TUESDAY. OCTOBER 11, 1955 THE MCHIGAN DAILY PAGE THREE a T 1.afsas..va fl v.......:11. 15 T E MIHGA AIYPAETHE Tops in Poll, 'M Drops Army to 18th ---9-h 64.... WITH PHIL DOUGLIS Daily Sports Editor IkeyTeams Trade SpOtS (Continued from page 1) BIKES NO PARKING PROBLEMS LOW-COST TRANSPORTATION OpenSEvenings 'ti 9 P.M. Campus Bike & Hobby MIGHTY MICHIGAN once again is football king of the nation. Bennie Oosterbaan's high powered outfit roared to the top of[ the press association polls late yesterday for the first time since 1949 -and all eyes-from Maine to California and Florida to Washington turn toward Ann Arbor. These same eyes lifted in wonderment as the Wolverines butch- ered Army Saturday, 26-2, the blast that propelled Michigan right up to the top of the heap-and established them as even more of a favorite to win the 1955 Big Ten Championship. But down at Ferry Field yesterday afternoon, all eyes were on Oosterbaan, and the veteran coach was far from happy. When told by newsmen that his team was rated better than anyone else, he shrugged his tired shoulders as he said, "It's not anything to get excited over. You can go down awful fast." But the newsmen weren't through with him yet. "Bennie, Bennie," they clamored-"compare this team to your other great ones for us . . ." Oosterbaan immediately turned and calmly said, "I never compare teams-until the end of a season." Oosterbaan believes that a team only deserves the rating ofJ "great" or "tops" after an entire season of play . . . not after three games. But it was hard to be pessimistic in the face of what happenedl in the Michigan Stadium last Saturday aftrnoon. Nearly 100,000t rabid fans were treated to one of the most shocking and convincingj victories of Michigan football history. They came to see a tight, even battle. What they saw instead was a rout. Opening up with everything at their command, Michigan crushed the Army for the first time in its history-showing vicious line play, and exciting, broken field running. By the time the game was over, fans were muttering to themselves in disbelief- and the hordes of newsmenI crammed into the Michigan pressbox had to dig deep for adjectives to describe what they had seen. "Every Bit a Champ ...: TYPICAL OF THEIR remarks was that which poured from the typewriter of the usually conservative Allison Danzig, famed foot- ball writer of the New York Times. Said Mr. Danzig, "In one of the most shocking routs of this or any other season, Bennie Oosterbaan's Wolverines completely manhandled the West Point Cadets . . He went on to say, "The showing of Army could only be attrib- uted to the virulence of football played by the Wolverines. The Wol- verines indeed, were every bit the team they rated as second best in the country." Wilfred Smith, the veteran football expert of the Chicago Tribune called Michigan "The best Wolverine team since 1947" . . . It was just another in a series of tributes that today are being splashed across every major sport page in the nation. Despite all the drum-beating, the adjectives and the glory, Ferry Field was still not a paradise yesterday. It was like a grade B movie- in which the hero supposedly reaches his peak of success-and then in the background come the first hinting strains of approaching doom. It was like that yesterday. More newsmen than Ferry Field had seen in a long time were running all over-exhulting and speculating. Suddenly-a note of doom sounded-as the team raced out onto the practice field. Gone was Ron Kramer-the great All-American-who is at present laying in a hospital bed still under observation with a bruised chest. Lou Baldacci was not there-still taking ft easy on his sore leg. Jim Bates was hurt-and rumors were flying that he may not start next week. There was talk of Ed Shannon, and a broken wrist . . . Would he play? "Otte at a Time ..." BUT STILL THE newsmen grinned . . . still the questions flew. "What's the prospect for the rest of the season?" This question must have been asked 100 times. Ben just grinned . .. and said, "We play them one at a time. We do our best each Saturday. We're interested in Northwestern right now" .. . and with that he slowly walked out toward his players. "Northwestern"-the words rang clear in the warm October air-and suddenly they were magnified as somewhere the practicing band struck up "Go, You Northwestern" . . . Northwestern-a team of misfits they called them. A team so poor it was smashed by tiny Miami of Ohio-of the Mid-America Conference. But they weren't "so poor" to Bennie Oosterbaan yesterday afternoon. This was the perfect set-up for another one of those story- book upsets that football pulls so often. Any team with 11 players and a football is potentially a threat- and can come alive suddenly with a vengeance. Northwestern has done this before-and can do it again. In 1946, one of the greatest teams Michigan ever had was tied by the Wildcats, 14-14. Again in '49-the great team of Chuck Ortmann and company was beaten by Northwestern, 21-20. The cry of "upset" is in the air-and Ooster- baan, his great team hampered by injuries, must build them all over again for this one. Oosterbaan strode confidently out into the center of the sun-lit field to meet this challenge. The challenge of a team that has nothing -and yet causes concern in the camp of football's very best. Are his Wolverines "champions of the west?" The words "you can go down awful fast" came back to us as we left the pitted practice field. "Champions of the West"? Not by a long shot-YET. 'N YG;:;,:. .a :t