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Show s. In The Background though they had every right to a .couple of times. Instead, they walked off the Gopher gridiron with heads high and a minimum of gripe. Here's what they had to face: Although game films clearly show that Utah definitely scored a two-point two-point conversion when quarterback Tim Collins lugged the ball to the goal line at 12-7 Utah, the officials ruled otherwise. They claimed that Collins' knees touched the ground before he made it into the end zone. But instead of screaming "robbery", the Utes bore down and almost pulled out the victory. And what can yoi do besides grit your teeth? Threatening complaints com-plaints to the press, league president, presi-dent, or Congress by a coach about officiating never does any good. Enemies are created, but But Minnesota Min-nesota and ' the Big 10 remain friends of Uteville. Instead Gid-dings' Gid-dings' men shook hands and congratulated con-gratulated the victors though deep down in their hearts . . .. If anything, their courage was even greater than their sportsmanship. sportsman-ship. It takes guts to push a national-power around in their own backyard, but Utah did just that against Minnesota, a three touchdown touch-down favorite by the Midwest press. But not even newsmen can measure mea-sure that great intangible, heart. The Utes had it. When defensive end Gary Kerl, mean on the field but personable off it, said "I think we'll beat Minnesota" a couple of days before the game, he wasn't bragging. He was showing his courage cour-age and his will to win. He also showed it when he caused a Gopher fumble which set up Utah's second . t.d. So did sophomore quarterback Tim Collins who came off the bench to hit on eight of 13 pass attempts in the first college game of his life. So did Norm McBride and Dwight Staten when they made a flock of tackles against some of the best college backs anywhere. So did the whole damn team. When Utah came off the field, they oozed the confidence of winners win-ners which they just about were. Minnesota will attest to that. And with a little luck, so will ten more opponents. It's a team to be proud of. By Mac Backman n: Can Utah's football -vcuskins pick up where they left i off? Why not? As is now widely known Coach Mike Giddings' men pushed Minnesota's Gophers all over the field. Statistically, Utah had the game all the way except ex-cept on the scoreboard which read 13-12 for Minnesota. Consider these marks: Utah earned 20 first downs to the Gopher's Goph-er's 10. On the ground, Utah gained (, 253 yards to Minnesota's 86. Utah's 5 quarterbacks Jack Gehrke and Tim Collins outflung 'em 153 yards to 1 123. t I On and on. And against a team which is considered a darkhorse candidate for the Big 10 title. On their own field, yet. But the world must go on and Utah must forget last Saturday's disaster. There are ten more games to play in '67. In fact, Oregon Ore-gon opens Utah's home seasfi Saturday Sat-urday at 1:30 p.m. in Ute Stadium. The Utah-Oregon series has become be-come a bitter rivalry. Two years ago, Oregon convincingly defeated Utah 31-14 in Ute Bowl. So thorough thor-ough was, the Duck victory that Utah never completely recovered that season. In 1965, the Ute log was 3-7. Ute assistant Bob Watson's Wat-son's neck was red for weeks after that one. Last year, Utah confounded all experts by squeezing past Oregon, 17-14, in, of all places, Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks never recovered recov-ered from THAT defeat and went on to a bad season. As they say in the trade, they want at each other and bad. Oregon asistant coach Eddie Johns was a Mike Giddings aide last season. He knows the Ute coach's methods thoroughly. Of course, Giddings and his staff know Ore-) Ore-) gon's plays like a book, too. Team ' ability notwithstanding, Saturday's (fame may be decided by the team 1 with the better scouting reports. Utah, on the basis of their Minnesota Min-nesota showing, must be favored to win this battle of winless but gallant gal-lant teams. Oregon's 0-2 record is not an indication of their strength. California caught them on "one of those days" two weeks ago while Colorado had to fight to protect a 17-14 win over Oregon, Saturday. Grapevine has it that Oregon is an explosive team which could break out their doldrums at any time. The Utes hope that it's not Saturday Satur-day afternoon. Against Minnesota, the Utes could't have been more sportsmanlike sportsman-like after a tough defeat. The Utes proved themselves as athletes. But they impressed a lot of people as gentlemen, too. The officiating in Minneapolis was, frankly, punk. The Utes never complained at least, publicly |
