Exercise in Frustration

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Who's No. l?-Who knows?

The issue was supposed to be settled last week at East Lansing, Mich., where the two best college football teams in the U.S. met in what sportswriters called "the biggest game in 20 years"--since the day in 1946 when unbeaten Army and its "Touchdown Twins," Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard, ran head on into unbeaten Notre Dame and Johnny Lujack. The Fighting Irish were back last week, undefeated in eight games and the nation's No. 1-ranked team, with a couple of brilliant sophomores in Jim Seymour and Terry Hanratty (TIME cover,'Oct. 28), a defensive "front four" that weighed in at 240 lbs. a man, and an explosive offense that had averaged 404 yds. and 37 points per game. Their opponent this time: Michigan State, ranked No. 2, undefeated in 19 regular-season games, a team that boasted five All-Americas, including Defensive End Charles ("Bubba") Smith, who tips the scales at 268 lbs.

Violent & Basic. The result could hardly have been less satisfactory--for Coach Ara Parseghian's Fighting Irish, for Duffy Daugherty's rugged Spartans, for the 80,011 fans packed into M.S.U.'s stadium, or for the millions who chose up sides on TV across the U.S. In 60 minutes of violent, basic football, history repeated itself. Just as in 1946, when Notre Dame and Army fought to a 0-0 tie, last week's game was an exercise in frustration. Final score: Notre Dame 10, Michigan State 10.

Notre Dame played almost all of the game without its great passing quarterback, Hanratty, who went off the field with a shoulder separation midway in the first quarter, and the whole game without its best runner, Nick Eddy, who had a sore shoulder. The Spartan defense took care of the rest. It triple-teamed Irish End Seymour so effectively that he did not catch a pass; in all, Notre Dame gained a grand total of only 219 yds. Thirty-four of those yards came on a touchdown pass from Coley O'Brien, Hanratty's replacement, to Halfback Bob Gladieux, but the best that the Irish could do after that was a 28-yd. field goal by Joe Azzaro.

Notre Dame's own ferocious defenders had some trouble with Michigan State's Jimmy Raye, a sinewy (171 Ibs.) junior who is one of the few Negro quarterbacks in big-time football. Raye ran for 75 yds., mostly in the first half, set up a touchdown with a 42-yd. pass, and engineered the drive that produced a 47-yd. field goal by Dick Kenney. In the second half, straining for victory, Raye picked up one first down on a 41-yd. pass from his own end zone, another by running on fourth and one. But the Spartans weren't really going very far against a team that has only allowed 3.5 points per game. In the last 30 minutes, Michigan State could not even get past the Irish 45-yd. line.

In fact, Notre Dame's defense almost won it for the offense. In the fourth quarter, Safetyman Tom Schoen intercepted two of Raye's passes, and the Irish repeatedly fought their way into Michigan State territory--only to muff scoring opportunities. Azzaro missed a 41-yd. field goal that would have won the game, and O'Brien's frantic, wobbly passes were unlikely to make anybody forget Terry Hanratty. Finally, with Notre Dame in possession on its own 30 and only 55 seconds left, Irish Coach Ara Parseghian decided to settle for a tie. While the crowd booed lustily, Notre Dame ran five plunges, all called from the bench. "I didn't want to blow the game," said Parseghian afterwards. "I didn't want to lose the ball." And so the question of who is No. 1 was left to the pollsters.

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