Buckeye Fever

For one day Columbus, Ohio was the football capital of the U.S. At stake was the Big Nine championship and, just possibly, a California Rose Bowl trip.

Taking first things first, Ohio State's homegrown, all-civilian, unbeaten team crashed head-on into once-beaten Michigan. With backfield strength about equal, this was one more gridiron battle that was decided up front. The Michigan line hit hard, but not quite so hard as Ohio's, led by 190-lb. Bill Hackett, prospective All-America guard, and Bill Willis, husky Negro tackle. Their bone-crushing tackles were mainly responsible for four Michigan fumbles.

The 71,958 fans largely overlooked the line battle for the more spectacular antics of Les Horvath, 165-lb. Buckeye backfield wonder. Horvath, who turned down $6,000 a season with the Cleveland (pro) Rams in order to finish his Ohio State dental course, is the Big Nine's top ground-gainer with 669 yards. With his mates paving the way in a seesaw battle, he twice brought the Buckeyes from behind, scored their last two touchdowns. Final score: Ohio State 18, Michigan 14.

That done, Ohio State began its final push (with support from Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern) in a campaign to crack the Big Nine rule against postseason games. This week, Conference representatives meeting in Chicago said no, this was not the year to break the 24-year-old rule. The Big Nine champs would stay home on New Year's Day, and unbeaten, once-tied Tennessee would doubtless make the trip to Pasadena.

Equally unbeaten but twice tied in nine games, the T-minded Trojans of Southern California would provide the home-team opposition. They all but clinched a second straight appearance in the Rose Bowl by crushing California two weeks ago, made it official last week--with 90,019 witnesses --by drubbing U.C.L.A. 40-to-13.

The other bowl games: Duke and Alabama in New Orleans' Sugar Bowl; Texas Christian and the Oklahoma Aggies in Dallas' Cotton Bowl; Georgia Tech and Tulsa in Miami's Orange Bowl.

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