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Show . curt: I SPORTUGHT Kazmaier Is Among Greatest Bad rintor: Bv GRANTLAND RICE NEW YORK It may be considered consid-ered a piece of heresy to compare any modern back with Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, Walter Eckersall and one or two more from the glory road of the past. But that is the way it happens to be at this date with a number of football experts in their rating of Dick Kazmaier. Dick Kazmaier is the Princeton passer pass-er and runner who practically wrecked a good Cornell team, using both the turf and the air for this purpose. But Kazmaier's fame doesn't stop with the game against the big red. Certainly Charlie Caldwell is ' in the running as coach of the ,aj Everyone knows Tennessee"' around strength. But so far3 , schedule hasn't been too hi1 teams are to be ranked on .:1 p they have beaten. tj Michigan State has had a flexes: close and harrowing aftern agre Illinois has had a terrific yea . the matter of accomplishme , could be accorded first place, ', mai The Tllini have handled U.C;, is Wisconsin, Syracuse, Washi'iVer and Indiana. In Karras, the 'j 2 and Orange has one of the y L star backs. 1 Jjj Illinois and Georgia Tech handled the rougher paths a:en) the top teams, although Sou".( California must be given a JS s rating. And so must Stanford.tjH The game they are still tt a L about is Army's stand agaiitec good Columbia team. The goaien play of Red Blaik's high-sp:ase squad won't be soon forgotten. ri tainry not by Columbia. 0UJ arti Where's The Defense? Anyone who cares to look ' over Saturday's scores might r up and ask one simple que:" "What's become of football'i'9 n. fense?" 1 w Here may be found all the ' cn one needs of how far the de has slipped back of the offensi1, re most any team can score, when it is outclassed. The mat jjj swer is this the great unp.. ment in forward passing both. cerning the passers and thi.1 ceivers. Potent passers are p ful across the nation. :ansi There was a time when foilss only had two or three highv, th passers. They were extre scarce. Now they clog up the , th puses. Kazmaier, Isbell, Ag;;n j Parilli, Price, Franz, Parks, Henrich and so many more yoi hardly count 'em. J This is the only answer I 0( , give you. S.M.TJ.'s passer piliere 26 or 27 points against a good lpills Grantland Rlc. Hue. .has t be?n thet shining star in most of Princeton's victories. There has been no game since Dick put on an orange and black jersey wherein he failed to star. You might remember that Kazmaier, Kaz-maier, from Maumee, Ohio, was the sole surviving member from Princeton's Prince-ton's brilliant offensive squad last fall. The other 10 regulars had left him, with younger talent coming on. What happened in his Cornell test? Kazmaier completed 15. out of 17 passes for close to a .900 percentage. per-centage. He picked up more than 230 yards with his right arm. His legs gathered in an additional 120 yards as a ball carrier. He led an attack that scored 53 points against an unbeaten rival, rated Princeton's equal before the game. In my opinion Kazmaier was probably the best back of 1950, considering con-sidering his all-around value. As far back as 1888 and 1889 Princeton had a back known as Knowlton (Snake) Ames. Princeton never had a better all-around all-around back until Kazmaier came along. And it isn't a question now as to whether Kazmaier is the best back of 1951, which he undoubtedly is, but as to how he will be ranked with the best backs of football. I doubt that anyone has had the amazing over-all running elusive-ness elusive-ness of Grange and Thorpe. But Dick Kazmaier, a star runner on his own, is a much better passer than the redhead or the Indians in their prime. Princeton's High Place More than a few of us placed Princeton on a par with Tennessee or any other college squad 1-st fall. The Tiger may have been even better. His place today is equally high, although it is difficult to get many football writers away from the east to give an ivy team much credit. Dame team and scorns any ioifflcri running attack. That was bita Benners. The Southwest is pt,j p with riflemen who can hit i. ceiver in the eye at 40 yards.;ear, Notre Dame's Place m Where will Notre Dame's pla'Qii at the end of the road for ;o Frank Leahy will te" you tha t team has done far better tha thought it would. )n ( At the season's start I wrote. lng Frank to be on a radio pro ' in Baltimore, November 2. L "I'll be glad to be with you,. wrote, "if you don't mind b-j . the coach of a team that ha , 1 five games by that date." 11 He won four of the five. |