Titanic Gophers

Last week Cornell's Big Red was still the No. 1 football team of the U. S.--according to the American Football Statistical Bureau, which is slowly gaining recognition as an appraiser of college teams. But the nation's sportswriters, polled weekly by Associated Press, rated Minnesota first.

Minnesota is accustomed to good football teams. The State is full of husky farm boys who make powerful linemen, powerful backs. When Minnesota gets a smart quarterback, to boot, it invariably has a great team. This year Minnesota has such a quarterback: Bobby Paffrath.

Though not as super-colossal as the undefeated Gophers of 1934-35, quarterbacked by Phi Beta Kappaman Seidel, this year's powerhouse has been good enough to beat all its opponents in a schedule far tougher than Cornell's. On seven successive Saturdays, Minnesota defeated: Washington (one of the two top teams on the Pacific Coast), Nebraska (best team in the Big Six), Ohio State, Iowa (which knocked Notre Dame out of the unbeaten ranks last week), Northwestern, Michigan (otherwise undefeated) and, last week, Purdue.

Purdue is probably the weakest opponent on Minnesota's schedule. Hence, a Dad's Day crowd of 30,000, huddled in Minnesota's Memorial Stadium last week, were scarcely surprised when Bernie Bierman's titans ran roughshod over Purdue. The bewildered Boilermakers managed to score a touchdown on a series of forward passes, but six points were nowhere near enough. Minnesota, rolling up 327 yards on power plays, plunged over Purdue's goal line four times, kicked two field goals, chalked up their seventh straight, 33-10-6.

Thanks to Michigan's giving Northwestern its second licking of the season (20-10-13) last week, Minnesota, with only one more game to play (against so-so Wisconsin), clinched the Big Ten title, toughest of the country's nine big intercollegiate championships.

Other big games of the week:

>At Boston's Fenway Park, a Boston College team, just as big and fast as Minnesota's but without Minnesota's big-time competition, handed a hardy Georgetown outfit its first defeat in three years. Score: 19-to-18.

> At College Station, Tex., the Texas Aggies, another steam roller, squashed Rice, 25-10-0, for their 19th victory in a row and a probable bid to the Rose Bowl. Mighty Jack Kimbrough, the Aggies' 220-lb. All-America fullback, carried the ball 18 times for a gain of 108 yards. Bill Henderson, a gangling sophomore, stole the show by catching eight successive forward passes for a gain of 117 yards.

>At Hanover, N. H., an inspired Dartmouth team that had lost more games than it had won this year kept mighty Cornell away from its goal line until three seconds before the final gun. Then, in the snowy dusk, a beautifully timed forward pass gave Cornell the game, 7-10-3. Later, after viewing moving pictures of the game. Referee W. H. Friesell admitted that the winning touchdown was made on an illegal fifth down. Cornell's Athletic Director James Lynah promptly relinquished claim to victory, conceded the game to Dartmouth, 3-to-0.

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