The Good Big Ten

Until the final gun, Michigan State's hustling Spartans never let up. The backs slashed through the line behind jarring double-team blocking, dumbfounded the defense with intricate double reverses. When the running attack occasionally lost momentum, Quarterback Pete Smith picked off receivers with bull's-eye accuracy. And the foe was no pushover: Michigan had already beaten both U.C.L.A. and Army this season by lopsided scores. But even for Coach Bump Elliott's gang-tackling team, Michigan State depth and power were too much. Final score: Michigan State, 28; Michigan, 0.

In any other league, a clash between two such talented teams would surely decide the conference championship. Not in the Big Ten, where bone-rattling football is the standard weekly fare. Season after season, the Big Ten play the finest football in the nation. This year, no fewer than four Big Ten teams (Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State) have been ranked among the nation's top ten.

Speed to Spare. After its convincing victory over Michigan last week, rugged Michigan State is an early favorite to capture its first Big Ten championship in eight years. Passing had been the only questionable factor in the Spartan attack. Against Michigan, Quarterback Smith showed that he is a poised passer as well as a brilliant ball handler, and Michigan State had speed to spare in sophomore Halfbacks Dewey Lincoln and Sherman Lewis. The Spartans' traditionally tenacious "umbrella" defense has not given up a single touchdown in three games. But cautious Coach Duffy Daugherty is not yet counting on a trip to the Rose Bowl, picks Iowa and Ohio State as top contenders. He may be right; undefeated Iowa was ranked No. 1 in almost every preseason poll, could well give Coach Jerry Burns a big winner in his freshman year. A decisive 27-8 victory over Indiana last week strengthened Iowa's chances. In Quarterback Wilburn Hollis, Halfbacks Larry Ferguson and Sammie Harris and Fullback Joe Williams. Burns has the finest backfield in the Big Ten--but his bench is weak.

Playing its first Big Ten game, Ohio State proved that it is also a power to be reckoned with by whipping injury-riddled Illinois 44-0. Relying on his customary powerhouse tactics, garrulous Coach Woody Hayes showed that he had a host of fine backs, even though in the season's opening-game tie (7-7) with Texas Christian, he appeared to have only one: All-America Fullback Bob Ferguson, who carried the ball 35 times. Quipped one Texas sportswriter: "We don't know where Hayes went to college, but he must have majored in monotony." A major test comes for Ohio State this week when it faces Northwestern, upset 10-3 by Minnesota last week.

"No Breathers." At Purdue, traditional "spoiler" of the Big Ten, dreams of roses are particularly heady: the Boilermakers have never made the trip. This year hard-bitten Coach Jack Mollenkopf finally has the horses to make his grind-it-out, straight-T offense work. A 19-6 victor over scrappy Miami of Ohio last week, Purdue begins its Big Ten schedule this week with Michigan.

In the whole conference, there is not a single patsy. "On any given Saturday," says Michigan's Coach Elliott, "the weakest team in the league can wallop you. There are no breathers; there's no time to recover. Every game is rough."

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