Show q G ac e pa P TS 7 released by western newspaper union ONLY one thing is certain during the current football season spectator interest is as great as ever this was proved quite definitely on the opening day ot of the college gridiron season four games in the midwest that were open for civilian patronage and notre dame at pittsburgh drew a total of or an average ot of much better than had been expected or predicted but that is about the only aspect of the game this year that can be taken for granted most of the others are surrounded by question marks the schools which did not benefit from the navys V 12 programs were expected to furnish comparatively little in the way of topflight top flight competition however the strength of these civilian teams in the western conference came as a pleasant surprise these teams include illinois wisconsin iowa indiana ohio state and minnesota navy power these teams were not bracketed with northwestern purdue and michigan their manpower resources s were too great particularly was this true ol of michigan elro elroy y hirsch of wisconsin and bill daley of minnesota were two of the count rys finest hacks backs last fall fail both are fast powerful ball carriers got both michigan men this i assignments fall in the navy and i i ti with them the wolverines rines got the best backfield in the country but the civilian bill daley teams crossed up many of the crystal ball experts indiana gave lynn waldorf northwestern coach a bad case of the jitters the wildcats measure up to expectations against a surprising indiana eleven the hoosier line handled the wildcats ground game quite effectively A youngster named bob meyer who would have been an ineligible freshman under normal conditions dit ions was the mainstay of a fighting indiana team A strong wisconsin team rebuilt after losing to marquette played camp grant all even for 59 minutes and 55 seconds before losing by the margin of a field goal minnesota rolled over missouri and gave definite notice that they would make more than a gesture of the present season minnesota is always a team to watch the gophers are strong for size and plenty of power but they never sacrifice speed their record is one of the best past champions ohio state national champions of 1942 fare too well when they lost their opener to the iowa sea hawks 28 to 13 purdue established themselves among the powerhouses power houses when they beat marquette by three touchdowns r and a shutout rak state observers that tony butkovich illinois transfer is a much better fullback than last year and may rr aay be one of the very best before the elroy irsch season ends purdue play either northwestern or michigan and has an excellent chance to tie for the big ten title the basic reason for the good showing ot of the civilian teams is that they are well coached because of the civilian status of many of their players they have had considerable sid erable practice time this was quite evident as they made their debuts and it was just as evident that northwestern for instance went into the indiana tussle with far too little practice because of navy regulations that problem is almost impossible of solution navy work must come first it is obvious of course that the status of the civilian teams may change overnight those teams will lose talent to the services as the season advances all ali in all the football picture is muddled but interest in the game has not slackened the merry click of the turnstiles turn stiles every saturday afternoon is ample proof |