Mid-Season

For the first time in years, intercollegiate football has brightened the fall weekends with real excitement. The Navy-Notre Dame game in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium last week was worthy of a great season. It took the Navy just 30 minutes to work up a head of steam. Then, for the next half hour, the Middies pushed favored Notre Dame all over the field. On defense Navy's Ron Beagle seemed like a fifth man in the Irish backfield; on offense he made Quarterback George Welsh look like the hottest passer around. Badly mauled, the Irish just managed to hang on to their six-point lead. But the going was so rough during the last few minutes that Notre Dame Quarterback Ralph Guglielmi had to run out the clock by slithering through the mud toward his own goal.

The Upsets. Among men who follow football, Notre Dame had been a 13-point choice. But this season even the experts are used to surprises. From hardheaded prognosticators who swear by their charts to stouthearted alumni who swear at their coaches, the second-guessers have seldom been so wrong. Champions have fallen before underrated upstarts; last season's heroes are this season's also-rans.

The Successes. Sooner or later, all the form charts got fouled up. The prognosticators are learning all over again that the one-platoon game gives every underdog a chance. Colleges that cannot afford to beat the bushes for hordes of burly ballplayers can hold their own if they can sign up a small squad of good men. The limited-substitution rule keeps the football factories from beating them down with sheer manpower. The G.I.'s, dependable veterans who could be counted on for a polished performance every Saturday, are all gone. In their place, some of the best teams are fielding inexperienced youngsters, prone to the big-stadium jitters.

If some of the games went the wrong way, some of the teams and players still managed to live up to their billing. Oregon's George Shaw, a steady senior sensation who can do anything on the football field, personally accounted for more than half the 2,072 yds. his team had gained by midseason. Army, after its slow start, came up with an All-America prospect in its acrobatic end, Don Holleder. The University of Miami, hopping mad because the N.C.A.A. peeked around its blinders and imposed punishment for overenthusiastic recruiting, has been pulverizing its opposition. Oklahoma, still addicted to exasperating fumbles, still keeps winning.

At week's end some of the early-season sluggards had gotten their second wind. Maryland, last year's mythical champ, was back in the winning columns after beating South Carolina, 20-0; Texas came from behind to tie S.M.U., 13-13. But the sure-shot favorites were still running into rough going, and the list of unbeaten, untied teams was dwindling fast. Now, among major colleges, only Oklahoma, Ohio State, U.C.L.A., Miami (Fla.), Arkansas and Cincinnati are left. Few people would bet on their chance to hang on long in this kind of a season.

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