SWC75
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1952 wasn’t a complicated year: it came down to two teams. What was complicated was that one team was from the North and the other from the South. The Civil War wasn’t over: it was just transferred from the battlefield to the football field.
Michigan State opened as the #1 team in the pre-season poll, followed by Maryland, followed by Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, California, Texas Christian and Notre Dame. In the first week, Colorado tied Oklahoma 21-21, UCLA took care of TCU, 14-0 and Penn tied Notre Dame, 7-7. Everybody else won. The next week, Wisconsin, with this big fullback, Alan “the Horse” Ameche, rolled over Illinois 20-6. They took over the #1 spot because the Spartans barely scraped by Oregon State 17-14. Texas, who had somehow jumped to #5 from #11 after beating unranked North Carolina, got swatted waway by the Irish 14-3. In week 3, the badgers got beat by Ohio State23-14. While the Spartans destroyed Texas A&M 48-6. Pittsburgh bumped off #9 Notre Dame 22-19.
In week 4, Michigan State hosted Syracuse, the school Biggie Munn and his staff had come from to set up the MSU program. Ben Schwartzwalder would win his first Lambert trophy as the best team in the East that year but they were the second best team in the Stadium at East Lansing. Here is my description of the game from my 1952 version of “The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold”:
“Whatever doubt as to whose day this would be ended with the opening kick-off. Bob Leberman bobbled it into the end zone and was tackled for a safety trying to retrieve it. SU’s subsequent kick-off was returned to the Orange 40. SU managed to hold on downs at the 10. But the Orange couldn’t move it either and Don Althouse punted to Jim Ellis at the Spartan 42. Ellis made a bee line downs the sidelines for 58 yards and the score. The extra point made it 0-9.
Things went from bad to worse as Pat Stark fumbled attempting to pass and had to fall on the ball back at the SU 4 and a partially blocked punt went out of bounds on the SU 22. Valiantly trying to stay in the game, the Orange held again but again had to punt. They punted the ball seemingly out of danger at the Michigan State 35. This time the Spartans scored in 6 plays, keyed by a 46 yard run by Don McAuliffe on a sweep. McAuliffe took it over from the seven. After a penalty, the Spartans missed the extra point and it was 0-15.
SU again couldn’t move the ball and Althouse again punted to the Spartan 35- and the Spartans again scored, this time on a lengthy drive in which no play went longer than 10 yards, the distance of Billy Wells’ touchdown run. The PAT was no good and it was 0-21 with only 11 minutes gone.
This time SU put on a decent drive to the State 24, where a Pat Stark pass was picked off. This time the Spartans went 76 yards, the key play being a 12 yard scramble by Tom Yewcic which became a 27 yard play when he was hit out of bounds. Dick Panin went up the middle for 14 yards and Leroy Bolden scored from the three. The extra point was again missed but it hardly mattered at 0-27. SU was unable to capitalize on a Jack Westcott interception of a Willie Thrower pass and the half ended.
The third quarter was more of the same. Taking possession after another Althouse punt at their own 40, State drove for a 5th touchdown, scored by Harold Benson on a 13 yard run. This time the conversion was good. As if the home team needed any help, Bill Moll fumbled on the second play after the kickoff, giving State the ball on the SU 29. “With three linemen pulling and giving him a rampaging convoy”, Bolden ran off tackle for the entire 29 yards in one play. Due to all the practice he was getting, the Spartan kicker was able to kick another extra point to make it 0-41.
Syracuse finally forced a punt with three minutes to go in the third quarter but an Ed Yaple fumble gave it right back on the State 39. Willie Thower passed and ran his team down the field to the final score, Bert Zagers plunging over for the final score. The extra point made it 0-48 early in the fourth quarter.
A 37 yard run by Leberman, tiptoeing down the sidelines, set up the only Syracuse score. Stark threw a pass to Mark Hoffman, who had the ball pop out of his hands on a hard tackle. Dick Beyer managed to grab the ball on the run and ran it in from the 24. Jim George finally got to try an extra point and the final score was Syracuse 7 Michigan State 48.
There was nothing misleading about that score. State ran for 358 yards on the overmatched Orange and had 24 first downs. They only had to pass for 49 yards. As Roy Simmons said, they had a weakness in converting extra points, missing three of them. But that’s the sort of weakness where, the more it is displayed, the less it matters. Syracuse, ever the polite guest, fumbled seven times and lost three of them, along with an interception. The Orange managed 90 yards rushing and 124 passing but were never in the game. Ben Schwartzwalder said the Spartans were the finest team he’d ever seen. SU had jumped into the deep end of the pool and drowned, not for the last time this season.
There was talk of a game between the two schools in 1953 but State had to fill its schedule with Big Ten teams, (they would win the conference and defeat UCLA in the Rose Bowl). They also didn’t want to come east to play for a smaller crowd in Archbold than they could get in their 50,000 seat stadium. A suggestion that SU could travel to East Lansing for the second game was turned down. They didn’t want to do that again.”
In week five California lost to USC, 0-10. Going into week 6 the top teams were Michigan State, Maryland, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Southern Cal, Duke and UCLA, all undefeated with only the Sooner’s week 1 tie at Colorado marring any of their records. That week Georgia Tech stung Duke 28-7. That moved them up to #3 in the next poll. Then Oklahoma lost to Notre Dame 21-27 to fall out of contention. Red Blaik had revitalized the Army program after the cribbing scandal but they were no match for the Yellow Jackets in week seven, going down hard, 6-45. That moved the Jackets above Maryland into second place.
Going into week 8 we had a top 5, all with perfect records: Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, UCLA and Southern Cal. The latter two were scheduled to meet in week 9 but the others could still run the table. But Maryland was upset first 14-21 by Mississippi and then by that Alabama team that also sent the ’52 Orangemen “over the falls”, 7-27. Now they were out of it.
There are two USC-UCLA games that tower above all others. One is the 1967, my choice for the greatest college football game of all time, a 1 vs. 2 affair with LA bragging rights, the conference championship, the Rose Bowl, the national championship and the Heisman Trophy all on the line in a game won by USC 21-20 on a dramatic 64 yard run by OJ. The other was the 1952 game where both teams were 8-0-0, with UCLA ranked #3 and USC #4. They had four common opponents the Bruins had beaten by a combined 1 more point than the Trojans. Before 96,867 fans, UCLA opened the scoring with a field goal after a fumble recovery. And intercepted pass prevented them from adding to their league. The Trojans turned the game around with a 70 yard play in which Al Carmichael lateralled to Jim Sears that gave them a 7-3 lead. There was an issue as to whether Carmichael’s forward progress was stopped. A reporter asked Red Sanders, the UCLA coach, if the play was legal.
The Bruins scored a safety after a bad USC snap rolled into the end zone. A short punt then produced a short touchdown drive, giving the bruins back their lead, 12-7 at halftime. They took the second half kickoff and marched to the USC 18, looking to put the game away but an interception was returned 72 yards to the UCLA 8 by All-American Elmer Willhoite. On fourth down Sears passed to Carmichael for the go-ahead score and the 14-12 lead held up through the second half. (Source: “The Best little Rivalry in Town” by Jody Brown.)
The next week the Trojans jumped over Georgia Tech into the #2 slot. Then they traveled to South Bend to play 6-2-1 Notre Dame. On a frozen field, lost 0-9, to take themselves out of the national championship race. Sears tried another lateral to Carmichael on a punt return but he wasn’t expecting it and Notre Dame recovered at the USC 19, setting up the game sonly touchdown. Carmichael later slipped at his own 5 returning a kick-off and, after forcing a punt the Irish kicked a field goal. Meanwhile the Trojans blew opportunity after opportunity to score, including a Carmichael punt return to the Notre dame 1 that was pushed back to the 29 by penalties. They then threw an interception. On other occasions they got to the Notre Dame 31, 33, 18 and 3 without scoring, thanks to turnovers, penalties, failed fourth down tries and a missed field goal. (Source: “The Glamour Game” by Bill Cromatrie and Jody Brown.) They headed for a New Year’s Day date with Wisconsin at 8-1, not 9-0. (Michigan State still didn’t play enough big ten games to win the conference and go there themselves or else it would have Spartans vs. Trojans.)
Michigan State had closed out their season at 9-0-0. Georgia Tech beat Georgia 23-9. Coach Bobby Dodd had lost his first two games to Wally Butt’s Georgia powerhouses, 0-33 and 7-35. In 1947 he broke through to win 7-0. After a 13-21 loss in 1948, Dodd beat Butts 8 times in a row by a combined 176-39. Something similar was going on in Michigan, where upstart Michigan State had won only 6 of 39 games against Michigan when Biggie Munn took over in 1947. Michigan had won 55-7 in 1946 and beat Munn’s 1947 team 55-0. But the next year it was only 13-7. Then, in 1949 it was 7-3. The Spartans broke through in 1950 with a 14-7 win, their first in the series since 1937. In 1951 it was 25-0. From 1950-67, they would beat the Wolverines 13 times with 3 losses and 2 ties and out-score them 359-152. Now the two upstarts were the last teams standing for the national championship. The Spartans were #1 and the yellow Jackets #2 in the final poll.
Michigan State had no bowl game but Georgia Tech met undefeated, (but with 2 ties), Mississippi, the conquerors of mighty Maryland , in the Sugar Bowl and beat the Rebels, a new power in the south from whom much would be heard in the next decade, 24-7. Ole Miss was looking for another big upset when they took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession after a 57 yard drive. Then they pounced on a Tech fumble at the 19. They got to the Tech 1 inch line but surrendered the ball on downs. Rebel coach Johnny Vaught claimed his runner was over the line but was pushed back but there was no replay to review in those days. The Jackets then recovered a fumble of their own and drove 49 yards for the tying score, catching their own mid-air fumble at the Ole Miss 9. A long pass set the Rebels up at the Tech 5. But they gained only 1 yard in four tries. (They must not have had much of a kicker). The Tech line began to take over the game and they drove to the Mississippi 5 where they did kick a field goal to make it 10-7. Tech scored a TD after Mississippi fumbled on their first second half possession, although there was a controversy when Leon Hardman “a 5 foot 6 bowling ball” seemed to go down to his knee on the 3. There was another controversy when Tech fumbled a punt but the refs claimed to have seen a fair catch signal which one writer described as “something like a wave to his girlfriend”. Tech drove to the Rebel 2 but were stopped in the third goal line stand of the game. But they got the ball back and quarterback Pepper Rodgers threw a 24 yard TD pass to Jeff Knox to close the scoring. Tech only outgained the Rebels 295-287 but benefited form 6 turnovers. (Sources: “The Sugar Bowl” by Marty Mule and “Big Bowl Football” by Fred Russell and George Leonard.) Dodd won his first 8 bowl games before losing 4 of his last 5. During the streak, he was asked for the secret of his success. He said it was light practices. “There’s no point in rough scrimmages before a bowl game. Your top players learn nothing playing against the third team and you risk injury.”
Ben Schwartwalder put his team through the ringer for the Orange Bowl and they were flattened by Alabama 61-6. Texas gained revenge for their loss to Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl two years before in a 16-0 win that ended Bob Neyland’s coaching career. Southern Cal won a dull Rose Bowl from Wisconsin, 7-0, the only Pac 8 win in the first 13 years of the Rose Bowl contract with the Big Ten. A key stat was that the Trojans averaged 52 yards a punt to the Badgers 39. They would play a much more memorable Rose Bowl game a decade later.
Here’s a fuzzy-looking four part clip of the Sugar Bowl highlights but in color and with narration:
1953 Sugar Bowl 1st quarter
(The game itself finally begins at 5:48. This is the first quarter: the other four quarters can be seen in clips to the right.)
And here is an excellent documentary on Georgia Tech’s 1952 season, a sort of scrapbook history:
1952 Georgia Tech National Champions, SEC Champions, Sugar Bowl Champions
Here’s another, featuring interviews with the players:
1952 Georgia Tech Football - A Perfect Season - Highlights and Interviews of Players
You will note that in neither documentary is there any mention of Michigan State. There are also no black faces.
Of the NCAA-approved selectors AP, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, UPI and Williamson chose Michigan State while Berryman, INS and Poling preferred Georgia Tech. Among the non-NCAA selectors I found on the internet, (most of which include margin of victory in their comparisons), Time Travel, Sorenson and Taylor pick Michigan State but Dolphin, Howell, Square Gear, Waits and Wilson all choose Georgia Tech. Bill Libby, author of “Champions of College Football”, said “Michigan State could claim a piece of the crown in 1951 and the whole thing in 1952, although Georgia Tech also was undefeated and untied this time around”. Robert Leckie in “The Story of Football”: “The following year the Spartans were unstoppable: the green and white colors were hoisted over the football world.” “College Football’s 25 Greatest Teams” by the Sporting News” has a chapter on the 1952 Michigan State team. They do not have one on the 1952 Georgia Tech team.
TSN ranks the 1952 Spartans the 19th greatest team of all time, (the book came out in 1988). The chapter is entitled “Biggie’s Little Big Men”. It’s written by Jack Ebling, who says “It wasn’t their size but their technique and toughness that ultimately mattered.” Frank Kush, their “mayhem-minded middle guard of defense”, said “the greatest thing we had going for us wasn’t our talent. It was togetherness and poise. We never pushed the panic button.” TSN says they had three All-Americans: Kush, halfback Don McAuliffe and linebacker Dick Tamburo but “Munn’s Spartans were basically a blue-collar bunch with unmatched tactics and toughness.” On offense, Michigan State baffled opponents with probably the most complex system in football, a multiple offense that boasted innumerable variations of the wing and T formations. The state-of-the-art attack was Munn’s brainchild, but he still remained committed to the fundamentals.” Munn: “After 30 years of football as a player and coach, I’ve learned it is a simple game. There are only two things to it: blocking and tackling.” Munn was also fond of strange motivational tactics, according to Tamburo: “Before on game, he pulled alit torch out from behind his back and screamed “Men, you’ve got to catch fire!” Kush: “We had some damn tough guys, I’ll tell you that. Don Dahoney was a tough SOB and (Bill) Quinlan would just kick the hell out of you”. Middle Linebacker Doug Weaver: Kush would knock your ass off. I think he had a fight every practice. Me – I just wanted to jump off the pile with my back to the press box.” After a too-close-for-comfort game against Oregon State, Munn grabbed a bunch of newspapers and angrily threw them on the clubhouse floor, saying “here’s your press clippings!” One the players, Ray Vogt, picked on up and said “hey! They spelled my name right!” They won the next game 48-6.
Comments on the two teams: Dodd called his 1952 team “the best I ever coached”. Duke Coach Bill Murray called tech “the greatest team in the country.” Army’s Red Blaik: “I never compare teams but I repeat: This team could play in any league.” Texas A&M coach Ray George on Michigan State: “It isn’t so much what their first and second teams do to you but the third, fourth and fifth teams simply murder you. Charles Clapp, sports editor of the grand Rapids herald, after the Spartans had overcome a 0-13 deficit to beat Michigan going away, 27-13: “Magnificent Michigan State, the Rocky Marciano of football, got off the floor twice this beautiful afternoon and clearly proved it’s right to be considered the nation’s #1 team.” Ben Schwartzwalder said the Spartans were the finest team he’d ever seen. Munn himself said his 1952 team was, ”undoubtedly the strongest, deepest club we’d yet had at Michigan State”.
Both Michigan State and Georgia Tech were notably small teams, even by 1950’s standards and used quickness and efficiency to make up for it. The above documentary, (with the interviews) describes the Georgia tech players, including “defensive guards that weighed 185 pounds” and 5-6 running back Leon Hardaway. Michigan State had the “Pony Backfield” they sometimes used of QB Tom Yewcic (5-11 172) and halfbacks LeRoy Bolden (5-7 ½ 157), Bill Wells (5-9 175) and ‘fullback’ Evan Slonac (5-8 170). McAuliffe was a comparative giant at 190 pounds. Frank Kush was a 5-7 180 guard.
Both teams had exceptional coaching staffs. Bobby Dodd had future Arkansas legend frank Broyles and Ray graves, who became the long-time coach at Florida, (where he tutored Steve Spurrier). Biggie Munn had his successor, Duffy Daughterty, Dan Devine, later coach at Missouri, the Green Bay Packers and Notre Dame, future NC State coach Earle Edwards and Steve Sebo, who wound up at Penn. Forrest Evashevski was already at Iowa and Bob Devaney would join the staff the next year. Munn, (and thus his mentor, Ossie Solem), had one of the great coaching trees of all time. Pepper Rodgers, the Tech QB and Kush went on to be famous coaches as well.
Richard Vautravers has the two teams as co-champions, although if he had to pick one it would be Georgia Tech because they beat more ranked teams:
1952 College Football National Championship
That’s makes the total score 17 selectors for Michigan State and 9 for Georgia Tech.
Here are the top five teams from sources that gave full rankings:
AP (writer’s poll)- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Southern California
UPI (coach’s poll)-Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Southern California (tied for #4)
Dolphin - Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Southern California, UCLA, Texas
Howell- Georgia Tech, Southern California, Michigan State, UCLA, Oklahoma
Poling- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Southern California, UCLA
Sorenson- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Southern California, Notre Dame, UCLA
Square Gear- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Southern California, UCLA, Notre Dame
Time Travel- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Southern California, Notre Dame, Oklahoma,
Vautravers- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Southern California
Waits- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Alabama, Southern California, Notre Dame
Wilson- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Alabama, Southern California, Notre Dame
So how did the Spartans and Yellow Jackets do against ranked teams?
Penn State was #17 when Michigan State beat them 34-7 = 36 points, (9 for playing the #17 team and 27 for beating them by that margin.)
Purdue was #8 when Michigan State beat them 14-7 = 18+7= 25 points.
Notre Dame was #6 when Michigan State beat them 21-3 = 20+18 = 38 points.
Duke was #6 when Georgia Tech beat them 28-7 = 20+21 = 41 points.
Alabama was #12 when Georgia Tech beat them 7-3 = 14 + 4 = 18 points.
Mississippi was #7 when Georgia Tech beat them 24-7 = 19 + 17 = 36 points
Both teams played 3 ranked teams. Michigan State got 99 points for their performances, Georgia Tech 95. Not much to choose from there.
Michigan State played 9 major college opponents and beat them all by a combined 312-84 (34.7-9.3) Those opponents had a combined record of 40-39-6 (.506).
Georgia Tech played 11 major college opponents and beat all of them by a combined 295-59 (26.8-5.4). Those opponents had a combined record of 62-44-7 (.585).
Streaks: Michigan State won 28 straight games from October 14, 1950 to October 17, 1953. Georgia tech was undefeated for 31 consecutive games from November 25, 1950 through October 17, 1953, although they had two ties. Both streaks ended on the same day: October 24, 1953 when the Spartans were upset 0-6 at Purdue while Georgia Tech lost a confrontation with Notre Dame in South Bend, 14-27.
Team Stats: Michigan State was second in the country in scoring with 34.7 per game. They were third in total offense with 428.7ypg and 5th in rushing with 272.4. They were first in rushing defense with 83.9ypg. Georgia tech was second in the country in scoring defense at 5.4ppg. They were also second in total defense at 173.2ypg, 8th in rushing defense at 106.8 and 5th in pass defense at 66.4.
The teams had no common opponents, (there were few north-south games in those days with segregation being an issue for so many schools, including Georgia Tech whose only non-southern opponent was Army). I know what people say about comparative scores but they can become somewhat meaningful if you have a lot of them. Besides, they are fun.
Michigan State beat:
Michigan 27-13 who beat Northwestern 48-14 who tied Vanderbilt 20-20 who lost to Georgia tech 0-30 = +18 for Michigan State
Oregon State 17-14 who lost to Southern California 6-28 who beat Army 22-0 who lost to Georgia tech 6-45 = +34 for Georgia Tech
Texas A&M 48-6 who lost to Kentucky 7-10 who tied Mississippi 13-13, beat Tulane 27-6 and lost to Florida 0-27, (net -6) who lost to Georgia Tech 7-24, 0-14 and 14-17, respectively (a net +34)I’ll average that over 3 games to (34-6)/3 = +9 for Tech = +30 for Michigan State.
Syracuse 48-7 who lost to Alabama 6-61 who lost to Georgia Tech 3-7 = +18 for Georgia Tech
Penn State 34-7 who beat Pennsylvania 14-7 who lost to Georgia 27-34 who lost to Georgia Tech 9-23 = +13 for Michigan State.
Purdue 14-7 who lost to Notre Dame 12-26 who beat North Carolina 34-14 who lost to Duke 0-34 who lost to Georgia Tech 7-28 = +42 for Georgia Tech.
Indiana 41-14 who lost to Pittsburgh 7-28 who beat Army 22-14 who lost to Georgia Tech 6-45 = +25 for Georgia Tech.
Notre Dame 21-3 who beat Navy 17-6 who beat Duke 16-6 who lost to Georgia Tech 7-28 = +18 Michigan State.
Marquette 62-13 who lost to U of Miami 6-20 who lost to Alabama 7-21, Vanderbilt 0-9, Florida 6-43 and Georgia 13-35, a total of -82. Georgia Tech beat those teams 7-3, 30-0, 17-14 and 23-9, a total of +51. 51 + 82 /4 teams = +33 for Georgia Tech = +2 for Michigan State.
That’s a total of +38 for Georgia Tech over 9 games, an average of +4 for the Jackets over the Spartans, who nonetheless won 5 of the 9 comparisons. Maybe the biggest thing about that stat is that it isn’t decisive. It doesn’t make it obvious who was the better team.
Then there’s my favorite stat, point differential rankings. If you beat a team by more than anyone else, (or tied a team that didn’t lose a game or lost to a team that won all its games by the smallest margin) you get a “1”. If one other team did better, you get a “2”. If two other teams did better, you get a “3”. You average the rankings for each opponent to get, on the average, how good an opponent that you were. It’s a measure of power and consistency.
Michigan State beat Michigan 27-13. Ohio State beat them 27-7 = 2 points.
Michigan State beat Oregon State by 17-14. Stanford beat them 41-28. USC beat them 28-6. Washington State beat them 33-20. Washington beat them 38-13. UCLA beat them 57-0. Idaho beat them 27-6. = 7 points = 7 points.
Michigan State beat Texas A&M by 48-6. Texas came the closest to that at 32-12 = 1 point.
Michigan State beat Syracuse 48-7 but Alabama beat them 61-6 = 2 points.
Michigan State beat Penn State 34-7. The only other team to beat them was Syracuse 25-7 = 1 point
Michigan State beat Purdue 14-7. Notre Dame beat them 26-14 and Michigan beat them 21-10 = 3 points.
Michigan State beat Indiana 41-14. The next best was Wisconsin, 37-14.= 1 point.
Michigan State beat Notre Dame 21-3. The only other team to beat them was Pittsburgh, 22-19 = 1 point.
Michigan State beat Marquette 62-13. The next best was Wisconsin, 42-19 = 1 point.
Total Points: 19 in 9 games = PDR of 2.11, (without that Oregon State game it would be 1.50 – but every game against a major college opponent counts.).
Georgia Tech beat the Citadel 54-6. The next best was South Carolina 35-0 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Florida 17-14. Vanderbilt beat them 20-13 and Tennessee beat them 26-12 = 3 points
Georgia Tech beat SMU 20-7. Kansas beat them 26-0 and Texas beat them 31-14 = 3 points.
Georgia Tech beat Tulane 14-0. Kentucky beat them 27-6 and LSU beat them 16-0 = 3 points.
Georgia Tech beat Auburn 33-0 . The next closest was Alabama 21-0 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Vanderbilt 30-0. Tennessee beat them 46-0 = 2 points
Georgia Tech beat Duke 28-7. The only other team to beat them was Navy 16-6 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Army 45-6. The next best was USC, 22-0 = 1 point
Georgia Tech beat Alabama 7-3. Tennessee beat them 20-0 = 2 points
Georgia Tech beat Florida State 30-0 but they were not yet a major college team.
Georgia Tech beat Georgia 23-9. Maryland beat them 37-0, Florida 30-0 and Alabama 34-19 = 4 points.
Georgia Tech beat Mississippi 24-7, the only team to beat them, although Kentucky (13-13) and Vanderbilt (21-21) had tied them = 1 point.
Total points: 22 over 12 games = 1.83 PDR. Again, a small advantage to Georgia Tech, thanks to that Oregon State game.
Both teams were very balanced and used a lot of players so they were too prominent in the individual statistics. I have the 1953 NCAA Guide, which lists the 1952 leaders. Evan Slonac was the 23rd leading scorer with 61 points on 4TDs and 37PATs. He’s the only one in the top 30 from either team. Bill Teas of Georgia Tech was the nation’s 17th leading rusher with 741 yards while teammate Leon Hardeman was 20th with 700. Despite the Spartans being 5th in the country in rushing with 271 yard per game, none of their players made the top 20. Neither team had a passer in the top 20 or anyone in the total offense top 20. It was the same with pass receivers.
The biggest voter getter for the Heisman Trophy on either team was Spartan halfback Don McAuliffe, who finished 8th with 164 votes. Oklahoma’s Billy Vessels won with 525 points. No player for either team appeared on any subsequent Heisman top tens. There were no Maxwell or Outland award winners on either team. Don Dohoney was the only consensus All-American on the Michigan State roster – and that was in 1953, (as an end). Georgia Tech had tackle Hal Miller in 1952 and Linebacker Larry Morris in 1953. Neither team had a college football Hall of Famer.
The following Michigan State players played pro ball:
Hank Bullough was a guard/linebacker for the Packers in 1955 and 1958, (2 years), and had a long career as an NFL coach. Former SU DC Chuck Bullough is his son.
Paul Dekker played from 1953-62, (10 years), for the Redskins and the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a wide receiver.
Al Dorow played from 1954-62, (9 years), for the Redskins, Eagles, CFL’s British Columbia Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts and then for the AFL’s New York Titans and Buffalo Bills. He was a quarterback.
Billy Wells played in 1954, 1956-58 and 1960, (5 years), for the Redskins, Steelers, Eagles and Patriots as a halfback.
Marv McFadden played 1953-56, (4 years), for the Steelers as a guard.
Bill Quinlan played tackle for the Hamilton Tigers Cats in 1954, the Browns 1957-58, the Packers from 1959-62, the Eagles in 1963, the Lions in 1964 and the redskins in 1965 (10 years) .
Willie Thrower played for the 1953 Bears. He was the first African-American NFL quarterback.
Tom Yewcic played baseball until 1959 then was a QB for the Patriots 1961-66 (6 years)
Bert Zagers played for the Redskins in 1955 and 1957-58 (3 years), as a DB/HB
That’s 9 players who played a total of 50 years, an average of 5.6 years per player.
Georgia Tech had these future pros:
Larry Morris played LB/FB/HB for the Rams, Bears and Falcons from 1955-66, (12 years).
Pete Brown played C/LB for the 1953-54 49ers, (2 years).
Hal Miller played tackle for the 1953 49ers.
George Morris played C/LB for the 1956 49ers.
That’s 4 players who played a total of 16 years, an average of 4.0 years per player.
Neither team had an NFL or CFL Hall of Famer.
If ever there was a year with co-national champions, this one is it. Having to choose one would be a very difficult task- except for one thing and I think it is a thing that may have had a lot to do with the writers and coaches picking the Spartans ahead of the Yellow Jackets. It may also be a reason why the Big 10 was considered the more prestigious conference than the SEC at the time. The voters had voted Big ten teams as #1 in 1936, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1948 and now in 1952. They didn’t pick and SEC team #1 until the 1951 Tennessee team. They would vote for Big Ten teams in 1954, 1957 and 1960. The SEC had a shared title in 1957 and won in 1958: in both years their champion was the only unbeaten team.
The “thing” is that the northern team used black players and played other teams who did. Georgia Tech did not. As you watch Georgia and Alabama play for this year’s national championship, imagine what those teams would be like without their black players. If had been the 1950’s, those black players would have been playing for what were then known as the “negro colleges”, making schools like Grambling, Tennessee State, Florida A&M and Morgan State the greatest small college teams that ever took the field. Games between those teams and schools like Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia tech would have been very interesting to watch. Or those black players might have come north to play for teams like Michigan State, Ohio State, Syracuse and others. It’s something to consider when evaluating the teams of this era. Still, based on most of the factors described above, Tech seems to be a comparable team to Michigan State. I guess they recruited enough top white players to be as good as the Spartans. Of course, since they played so many like-minded teams, it’s hard to tell if that’s really true.
So…Who is #1 for 1952?
Michigan State opened as the #1 team in the pre-season poll, followed by Maryland, followed by Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, California, Texas Christian and Notre Dame. In the first week, Colorado tied Oklahoma 21-21, UCLA took care of TCU, 14-0 and Penn tied Notre Dame, 7-7. Everybody else won. The next week, Wisconsin, with this big fullback, Alan “the Horse” Ameche, rolled over Illinois 20-6. They took over the #1 spot because the Spartans barely scraped by Oregon State 17-14. Texas, who had somehow jumped to #5 from #11 after beating unranked North Carolina, got swatted waway by the Irish 14-3. In week 3, the badgers got beat by Ohio State23-14. While the Spartans destroyed Texas A&M 48-6. Pittsburgh bumped off #9 Notre Dame 22-19.
In week 4, Michigan State hosted Syracuse, the school Biggie Munn and his staff had come from to set up the MSU program. Ben Schwartzwalder would win his first Lambert trophy as the best team in the East that year but they were the second best team in the Stadium at East Lansing. Here is my description of the game from my 1952 version of “The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold”:
“Whatever doubt as to whose day this would be ended with the opening kick-off. Bob Leberman bobbled it into the end zone and was tackled for a safety trying to retrieve it. SU’s subsequent kick-off was returned to the Orange 40. SU managed to hold on downs at the 10. But the Orange couldn’t move it either and Don Althouse punted to Jim Ellis at the Spartan 42. Ellis made a bee line downs the sidelines for 58 yards and the score. The extra point made it 0-9.
Things went from bad to worse as Pat Stark fumbled attempting to pass and had to fall on the ball back at the SU 4 and a partially blocked punt went out of bounds on the SU 22. Valiantly trying to stay in the game, the Orange held again but again had to punt. They punted the ball seemingly out of danger at the Michigan State 35. This time the Spartans scored in 6 plays, keyed by a 46 yard run by Don McAuliffe on a sweep. McAuliffe took it over from the seven. After a penalty, the Spartans missed the extra point and it was 0-15.
SU again couldn’t move the ball and Althouse again punted to the Spartan 35- and the Spartans again scored, this time on a lengthy drive in which no play went longer than 10 yards, the distance of Billy Wells’ touchdown run. The PAT was no good and it was 0-21 with only 11 minutes gone.
This time SU put on a decent drive to the State 24, where a Pat Stark pass was picked off. This time the Spartans went 76 yards, the key play being a 12 yard scramble by Tom Yewcic which became a 27 yard play when he was hit out of bounds. Dick Panin went up the middle for 14 yards and Leroy Bolden scored from the three. The extra point was again missed but it hardly mattered at 0-27. SU was unable to capitalize on a Jack Westcott interception of a Willie Thrower pass and the half ended.
The third quarter was more of the same. Taking possession after another Althouse punt at their own 40, State drove for a 5th touchdown, scored by Harold Benson on a 13 yard run. This time the conversion was good. As if the home team needed any help, Bill Moll fumbled on the second play after the kickoff, giving State the ball on the SU 29. “With three linemen pulling and giving him a rampaging convoy”, Bolden ran off tackle for the entire 29 yards in one play. Due to all the practice he was getting, the Spartan kicker was able to kick another extra point to make it 0-41.
Syracuse finally forced a punt with three minutes to go in the third quarter but an Ed Yaple fumble gave it right back on the State 39. Willie Thower passed and ran his team down the field to the final score, Bert Zagers plunging over for the final score. The extra point made it 0-48 early in the fourth quarter.
A 37 yard run by Leberman, tiptoeing down the sidelines, set up the only Syracuse score. Stark threw a pass to Mark Hoffman, who had the ball pop out of his hands on a hard tackle. Dick Beyer managed to grab the ball on the run and ran it in from the 24. Jim George finally got to try an extra point and the final score was Syracuse 7 Michigan State 48.
There was nothing misleading about that score. State ran for 358 yards on the overmatched Orange and had 24 first downs. They only had to pass for 49 yards. As Roy Simmons said, they had a weakness in converting extra points, missing three of them. But that’s the sort of weakness where, the more it is displayed, the less it matters. Syracuse, ever the polite guest, fumbled seven times and lost three of them, along with an interception. The Orange managed 90 yards rushing and 124 passing but were never in the game. Ben Schwartzwalder said the Spartans were the finest team he’d ever seen. SU had jumped into the deep end of the pool and drowned, not for the last time this season.
There was talk of a game between the two schools in 1953 but State had to fill its schedule with Big Ten teams, (they would win the conference and defeat UCLA in the Rose Bowl). They also didn’t want to come east to play for a smaller crowd in Archbold than they could get in their 50,000 seat stadium. A suggestion that SU could travel to East Lansing for the second game was turned down. They didn’t want to do that again.”
In week five California lost to USC, 0-10. Going into week 6 the top teams were Michigan State, Maryland, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Southern Cal, Duke and UCLA, all undefeated with only the Sooner’s week 1 tie at Colorado marring any of their records. That week Georgia Tech stung Duke 28-7. That moved them up to #3 in the next poll. Then Oklahoma lost to Notre Dame 21-27 to fall out of contention. Red Blaik had revitalized the Army program after the cribbing scandal but they were no match for the Yellow Jackets in week seven, going down hard, 6-45. That moved the Jackets above Maryland into second place.
Going into week 8 we had a top 5, all with perfect records: Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, UCLA and Southern Cal. The latter two were scheduled to meet in week 9 but the others could still run the table. But Maryland was upset first 14-21 by Mississippi and then by that Alabama team that also sent the ’52 Orangemen “over the falls”, 7-27. Now they were out of it.
There are two USC-UCLA games that tower above all others. One is the 1967, my choice for the greatest college football game of all time, a 1 vs. 2 affair with LA bragging rights, the conference championship, the Rose Bowl, the national championship and the Heisman Trophy all on the line in a game won by USC 21-20 on a dramatic 64 yard run by OJ. The other was the 1952 game where both teams were 8-0-0, with UCLA ranked #3 and USC #4. They had four common opponents the Bruins had beaten by a combined 1 more point than the Trojans. Before 96,867 fans, UCLA opened the scoring with a field goal after a fumble recovery. And intercepted pass prevented them from adding to their league. The Trojans turned the game around with a 70 yard play in which Al Carmichael lateralled to Jim Sears that gave them a 7-3 lead. There was an issue as to whether Carmichael’s forward progress was stopped. A reporter asked Red Sanders, the UCLA coach, if the play was legal.
The Bruins scored a safety after a bad USC snap rolled into the end zone. A short punt then produced a short touchdown drive, giving the bruins back their lead, 12-7 at halftime. They took the second half kickoff and marched to the USC 18, looking to put the game away but an interception was returned 72 yards to the UCLA 8 by All-American Elmer Willhoite. On fourth down Sears passed to Carmichael for the go-ahead score and the 14-12 lead held up through the second half. (Source: “The Best little Rivalry in Town” by Jody Brown.)
The next week the Trojans jumped over Georgia Tech into the #2 slot. Then they traveled to South Bend to play 6-2-1 Notre Dame. On a frozen field, lost 0-9, to take themselves out of the national championship race. Sears tried another lateral to Carmichael on a punt return but he wasn’t expecting it and Notre Dame recovered at the USC 19, setting up the game sonly touchdown. Carmichael later slipped at his own 5 returning a kick-off and, after forcing a punt the Irish kicked a field goal. Meanwhile the Trojans blew opportunity after opportunity to score, including a Carmichael punt return to the Notre dame 1 that was pushed back to the 29 by penalties. They then threw an interception. On other occasions they got to the Notre Dame 31, 33, 18 and 3 without scoring, thanks to turnovers, penalties, failed fourth down tries and a missed field goal. (Source: “The Glamour Game” by Bill Cromatrie and Jody Brown.) They headed for a New Year’s Day date with Wisconsin at 8-1, not 9-0. (Michigan State still didn’t play enough big ten games to win the conference and go there themselves or else it would have Spartans vs. Trojans.)
Michigan State had closed out their season at 9-0-0. Georgia Tech beat Georgia 23-9. Coach Bobby Dodd had lost his first two games to Wally Butt’s Georgia powerhouses, 0-33 and 7-35. In 1947 he broke through to win 7-0. After a 13-21 loss in 1948, Dodd beat Butts 8 times in a row by a combined 176-39. Something similar was going on in Michigan, where upstart Michigan State had won only 6 of 39 games against Michigan when Biggie Munn took over in 1947. Michigan had won 55-7 in 1946 and beat Munn’s 1947 team 55-0. But the next year it was only 13-7. Then, in 1949 it was 7-3. The Spartans broke through in 1950 with a 14-7 win, their first in the series since 1937. In 1951 it was 25-0. From 1950-67, they would beat the Wolverines 13 times with 3 losses and 2 ties and out-score them 359-152. Now the two upstarts were the last teams standing for the national championship. The Spartans were #1 and the yellow Jackets #2 in the final poll.
Michigan State had no bowl game but Georgia Tech met undefeated, (but with 2 ties), Mississippi, the conquerors of mighty Maryland , in the Sugar Bowl and beat the Rebels, a new power in the south from whom much would be heard in the next decade, 24-7. Ole Miss was looking for another big upset when they took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession after a 57 yard drive. Then they pounced on a Tech fumble at the 19. They got to the Tech 1 inch line but surrendered the ball on downs. Rebel coach Johnny Vaught claimed his runner was over the line but was pushed back but there was no replay to review in those days. The Jackets then recovered a fumble of their own and drove 49 yards for the tying score, catching their own mid-air fumble at the Ole Miss 9. A long pass set the Rebels up at the Tech 5. But they gained only 1 yard in four tries. (They must not have had much of a kicker). The Tech line began to take over the game and they drove to the Mississippi 5 where they did kick a field goal to make it 10-7. Tech scored a TD after Mississippi fumbled on their first second half possession, although there was a controversy when Leon Hardman “a 5 foot 6 bowling ball” seemed to go down to his knee on the 3. There was another controversy when Tech fumbled a punt but the refs claimed to have seen a fair catch signal which one writer described as “something like a wave to his girlfriend”. Tech drove to the Rebel 2 but were stopped in the third goal line stand of the game. But they got the ball back and quarterback Pepper Rodgers threw a 24 yard TD pass to Jeff Knox to close the scoring. Tech only outgained the Rebels 295-287 but benefited form 6 turnovers. (Sources: “The Sugar Bowl” by Marty Mule and “Big Bowl Football” by Fred Russell and George Leonard.) Dodd won his first 8 bowl games before losing 4 of his last 5. During the streak, he was asked for the secret of his success. He said it was light practices. “There’s no point in rough scrimmages before a bowl game. Your top players learn nothing playing against the third team and you risk injury.”
Ben Schwartwalder put his team through the ringer for the Orange Bowl and they were flattened by Alabama 61-6. Texas gained revenge for their loss to Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl two years before in a 16-0 win that ended Bob Neyland’s coaching career. Southern Cal won a dull Rose Bowl from Wisconsin, 7-0, the only Pac 8 win in the first 13 years of the Rose Bowl contract with the Big Ten. A key stat was that the Trojans averaged 52 yards a punt to the Badgers 39. They would play a much more memorable Rose Bowl game a decade later.
Here’s a fuzzy-looking four part clip of the Sugar Bowl highlights but in color and with narration:
1953 Sugar Bowl 1st quarter
(The game itself finally begins at 5:48. This is the first quarter: the other four quarters can be seen in clips to the right.)
And here is an excellent documentary on Georgia Tech’s 1952 season, a sort of scrapbook history:
1952 Georgia Tech National Champions, SEC Champions, Sugar Bowl Champions
Here’s another, featuring interviews with the players:
1952 Georgia Tech Football - A Perfect Season - Highlights and Interviews of Players
You will note that in neither documentary is there any mention of Michigan State. There are also no black faces.
Of the NCAA-approved selectors AP, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, UPI and Williamson chose Michigan State while Berryman, INS and Poling preferred Georgia Tech. Among the non-NCAA selectors I found on the internet, (most of which include margin of victory in their comparisons), Time Travel, Sorenson and Taylor pick Michigan State but Dolphin, Howell, Square Gear, Waits and Wilson all choose Georgia Tech. Bill Libby, author of “Champions of College Football”, said “Michigan State could claim a piece of the crown in 1951 and the whole thing in 1952, although Georgia Tech also was undefeated and untied this time around”. Robert Leckie in “The Story of Football”: “The following year the Spartans were unstoppable: the green and white colors were hoisted over the football world.” “College Football’s 25 Greatest Teams” by the Sporting News” has a chapter on the 1952 Michigan State team. They do not have one on the 1952 Georgia Tech team.
TSN ranks the 1952 Spartans the 19th greatest team of all time, (the book came out in 1988). The chapter is entitled “Biggie’s Little Big Men”. It’s written by Jack Ebling, who says “It wasn’t their size but their technique and toughness that ultimately mattered.” Frank Kush, their “mayhem-minded middle guard of defense”, said “the greatest thing we had going for us wasn’t our talent. It was togetherness and poise. We never pushed the panic button.” TSN says they had three All-Americans: Kush, halfback Don McAuliffe and linebacker Dick Tamburo but “Munn’s Spartans were basically a blue-collar bunch with unmatched tactics and toughness.” On offense, Michigan State baffled opponents with probably the most complex system in football, a multiple offense that boasted innumerable variations of the wing and T formations. The state-of-the-art attack was Munn’s brainchild, but he still remained committed to the fundamentals.” Munn: “After 30 years of football as a player and coach, I’ve learned it is a simple game. There are only two things to it: blocking and tackling.” Munn was also fond of strange motivational tactics, according to Tamburo: “Before on game, he pulled alit torch out from behind his back and screamed “Men, you’ve got to catch fire!” Kush: “We had some damn tough guys, I’ll tell you that. Don Dahoney was a tough SOB and (Bill) Quinlan would just kick the hell out of you”. Middle Linebacker Doug Weaver: Kush would knock your ass off. I think he had a fight every practice. Me – I just wanted to jump off the pile with my back to the press box.” After a too-close-for-comfort game against Oregon State, Munn grabbed a bunch of newspapers and angrily threw them on the clubhouse floor, saying “here’s your press clippings!” One the players, Ray Vogt, picked on up and said “hey! They spelled my name right!” They won the next game 48-6.
Comments on the two teams: Dodd called his 1952 team “the best I ever coached”. Duke Coach Bill Murray called tech “the greatest team in the country.” Army’s Red Blaik: “I never compare teams but I repeat: This team could play in any league.” Texas A&M coach Ray George on Michigan State: “It isn’t so much what their first and second teams do to you but the third, fourth and fifth teams simply murder you. Charles Clapp, sports editor of the grand Rapids herald, after the Spartans had overcome a 0-13 deficit to beat Michigan going away, 27-13: “Magnificent Michigan State, the Rocky Marciano of football, got off the floor twice this beautiful afternoon and clearly proved it’s right to be considered the nation’s #1 team.” Ben Schwartzwalder said the Spartans were the finest team he’d ever seen. Munn himself said his 1952 team was, ”undoubtedly the strongest, deepest club we’d yet had at Michigan State”.
Both Michigan State and Georgia Tech were notably small teams, even by 1950’s standards and used quickness and efficiency to make up for it. The above documentary, (with the interviews) describes the Georgia tech players, including “defensive guards that weighed 185 pounds” and 5-6 running back Leon Hardaway. Michigan State had the “Pony Backfield” they sometimes used of QB Tom Yewcic (5-11 172) and halfbacks LeRoy Bolden (5-7 ½ 157), Bill Wells (5-9 175) and ‘fullback’ Evan Slonac (5-8 170). McAuliffe was a comparative giant at 190 pounds. Frank Kush was a 5-7 180 guard.
Both teams had exceptional coaching staffs. Bobby Dodd had future Arkansas legend frank Broyles and Ray graves, who became the long-time coach at Florida, (where he tutored Steve Spurrier). Biggie Munn had his successor, Duffy Daughterty, Dan Devine, later coach at Missouri, the Green Bay Packers and Notre Dame, future NC State coach Earle Edwards and Steve Sebo, who wound up at Penn. Forrest Evashevski was already at Iowa and Bob Devaney would join the staff the next year. Munn, (and thus his mentor, Ossie Solem), had one of the great coaching trees of all time. Pepper Rodgers, the Tech QB and Kush went on to be famous coaches as well.
Richard Vautravers has the two teams as co-champions, although if he had to pick one it would be Georgia Tech because they beat more ranked teams:
1952 College Football National Championship
That’s makes the total score 17 selectors for Michigan State and 9 for Georgia Tech.
Here are the top five teams from sources that gave full rankings:
AP (writer’s poll)- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Southern California
UPI (coach’s poll)-Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Southern California (tied for #4)
Dolphin - Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Southern California, UCLA, Texas
Howell- Georgia Tech, Southern California, Michigan State, UCLA, Oklahoma
Poling- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Southern California, UCLA
Sorenson- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Southern California, Notre Dame, UCLA
Square Gear- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Southern California, UCLA, Notre Dame
Time Travel- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Southern California, Notre Dame, Oklahoma,
Vautravers- Michigan State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Southern California
Waits- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Alabama, Southern California, Notre Dame
Wilson- Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Alabama, Southern California, Notre Dame
So how did the Spartans and Yellow Jackets do against ranked teams?
Penn State was #17 when Michigan State beat them 34-7 = 36 points, (9 for playing the #17 team and 27 for beating them by that margin.)
Purdue was #8 when Michigan State beat them 14-7 = 18+7= 25 points.
Notre Dame was #6 when Michigan State beat them 21-3 = 20+18 = 38 points.
Duke was #6 when Georgia Tech beat them 28-7 = 20+21 = 41 points.
Alabama was #12 when Georgia Tech beat them 7-3 = 14 + 4 = 18 points.
Mississippi was #7 when Georgia Tech beat them 24-7 = 19 + 17 = 36 points
Both teams played 3 ranked teams. Michigan State got 99 points for their performances, Georgia Tech 95. Not much to choose from there.
Michigan State played 9 major college opponents and beat them all by a combined 312-84 (34.7-9.3) Those opponents had a combined record of 40-39-6 (.506).
Georgia Tech played 11 major college opponents and beat all of them by a combined 295-59 (26.8-5.4). Those opponents had a combined record of 62-44-7 (.585).
Streaks: Michigan State won 28 straight games from October 14, 1950 to October 17, 1953. Georgia tech was undefeated for 31 consecutive games from November 25, 1950 through October 17, 1953, although they had two ties. Both streaks ended on the same day: October 24, 1953 when the Spartans were upset 0-6 at Purdue while Georgia Tech lost a confrontation with Notre Dame in South Bend, 14-27.
Team Stats: Michigan State was second in the country in scoring with 34.7 per game. They were third in total offense with 428.7ypg and 5th in rushing with 272.4. They were first in rushing defense with 83.9ypg. Georgia tech was second in the country in scoring defense at 5.4ppg. They were also second in total defense at 173.2ypg, 8th in rushing defense at 106.8 and 5th in pass defense at 66.4.
The teams had no common opponents, (there were few north-south games in those days with segregation being an issue for so many schools, including Georgia Tech whose only non-southern opponent was Army). I know what people say about comparative scores but they can become somewhat meaningful if you have a lot of them. Besides, they are fun.
Michigan State beat:
Michigan 27-13 who beat Northwestern 48-14 who tied Vanderbilt 20-20 who lost to Georgia tech 0-30 = +18 for Michigan State
Oregon State 17-14 who lost to Southern California 6-28 who beat Army 22-0 who lost to Georgia tech 6-45 = +34 for Georgia Tech
Texas A&M 48-6 who lost to Kentucky 7-10 who tied Mississippi 13-13, beat Tulane 27-6 and lost to Florida 0-27, (net -6) who lost to Georgia Tech 7-24, 0-14 and 14-17, respectively (a net +34)I’ll average that over 3 games to (34-6)/3 = +9 for Tech = +30 for Michigan State.
Syracuse 48-7 who lost to Alabama 6-61 who lost to Georgia Tech 3-7 = +18 for Georgia Tech
Penn State 34-7 who beat Pennsylvania 14-7 who lost to Georgia 27-34 who lost to Georgia Tech 9-23 = +13 for Michigan State.
Purdue 14-7 who lost to Notre Dame 12-26 who beat North Carolina 34-14 who lost to Duke 0-34 who lost to Georgia Tech 7-28 = +42 for Georgia Tech.
Indiana 41-14 who lost to Pittsburgh 7-28 who beat Army 22-14 who lost to Georgia Tech 6-45 = +25 for Georgia Tech.
Notre Dame 21-3 who beat Navy 17-6 who beat Duke 16-6 who lost to Georgia Tech 7-28 = +18 Michigan State.
Marquette 62-13 who lost to U of Miami 6-20 who lost to Alabama 7-21, Vanderbilt 0-9, Florida 6-43 and Georgia 13-35, a total of -82. Georgia Tech beat those teams 7-3, 30-0, 17-14 and 23-9, a total of +51. 51 + 82 /4 teams = +33 for Georgia Tech = +2 for Michigan State.
That’s a total of +38 for Georgia Tech over 9 games, an average of +4 for the Jackets over the Spartans, who nonetheless won 5 of the 9 comparisons. Maybe the biggest thing about that stat is that it isn’t decisive. It doesn’t make it obvious who was the better team.
Then there’s my favorite stat, point differential rankings. If you beat a team by more than anyone else, (or tied a team that didn’t lose a game or lost to a team that won all its games by the smallest margin) you get a “1”. If one other team did better, you get a “2”. If two other teams did better, you get a “3”. You average the rankings for each opponent to get, on the average, how good an opponent that you were. It’s a measure of power and consistency.
Michigan State beat Michigan 27-13. Ohio State beat them 27-7 = 2 points.
Michigan State beat Oregon State by 17-14. Stanford beat them 41-28. USC beat them 28-6. Washington State beat them 33-20. Washington beat them 38-13. UCLA beat them 57-0. Idaho beat them 27-6. = 7 points = 7 points.
Michigan State beat Texas A&M by 48-6. Texas came the closest to that at 32-12 = 1 point.
Michigan State beat Syracuse 48-7 but Alabama beat them 61-6 = 2 points.
Michigan State beat Penn State 34-7. The only other team to beat them was Syracuse 25-7 = 1 point
Michigan State beat Purdue 14-7. Notre Dame beat them 26-14 and Michigan beat them 21-10 = 3 points.
Michigan State beat Indiana 41-14. The next best was Wisconsin, 37-14.= 1 point.
Michigan State beat Notre Dame 21-3. The only other team to beat them was Pittsburgh, 22-19 = 1 point.
Michigan State beat Marquette 62-13. The next best was Wisconsin, 42-19 = 1 point.
Total Points: 19 in 9 games = PDR of 2.11, (without that Oregon State game it would be 1.50 – but every game against a major college opponent counts.).
Georgia Tech beat the Citadel 54-6. The next best was South Carolina 35-0 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Florida 17-14. Vanderbilt beat them 20-13 and Tennessee beat them 26-12 = 3 points
Georgia Tech beat SMU 20-7. Kansas beat them 26-0 and Texas beat them 31-14 = 3 points.
Georgia Tech beat Tulane 14-0. Kentucky beat them 27-6 and LSU beat them 16-0 = 3 points.
Georgia Tech beat Auburn 33-0 . The next closest was Alabama 21-0 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Vanderbilt 30-0. Tennessee beat them 46-0 = 2 points
Georgia Tech beat Duke 28-7. The only other team to beat them was Navy 16-6 = 1 point.
Georgia Tech beat Army 45-6. The next best was USC, 22-0 = 1 point
Georgia Tech beat Alabama 7-3. Tennessee beat them 20-0 = 2 points
Georgia Tech beat Florida State 30-0 but they were not yet a major college team.
Georgia Tech beat Georgia 23-9. Maryland beat them 37-0, Florida 30-0 and Alabama 34-19 = 4 points.
Georgia Tech beat Mississippi 24-7, the only team to beat them, although Kentucky (13-13) and Vanderbilt (21-21) had tied them = 1 point.
Total points: 22 over 12 games = 1.83 PDR. Again, a small advantage to Georgia Tech, thanks to that Oregon State game.
Both teams were very balanced and used a lot of players so they were too prominent in the individual statistics. I have the 1953 NCAA Guide, which lists the 1952 leaders. Evan Slonac was the 23rd leading scorer with 61 points on 4TDs and 37PATs. He’s the only one in the top 30 from either team. Bill Teas of Georgia Tech was the nation’s 17th leading rusher with 741 yards while teammate Leon Hardeman was 20th with 700. Despite the Spartans being 5th in the country in rushing with 271 yard per game, none of their players made the top 20. Neither team had a passer in the top 20 or anyone in the total offense top 20. It was the same with pass receivers.
The biggest voter getter for the Heisman Trophy on either team was Spartan halfback Don McAuliffe, who finished 8th with 164 votes. Oklahoma’s Billy Vessels won with 525 points. No player for either team appeared on any subsequent Heisman top tens. There were no Maxwell or Outland award winners on either team. Don Dohoney was the only consensus All-American on the Michigan State roster – and that was in 1953, (as an end). Georgia Tech had tackle Hal Miller in 1952 and Linebacker Larry Morris in 1953. Neither team had a college football Hall of Famer.
The following Michigan State players played pro ball:
Hank Bullough was a guard/linebacker for the Packers in 1955 and 1958, (2 years), and had a long career as an NFL coach. Former SU DC Chuck Bullough is his son.
Paul Dekker played from 1953-62, (10 years), for the Redskins and the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a wide receiver.
Al Dorow played from 1954-62, (9 years), for the Redskins, Eagles, CFL’s British Columbia Lions, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts and then for the AFL’s New York Titans and Buffalo Bills. He was a quarterback.
Billy Wells played in 1954, 1956-58 and 1960, (5 years), for the Redskins, Steelers, Eagles and Patriots as a halfback.
Marv McFadden played 1953-56, (4 years), for the Steelers as a guard.
Bill Quinlan played tackle for the Hamilton Tigers Cats in 1954, the Browns 1957-58, the Packers from 1959-62, the Eagles in 1963, the Lions in 1964 and the redskins in 1965 (10 years) .
Willie Thrower played for the 1953 Bears. He was the first African-American NFL quarterback.
Tom Yewcic played baseball until 1959 then was a QB for the Patriots 1961-66 (6 years)
Bert Zagers played for the Redskins in 1955 and 1957-58 (3 years), as a DB/HB
That’s 9 players who played a total of 50 years, an average of 5.6 years per player.
Georgia Tech had these future pros:
Larry Morris played LB/FB/HB for the Rams, Bears and Falcons from 1955-66, (12 years).
Pete Brown played C/LB for the 1953-54 49ers, (2 years).
Hal Miller played tackle for the 1953 49ers.
George Morris played C/LB for the 1956 49ers.
That’s 4 players who played a total of 16 years, an average of 4.0 years per player.
Neither team had an NFL or CFL Hall of Famer.
If ever there was a year with co-national champions, this one is it. Having to choose one would be a very difficult task- except for one thing and I think it is a thing that may have had a lot to do with the writers and coaches picking the Spartans ahead of the Yellow Jackets. It may also be a reason why the Big 10 was considered the more prestigious conference than the SEC at the time. The voters had voted Big ten teams as #1 in 1936, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1948 and now in 1952. They didn’t pick and SEC team #1 until the 1951 Tennessee team. They would vote for Big Ten teams in 1954, 1957 and 1960. The SEC had a shared title in 1957 and won in 1958: in both years their champion was the only unbeaten team.
The “thing” is that the northern team used black players and played other teams who did. Georgia Tech did not. As you watch Georgia and Alabama play for this year’s national championship, imagine what those teams would be like without their black players. If had been the 1950’s, those black players would have been playing for what were then known as the “negro colleges”, making schools like Grambling, Tennessee State, Florida A&M and Morgan State the greatest small college teams that ever took the field. Games between those teams and schools like Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia tech would have been very interesting to watch. Or those black players might have come north to play for teams like Michigan State, Ohio State, Syracuse and others. It’s something to consider when evaluating the teams of this era. Still, based on most of the factors described above, Tech seems to be a comparable team to Michigan State. I guess they recruited enough top white players to be as good as the Spartans. Of course, since they played so many like-minded teams, it’s hard to tell if that’s really true.
So…Who is #1 for 1952?
