SWC75
Bored Historian
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(Now that the football season is winding down, I'm back at this.)
A four team playoff wouldn’t have done in 1951: the top six teams in the final polls were all undefeated. Tennessee, who probably would have been voted #1 for 1950 if there had been a poll after the bowls that year, opened 1951 atop the pre-season poll and never lost during the regular season. That should have settled matters and indeed the Volunteers were #1 in the final polls, which were again taken before the bowls. Thus they are listed in the record books as the “national champion” for 1951. But their status was uncertain enough that they were removed from that positon four different weeks- and then they, like Oklahoma the year before – lost their bowl game, only the second team since the polls began to win the ‘national championship’ and then get beat on New Year’s Day. To modern eyes, that plunges 1951 into chaos. So if you prefer chaos to order, 1951 is your year!
The Vols beat Mississippi State in their opener 14-0. But the headlines were won by Michigan State, who crushed their former tormentor, Michigan 25-0 in Ann Arbor. Basically the two Michigan schools would switch positions in the 1950’s and 1960’s, then change back in the 1970’s and beyond, with the Wolverines regaining dominance under Bo Schembechler. But in 1951 it was about Biggie Munn, who had taken his entire Syracuse staff, including SU grad Duffy Daughterty, to East Lansing in 1947 with promises of higher salaries, a higher budget and better facilities. He used that to turn the Spartans, who had been a mid-major into a national power and get them into the Big Ten. But they hadn’t yet been able to schedule enough Big Ten games to contend for the title. That put them in a trap, because as conference members, the only bowl they were allowed to go to was the Rose Bowl and because they couldn’t contend for the title, they couldn’t get there. That would become an important factor in the “Who’s Number 1?” debate.
The big victory over Michigan thrust the Spartans into first place in the second poll. Tennessee dropped all the way to third place, behind California, who was seeking their fourth straight undefeated season and Rose Bowl berth under another SU grad, Pappy Waldorf. They’d lost close games in the Rose Bowl the three previous years and were anxious to break that streak. (They would but not in the way they wanted.) They’d come east to try to impress the Big-city sports writers by beating the University of Pennsylvania, a respectable power in those days before the Ivys de-emphasized. They were ranked #19 in the pre-season poll but the Golden Bears destroyed them 35-0. That was enough to push the Vols into 3rd place.
I have book called “Football’s Unforgettable Games” with a chapter entitled “The Spartans Supreme”. It’s about Michigan State’s confrontation with Ohio State in Columbus, their first meeting with the Buckeyes in 39 years. Ohio State had a new coach, a young man named Woody Hayes, who had some success at Denison and then Miami University, and he was anxious to prove himself against the upstart Spartans. He had available to him the services of Vic Janowicz, the 1950 Heisman trophy winner for 1950. The book has a picture from the game, showing Spartan fullback Dick Panin being tackled after a shot game. As was often done in those days, both teams are in colored jerseys. Ohio State, in fact had not only scarlet jerseys but also pants, with white helmets, numbers and trim. The Spartans are in their traditional green helmets and jerseys with white pants, numbers and trim. I think it was TV- which was black and white in those days, that insisted that the road team wear white jerseys. Back then, college football was even more colorful than it is today. It must have been quite a sight.
Bob Carey opened the scoring with a field goal for the visitors. Ohio State’s QB, Tony Curcillo, passes of 19, 28 and 21 yards to get to the Spartan 3. After they recovered their own fumble on the 15, Janowicz three to Ray Hamilton for the score but his kick was wide. The Buckeyes then turned back a Michigan State drive at their own 6 but Janowicz was forced to punt from his own end zone. A good return put the ball on the Ohio State 37. Quarterback AL Dorow, halfbacks Don McAuliffe and Vince Pisano and Panin alternated carrying the ball before McAulliffe went over from the 1. Carey kicked the point to make it 10-6. “Ohio State answered with a 72 yard drive featuring a 37 yard pass from Curcillo to Janowicz.” Vic then took it over form the 1 and kicked the point to make it 10-13, which was the halftime score.
The third quarter was scoreless. Early in the 4th quarter, Ohio State extended the lead with a 50 yard drive, ending in a 25 yard pass from Curcillo to Janowicz. With 10 minutes to play, the Spartans were not supreme at all, 10-20. Dorow took to the air, passing to 5-7 165 Leroy Bolden and handing off to Panin and Pisano to get to the OSU 4 where, on 4th down, Al hit Paul Dekker for the score. Carey’s kick made it 17-20 with 5 minutes left. Hayes ordered his team to run out the clock with the running game and they were doing that when they fumbled at their own 45. Panin fumbled it right back but the quick Bolden managed to fall on the ball and keep it away from the Buckeyes. They got to the 28, then tried a trick play with the ball being snapped to the fullback, who ran into the line but first slipped the ball to Dorow who lateralled to Tom Yewcic, a back-up QB, (and future MLB and AFL player), who sprinted to the sideline and threw a pass over the outstretched arms of the one Buckeye who wasn’t fooled – Janowicz- to Dorow, who caught it at the 11. Even then, Al had to elude three men to get to the end zone. The Spartans were supreme, 24-20, and retained their #1 ranking - for another week.
The following week they came up totally flat against Marquette, (then a Midwest mid-major who would go 4-6-1 that season). They fell behind 6-14 in the fourth quarter and had to make another come-back to win 20-14. That dropped them back to third in the polls and California took the top spot. The Bears promptly lost to Southern California 14-21, which put the Vols back in first place. They and the Spartans were 1-2 for the next two weeks. A bye week apparently hurt MSU and they dropped from 2nd to 5th in the writer’s poll, 3rd in the coach’s. Three other undefeated teams, Illinois, Maryland and Princeton slipped ahead of them, according to the writer’s. That week they all won. Tennessee crushed Washington & Lee 60-14. Illinois beat Iowa 40-13. Maryland sunk the Navy 40-21. Princeton walloped Harvard 54-13. But the Spartans played Notre Dame on national TV and totally dominated, winning 35-0. The signature play was an 88 yard run by Dick Panin, who was so excited he pumped his arms like he was trying to win the Kentucky Derby
This remarkable montage of images from the Spartans 28 game winning streak, (1950-53), shows several plays from the Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame games of 1951. Panin’s run is at the 4:23 mark and the winning play at Ohio State is the final play, (at 5:06).
They shot right back up to #1 in the next poll, with Tennessee, Illinois, Stanford, Maryland and Princeton behind them. All had perfect records. Just behind them was Georgia Tech, undefeated except for a 14-14 tie with Duke. The Spartans then did exactly what they did after the Ohio State game. The stumbled their way through a 30-26 win over a 2-7 Indiana team. The headline the next day in the Detroit Free Press read “Champions one Week, Stumblebums the next”. Tennessee, who had beaten Mississippi 46-21, resumed 1st place and would keep it. Illinois got tied by Ohio State 0-0 and dropped to #6. Stanford went to 9-0 and was #3. Maryland was on a major roll and crushed NC State 53-0. Princeton, who had the 1951 Heisman winner, Dick Kazmaier, beat Yale 27-7. Georgia Tech beat Alabama by the same score. Stanford moved up to 3rd, Maryland to 4th and Princeton to 5th. Illinois was still ranked over Georgia Tech at 6th.
On November 24th, California, who by now had lost twice, beat Stanford 20-7. The other undefeateds all won: Tennessee 28-0 over #9 Kentucky, Michigan State 45-7 over Colorado, Maryland, taking no prisoners, 54-7 over West Virginia, Princeton 13-0 over Dartmouth, Illinois 3-0 over Northwestern and Georgia Tech 34-7 over Davidson. Stanford fell to #8 and Maryland moved up to #3 and Illinois to #4. Princeton stayed at #5 and Tech became #6. There wasn’t much action the final week of the regular season: Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 35-27 and Georgia Tech swamped Georgia 48-6. The Jackets were turning things around in their state the same way the Spartans had in theirs. That comparison would come to a head the following season.
For 1951, the final poll had #1 Tennessee 10-0-0, #2 Michigan State 9-0-0, #3 Maryland 9-0-0, #4 Illinois 8-0-1, (the last two reversed in the coach’s poll), #5 Georgia Tech 10-0-1 and #6 Princeton 9-0-0. Then came the bowls. Michigan State could not participate, as described above. The Ivies didn’t go bowling any more so Princeton stayed home. Georgia Tech beat #9 Baylor, (who had been 8-1-1), 17-14 in the Orange Bowl. Illinois rolled over Stanford 40-7 in the Rose Bowl. That game was actually close, (13-7), until the Illini broke it open with a 27 point fourth quarter. But they’d been dominant the whole game, out-rushing the Indians 361-53.
52 Rose Bowl highlights
But the big one was the Sugar Bowl where Maryland took on #1 Tennessee. Maryland Coach Jim Tatum: “We had been rated well but not on top. We had something to prove. Our boys were busting with eagerness. They just soaked up coaching.“ Tennessee coach Robert Neyland: “As for us, I couldn’t get any work out of our boys. They had won the national championship and thought just showing up would be enough to win the game. Maryland came out in a blaze of spirit, rushed our unprepared boys off their feet and sewed up the game in the first half.” Tatum’s strategy was to try to overpower the Vols up front with his line, led by 235 Dick Modzelewski and his fullback, Dick’s 215 pound brother, Ed along with halfbacks Ed Fullerton and Bob Shemonski. It worked. They out-rushed Tennessee 289-81 and out-gained them 351-156. The Modzelewksi boys played both ways and they bottled up the Vol’s star tailback, Hank Lauricella, who gained 1 yard in 7 carries and threw three interceptions. .
The Terps marched to a first period score by Fullerton from the 2. Lauricella then fumbled the kick-off and they took advantage of it on a pitch-out to Shemonski, who scored from the 7. They then recovered a fumble on Tennessee’s 47 and marched for a third score from the 1 by QB Jack Scarbath to make it 21-0. Tennessee finally responded with a 70 yard scoring drive ending with a 5 yard pass from Herky Payne to Bert Rechichar but the point was missed and if you thought Tennessee had a chance, you missed the point, too. Maryland added on a third quarter touchdown with a 46 interception return by Fullerton. A late Vol score made the final Maryland 28 Tennessee 13. The highlight film of the game is on You-Tube, in grainy color, narrated by the colorful Harry Wismer, (later the impoverished owner of the AFL’s New York Titans):
52 Rose Bowl highlights
(The football game begins at the 11 minute mark. Maryland is in red, Tennessee orange.)
Here is Richard Vautravers’ article on the 1951 season:
1951 College Football National Championship
He points out that there was another undefeated team: San Francisco, a small school with a big roster that included future NFL Hall of Famers Ollie Matson, Bob St. Clair, Gino Marchetti and Dick Stanfel. Their quarterback, Ed Brown, also played in the NFL for many years. Two things made their 9-0-0 season especially dramatic. The school wound up giving up football after that season and their last game was against Loyola of Los Angeles, (now Loyola Marymount), who had made the same decision. So it was the last game for both programs. But it didn’t’ have to be the Don’s last game. They obviously would have made an attractive bowl team, their story being nationally known. But they were an integrated team and the bowls, other than the Rose Bowl, which was locked up by the Big Ten and the Pacific Coast Conference, were all in the deep south and USF was an integrated team. They might have been chosen had they agreed not to play their black players. They declined so they never got the invite. They were #14 in the final poll, the highest they were ranked all season.
ESPN - 51 Dons
(Note: I’m guessing that it was Baylor, the lower ranked team, who displaced USF, not Georgia Tech.)
Vautravers also points out that Maryland was in the Southern Conference at the time. That conference had a rule against accepting a bowl game without conference permission and then passed a rule banning bowl game for conference members altogether. Tatum wanted a crack at Tennessee and threatened to resign if Maryland didn’t ignore the conference measures. The school backed him up. Clemson also rebelled and went to the Gator Bowl to play Miami in a rematch of the previous year’s Orange Bowl. This rebellion led to the top football schools in the Southern Conference, (which had also given birth to the SEC back in 1930), to leave the conference and form the ACC, which began in 1953.
He also notes that Maryland had been the last team to beat Michigan State, in East Lansing the year before by a convincing 34-7. But that was 1950 and this was 1951. But he concludes the Spartans should rank behind both the Terps and the Vols because of the inconsistency of their performances. They played more ranked teams than either but they played to the level of the opposition while both Maryland and Tennessee beat the good teams and dominated the bad ones. He doesn’t consider a case for the two teams that had a tie, Illinois and Georgia Tech or the two mid-majors, Princeton and San Francisco.
A four team playoff wouldn’t have done in 1951: the top six teams in the final polls were all undefeated. Tennessee, who probably would have been voted #1 for 1950 if there had been a poll after the bowls that year, opened 1951 atop the pre-season poll and never lost during the regular season. That should have settled matters and indeed the Volunteers were #1 in the final polls, which were again taken before the bowls. Thus they are listed in the record books as the “national champion” for 1951. But their status was uncertain enough that they were removed from that positon four different weeks- and then they, like Oklahoma the year before – lost their bowl game, only the second team since the polls began to win the ‘national championship’ and then get beat on New Year’s Day. To modern eyes, that plunges 1951 into chaos. So if you prefer chaos to order, 1951 is your year!
The Vols beat Mississippi State in their opener 14-0. But the headlines were won by Michigan State, who crushed their former tormentor, Michigan 25-0 in Ann Arbor. Basically the two Michigan schools would switch positions in the 1950’s and 1960’s, then change back in the 1970’s and beyond, with the Wolverines regaining dominance under Bo Schembechler. But in 1951 it was about Biggie Munn, who had taken his entire Syracuse staff, including SU grad Duffy Daughterty, to East Lansing in 1947 with promises of higher salaries, a higher budget and better facilities. He used that to turn the Spartans, who had been a mid-major into a national power and get them into the Big Ten. But they hadn’t yet been able to schedule enough Big Ten games to contend for the title. That put them in a trap, because as conference members, the only bowl they were allowed to go to was the Rose Bowl and because they couldn’t contend for the title, they couldn’t get there. That would become an important factor in the “Who’s Number 1?” debate.
The big victory over Michigan thrust the Spartans into first place in the second poll. Tennessee dropped all the way to third place, behind California, who was seeking their fourth straight undefeated season and Rose Bowl berth under another SU grad, Pappy Waldorf. They’d lost close games in the Rose Bowl the three previous years and were anxious to break that streak. (They would but not in the way they wanted.) They’d come east to try to impress the Big-city sports writers by beating the University of Pennsylvania, a respectable power in those days before the Ivys de-emphasized. They were ranked #19 in the pre-season poll but the Golden Bears destroyed them 35-0. That was enough to push the Vols into 3rd place.
I have book called “Football’s Unforgettable Games” with a chapter entitled “The Spartans Supreme”. It’s about Michigan State’s confrontation with Ohio State in Columbus, their first meeting with the Buckeyes in 39 years. Ohio State had a new coach, a young man named Woody Hayes, who had some success at Denison and then Miami University, and he was anxious to prove himself against the upstart Spartans. He had available to him the services of Vic Janowicz, the 1950 Heisman trophy winner for 1950. The book has a picture from the game, showing Spartan fullback Dick Panin being tackled after a shot game. As was often done in those days, both teams are in colored jerseys. Ohio State, in fact had not only scarlet jerseys but also pants, with white helmets, numbers and trim. The Spartans are in their traditional green helmets and jerseys with white pants, numbers and trim. I think it was TV- which was black and white in those days, that insisted that the road team wear white jerseys. Back then, college football was even more colorful than it is today. It must have been quite a sight.
Bob Carey opened the scoring with a field goal for the visitors. Ohio State’s QB, Tony Curcillo, passes of 19, 28 and 21 yards to get to the Spartan 3. After they recovered their own fumble on the 15, Janowicz three to Ray Hamilton for the score but his kick was wide. The Buckeyes then turned back a Michigan State drive at their own 6 but Janowicz was forced to punt from his own end zone. A good return put the ball on the Ohio State 37. Quarterback AL Dorow, halfbacks Don McAuliffe and Vince Pisano and Panin alternated carrying the ball before McAulliffe went over from the 1. Carey kicked the point to make it 10-6. “Ohio State answered with a 72 yard drive featuring a 37 yard pass from Curcillo to Janowicz.” Vic then took it over form the 1 and kicked the point to make it 10-13, which was the halftime score.
The third quarter was scoreless. Early in the 4th quarter, Ohio State extended the lead with a 50 yard drive, ending in a 25 yard pass from Curcillo to Janowicz. With 10 minutes to play, the Spartans were not supreme at all, 10-20. Dorow took to the air, passing to 5-7 165 Leroy Bolden and handing off to Panin and Pisano to get to the OSU 4 where, on 4th down, Al hit Paul Dekker for the score. Carey’s kick made it 17-20 with 5 minutes left. Hayes ordered his team to run out the clock with the running game and they were doing that when they fumbled at their own 45. Panin fumbled it right back but the quick Bolden managed to fall on the ball and keep it away from the Buckeyes. They got to the 28, then tried a trick play with the ball being snapped to the fullback, who ran into the line but first slipped the ball to Dorow who lateralled to Tom Yewcic, a back-up QB, (and future MLB and AFL player), who sprinted to the sideline and threw a pass over the outstretched arms of the one Buckeye who wasn’t fooled – Janowicz- to Dorow, who caught it at the 11. Even then, Al had to elude three men to get to the end zone. The Spartans were supreme, 24-20, and retained their #1 ranking - for another week.
The following week they came up totally flat against Marquette, (then a Midwest mid-major who would go 4-6-1 that season). They fell behind 6-14 in the fourth quarter and had to make another come-back to win 20-14. That dropped them back to third in the polls and California took the top spot. The Bears promptly lost to Southern California 14-21, which put the Vols back in first place. They and the Spartans were 1-2 for the next two weeks. A bye week apparently hurt MSU and they dropped from 2nd to 5th in the writer’s poll, 3rd in the coach’s. Three other undefeated teams, Illinois, Maryland and Princeton slipped ahead of them, according to the writer’s. That week they all won. Tennessee crushed Washington & Lee 60-14. Illinois beat Iowa 40-13. Maryland sunk the Navy 40-21. Princeton walloped Harvard 54-13. But the Spartans played Notre Dame on national TV and totally dominated, winning 35-0. The signature play was an 88 yard run by Dick Panin, who was so excited he pumped his arms like he was trying to win the Kentucky Derby
This remarkable montage of images from the Spartans 28 game winning streak, (1950-53), shows several plays from the Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame games of 1951. Panin’s run is at the 4:23 mark and the winning play at Ohio State is the final play, (at 5:06).
They shot right back up to #1 in the next poll, with Tennessee, Illinois, Stanford, Maryland and Princeton behind them. All had perfect records. Just behind them was Georgia Tech, undefeated except for a 14-14 tie with Duke. The Spartans then did exactly what they did after the Ohio State game. The stumbled their way through a 30-26 win over a 2-7 Indiana team. The headline the next day in the Detroit Free Press read “Champions one Week, Stumblebums the next”. Tennessee, who had beaten Mississippi 46-21, resumed 1st place and would keep it. Illinois got tied by Ohio State 0-0 and dropped to #6. Stanford went to 9-0 and was #3. Maryland was on a major roll and crushed NC State 53-0. Princeton, who had the 1951 Heisman winner, Dick Kazmaier, beat Yale 27-7. Georgia Tech beat Alabama by the same score. Stanford moved up to 3rd, Maryland to 4th and Princeton to 5th. Illinois was still ranked over Georgia Tech at 6th.
On November 24th, California, who by now had lost twice, beat Stanford 20-7. The other undefeateds all won: Tennessee 28-0 over #9 Kentucky, Michigan State 45-7 over Colorado, Maryland, taking no prisoners, 54-7 over West Virginia, Princeton 13-0 over Dartmouth, Illinois 3-0 over Northwestern and Georgia Tech 34-7 over Davidson. Stanford fell to #8 and Maryland moved up to #3 and Illinois to #4. Princeton stayed at #5 and Tech became #6. There wasn’t much action the final week of the regular season: Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 35-27 and Georgia Tech swamped Georgia 48-6. The Jackets were turning things around in their state the same way the Spartans had in theirs. That comparison would come to a head the following season.
For 1951, the final poll had #1 Tennessee 10-0-0, #2 Michigan State 9-0-0, #3 Maryland 9-0-0, #4 Illinois 8-0-1, (the last two reversed in the coach’s poll), #5 Georgia Tech 10-0-1 and #6 Princeton 9-0-0. Then came the bowls. Michigan State could not participate, as described above. The Ivies didn’t go bowling any more so Princeton stayed home. Georgia Tech beat #9 Baylor, (who had been 8-1-1), 17-14 in the Orange Bowl. Illinois rolled over Stanford 40-7 in the Rose Bowl. That game was actually close, (13-7), until the Illini broke it open with a 27 point fourth quarter. But they’d been dominant the whole game, out-rushing the Indians 361-53.
52 Rose Bowl highlights
But the big one was the Sugar Bowl where Maryland took on #1 Tennessee. Maryland Coach Jim Tatum: “We had been rated well but not on top. We had something to prove. Our boys were busting with eagerness. They just soaked up coaching.“ Tennessee coach Robert Neyland: “As for us, I couldn’t get any work out of our boys. They had won the national championship and thought just showing up would be enough to win the game. Maryland came out in a blaze of spirit, rushed our unprepared boys off their feet and sewed up the game in the first half.” Tatum’s strategy was to try to overpower the Vols up front with his line, led by 235 Dick Modzelewski and his fullback, Dick’s 215 pound brother, Ed along with halfbacks Ed Fullerton and Bob Shemonski. It worked. They out-rushed Tennessee 289-81 and out-gained them 351-156. The Modzelewksi boys played both ways and they bottled up the Vol’s star tailback, Hank Lauricella, who gained 1 yard in 7 carries and threw three interceptions. .
The Terps marched to a first period score by Fullerton from the 2. Lauricella then fumbled the kick-off and they took advantage of it on a pitch-out to Shemonski, who scored from the 7. They then recovered a fumble on Tennessee’s 47 and marched for a third score from the 1 by QB Jack Scarbath to make it 21-0. Tennessee finally responded with a 70 yard scoring drive ending with a 5 yard pass from Herky Payne to Bert Rechichar but the point was missed and if you thought Tennessee had a chance, you missed the point, too. Maryland added on a third quarter touchdown with a 46 interception return by Fullerton. A late Vol score made the final Maryland 28 Tennessee 13. The highlight film of the game is on You-Tube, in grainy color, narrated by the colorful Harry Wismer, (later the impoverished owner of the AFL’s New York Titans):
52 Rose Bowl highlights
(The football game begins at the 11 minute mark. Maryland is in red, Tennessee orange.)
Here is Richard Vautravers’ article on the 1951 season:
1951 College Football National Championship
He points out that there was another undefeated team: San Francisco, a small school with a big roster that included future NFL Hall of Famers Ollie Matson, Bob St. Clair, Gino Marchetti and Dick Stanfel. Their quarterback, Ed Brown, also played in the NFL for many years. Two things made their 9-0-0 season especially dramatic. The school wound up giving up football after that season and their last game was against Loyola of Los Angeles, (now Loyola Marymount), who had made the same decision. So it was the last game for both programs. But it didn’t’ have to be the Don’s last game. They obviously would have made an attractive bowl team, their story being nationally known. But they were an integrated team and the bowls, other than the Rose Bowl, which was locked up by the Big Ten and the Pacific Coast Conference, were all in the deep south and USF was an integrated team. They might have been chosen had they agreed not to play their black players. They declined so they never got the invite. They were #14 in the final poll, the highest they were ranked all season.
ESPN - 51 Dons
(Note: I’m guessing that it was Baylor, the lower ranked team, who displaced USF, not Georgia Tech.)
Vautravers also points out that Maryland was in the Southern Conference at the time. That conference had a rule against accepting a bowl game without conference permission and then passed a rule banning bowl game for conference members altogether. Tatum wanted a crack at Tennessee and threatened to resign if Maryland didn’t ignore the conference measures. The school backed him up. Clemson also rebelled and went to the Gator Bowl to play Miami in a rematch of the previous year’s Orange Bowl. This rebellion led to the top football schools in the Southern Conference, (which had also given birth to the SEC back in 1930), to leave the conference and form the ACC, which began in 1953.
He also notes that Maryland had been the last team to beat Michigan State, in East Lansing the year before by a convincing 34-7. But that was 1950 and this was 1951. But he concludes the Spartans should rank behind both the Terps and the Vols because of the inconsistency of their performances. They played more ranked teams than either but they played to the level of the opposition while both Maryland and Tennessee beat the good teams and dominated the bad ones. He doesn’t consider a case for the two teams that had a tie, Illinois and Georgia Tech or the two mid-majors, Princeton and San Francisco.
