a lot better this week than it was two days ago in Archbold Stadium to keep from being chased out of Pitt Stadium.”
Arnie Burdick again played the ‘revenge’ card: “For a year now, the Pittsburgh Panthers have been seething inside. As Lambert Trophy, (Eastern) Football Champions, they didn’t take to the idea of having to pack the handsome mug last November and ship it to Syracuse, especially after they had defeated the Orange, 14-7, early in the season and wound up the campaign undefeated, although tied, in Eastern play. Pitt felt they had the right to keep the cup because the champion hadn’t been knocked off by any of the challengers. Hence, for a year now, the Panthers have made Syracuse one of their objective games of the 1957 season. “
“A year ago, Pitt was the only eleven that the Orange faced that was stronger than Syracuse. They controlled the ball against the Hill forces and licked them at their own game….Proudly, they report that their forward wall, tackle to tackle, averages 227 pounds. There are probably some pro teams that don’t go that high.” Arnie singled out Charley Brueckman, who was being touted for All-American honors and who was “having a grand year. It was his tackle at the midfield line on Syracuse’s Ed Coffin last season that took the ball away from the Hillmen on downs and led to Pitt’s winning TD. But the scouts of Pitt this autumn have been raving about another big lineman. He’s Jim McCluster, 245 pound tackle from Jamestown, who has been stopping everything that’s been sent his way and then some.”
“The Orange jumped out in front each of the last two years, only to be sitting on the wrong end of the scoreboard both times when the final gun sounded. The power and strength of the Panthers was the determining factor in each contest, just as it’s apt to be Saturday before a huge homecoming crowd in Pitt Stadium. And the discouraging thing from a Syracuse outlook is that the Orange, a team spearheaded by Jimmy Brown, had to go to the air to tally all of its points against Pitt. Their ground game couldn’t do it. Eddie Albright…passed to Jimmy Ridlon and then to Billy Micho to get the Hill eleven out in front of Pitt on two occasions in the ’55 struggle. And Eddie Coffin picked off an errant Cat bomb early in the second quarter of last fall’s game and hiked it back 55 yards for Bill Orange’s only score. “
“It figures to be Syracuse’s toughest game of the year, though not an impossible task, for it appears as though the Orange has an edge in depth over Pitt and that this might be an important factor in deciding the outcome.” Pitt was fourth in the latest Lambert Trophy poll, Syracuse #6, (Army was #1, Navy #2, Penn State #3 and Dartmouth #5.
Ben Schwartzwalder was “concentrating on his passing attack, for it is not probable that the team will be able to run through the giant Pitt line.” They averaged 227 pounds per man. Roy Simmons said that they had two backfields of equal caliber. Pitt had beaten the Orange both times since the series was renewed in 1955. In 1955 they’d out-gained the Orange on the ground 98-183 in the 12-22 loss. In 1956 they’d out-rushed the Orange 145-265 in winning 7-14. They were “Big, Bad Pitt” in those days, the biggest, physically toughest team in the east.
Ben’s team was virtually back to full strength with only center Charley Wink not taking part in drills. However, Wink who was injured in the Penn State game, was unlikely to start against Pitt. Wink was to be replaced by 185 pound Dave Applehoff. Other than that, it was “full speed ahead” for the Orange. Tackles Ron Luciano, (a chest injury) and Roger Davis, (leg ailment) were back and ready to play. Later reports said Wink was expected to shake off his ankle injury and play. Pitt’s team was dealing with some injuries in the line to end Art Gob, guard Ed Michaels and tackle Ron Kissell. Coach Michelosen was playing his first string line 50-60 minutes a game due to a lack of depth.
“A football scout following Syracuse last year had an easy assignment: follow Jim Brown. This year the job is a lot more complex. With Brown gone, they have to watch everybody.” Bob Timmons of Pitt said that Syracuse hadn’t bothered with flankers in 1956 because of Brown. “This year they even flank the fullback. They use the multiple offense with great variety to it and you never know what they might do. When it comes to passing, everyone seems to get in the act. Both halfbacks throw and the fullback runs the option. He goes wide on a pitchout with the option of passing. You’ll see a lot of boys throwing and a lot of boys catching out there.” Who said Ben Schwartzwalder wasn’t imaginative? Timmons also described SU’s line as “hard to move” because they weighed 212 pounds per man. Syracuse had already passed for more yards than they had in 1956, 664-531 but they also had lost as many fumbles than they had in 1956. Penn State had thrown them for 63 yards in fumbles.
Coach Michelosen was concerned about a let-down after Pitt had played Notre Dame. Any game in those days with the Irish was always circled on the calendar and to have out-played them only to surrender the lead on a late TD pass was a keen disappointment.
He was also concerned about what we would now call his “red zone” offense: “Pitt has been inside the 25 yard line 25 times and has been able to produce a score only on eight of these occasions. The rest of the time the Pitts have either lost the ball on downs or been penalized. “ That’s 68% of the time they’d come up empty, pretty bad. Meanwhile, starting left tackle Ron Kissell was hospitalized for “a cold in his back” and was expected to miss the game. At least the SU players wouldn’t catch cold from him.
The paper published another picture of Charley Brueckman, taken from directly in front of him as he prepared to snap the ball. The sun was high, causing heavy shadows over his eyes and giving him a gothic look. The caption said that Charley had “raised hob with Syracuse last year”. Per the Free Dictionary, to raise hob means “to do something devilish to someone or something; to cause trouble for someone or something.” (A hob is a hobgoblin, a wicked little elf. So now you know.) The paper called Bruekman and Jim McCuster “two of the best linemen they (Syracuse) has ever faced.”
Paul Bixler, former Colgate coach, was now on Paul Brown’s staff with the Cleveland Browns. He told Arnie Burdick that the Browns were “very satisfied” with Jimmy Brown. “He’s learned the offense real fast – in fact, faster than most rookies do. He’s doing a real good job.” It’s probably easier to learn the offense when you ARE the offense.
By the way, the Browns, the most innovative team in pro football during Paul Brown’s tenure, were experimenting with “pep” pills to “give them extra zip during a ball game. The pills are a ‘nutritional supplement’. Whether it has paid off is a matter of speculation. But the fact remains that Cleveland was shoved around in six pre-season games and they have now moved atop the eastern standings.” Trainer Leo Murphy noted that “last year we kept letting down in the second half. This year, we seem to get stronger….Murphy describes the purpose of the pills as a nutritional supplement intended as an illness preventative. He said they supplement the normal vitamins and minerals acquired in the regular diet.” The pills were the product of “experiments by University of Iowa scientists”. The Hawkeyes were doing pretty well in 1957, too. “It is estimated that the 25 players so far have gulped approximately 30,000 pills since the season got underway.” That’s 1,200 pills per player! But, “as they built up their energy the dosage decreased to 20 a day.” Warren Lahr, a linebacker, joked “One day I may disintegrate and there will be nothing left but a pile of dust.” I wonder what they were taking?
A headline in Friday’s paper said that the “Orange is Pitt ‘Starting Gate’ in Plans to Go All the Way”. They meant to a third straight bowl from their present record of 3-3. Syracuse was supposed to be the first of four “sacrificial lambs” to close out the Panther’s schedule. “The Syracuseans found themselves characterized in the Pittsburgh newspapers as ‘weak’ and ‘sub-par’ and more than one writer ventured the opinion that this game should be an easy one for the Panthers.” A crowd of 35-40,000 people were expected to be there to turn “thumbs down” on the visitors. Not only was Syracuse the underdog for the first time all season, they were 9 point underdogs. The paper reported that college football attendance in the east was up by 9%. But Syracuse was down by 30%, total attendance in the first three games in Archbold dropping from 99,975 to 70,823. NJB. (No Jim Brown)
Syracuse was seeking its first ever win in Pittsburgh. One of those charming cartoons sports pages used in the old days, a panther was shown with three buckets tied to his tail, reading Oklahoma 26 Pitt 0, Army 29 Pitt 13 and Notre Dame 13 Pitt 7. In front of the Panther was a Syracuse gridder with a fourth bucket with a question mark on it, wondering “Maybe there’s room for one more.”
