Show T Irish Army Tilt Would Be Grim By By GRANTLAND RICE RICE- T SAW Notre Dame beat Navy 40 to 0 and I saw Army beat Fordham 35 to 0 O. Fordham was unquestionably as good a team as probably better de de- de- de Navy was In looking at the two leading teams only a week apart it would be tougher than merely difficult to rank them Both are blessed with fast striking hard-striking backs who can pass run and block Both have w two b brilliant r ant rH fj quarterbacks in p. p 4 A Arnold r n 0 I d Galiffa o and Bob a b WilM Wil Wil- hams liams They are arek M k h 4 just about on a par Williams W 1111 a m s Iy t- t has a slight edge hi in n offensive worth Gallifa Galiffa in d e c f fen e n s i 1 v e 11 j i Grantland Rice strength w when h hen e n needed n In the matter of backfield strength Notre Dame has the call with more good backs Williams backs Williams Coutre etc vs Stephenson Galiffa Galifa Cain and Martin also Bob Blaik The top Army four can cnn match the top Notre Dame four but Notre Dame can reach in the fat for more runners There isn't much difference In Inthe Inthe inthe I the play of the two lines The main difference is that Army uses two sets of lines Notre Dame only one I doubt that Army has a group to match pound Hart pound and pound Martin Martin all all allcan can handle the better part of 60 minutes whenever needed Both teams are brilliantly coached Both have the ability to strike with such speed and devastation they can wreck good teams in less than 10 min min- Army's defensive line is about as strong as Notre Dames Im I'm not sure her offensive offensive offensive of of- play is quite as good although it is deeper Notre Dame proved against Michigan State that Frank Leahy needs his first team strength against strong opposition Michigan State grabbed 14 points before Leahy could blink twice as he rushed his first team back Into action after a 34 to 7 lead Army vs Notre Dame would be bea bea a terrific game Those who have seen Oklahoma in action tell me that Bud Wilkenson's outfit is an even match for either with just justas as much power and just as much around all speed The three dont don't happen to meet Among the unbeaten teams left we have Notre Noire Dame Army Oklahoma California Boston U. U Virginia and Cor Car nell None of these meet Every team in the Big Ten the Southwestern Southwestern Southwestern South South- western and the Southern conferences conferences con con- has been beaten most of them several times Fordham Ford- Ford Fordham ham barn is among those beaten only once and it should be stated here that Ed Danowski's Rams put pat up as gallant a fight against a Ii g a I Ins n S t superior numbers competitive experience and allaround allaround all all- ll- ll around class as anyone would care to see Outside of some three or four teams Fordham is a match for tor anyone today 0 0 S Army's Schedule Those who a are r e criticizing Army's schedule overlook one fact Red Blaik said before the Fordham game These boys are up at a. a m. m well before day day- light They face 16 hours of hard physical and mental work It would be cruel to ask them to play a schedule of nine major games Each year I see the Army team fading out but Its last two games or losing its earlier edge This year we had Penn State rated before as one of the stronger strong strong- er teams in the East We had Michigan Michigan Michigan-at at Michigan We had Harvard they Harvard they almost beat us last year and looked to be a much improved team this fall until the trip to Stanford S t tan a n f for 0 r d practically wrecked the Crimson We had an anup anup anup up and coming Fordham team We h had d or still sUll have Pennsylvania and Navy two old traditional rivals who always give us a battle bat tle tie to the finish I claim thai that schedule is all Army can handle In 1950 we have Michigan again We meet a powerful Stanford team at Stanford We have Harvard Har vard yard and Pennsylvania who musi be better than they were this fall We have Pennsylvania and Navy All told we have at least seven major games Captain Tom Hamilton while head of Navy athletics had this WI belief Wed belief Wed rather be beaten b bj class than run over mediocrity Our system is to meet the best Navy was not equipped at tha time time time-or or now now to to have any chanc chance in its schedule It had the sort o 0 schedule Army should and coull Couk have played Hamilton would pla pIa anybody anybody as as long as they were wen good So will Navys Navy's present lead ers Navy has certainly more public acclaim from this thil plan than Ar Army y has sniping toi tOt many second or third graders |