Father & Son

All week U.C.L.A.'s waspish coach, Henry ("Red") Sanders, was as sarcastic as a top sergeant with sore feet. Sportswriters had named his team the best in the country, and he was determined to cut his players down to fighting size. By gametime, they had got the idea; they were taut as they waited for the kickoff to open the 1955 season.

Tough Texas A. & M. linemen drummed across the white-striped turf of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Tailback Doug Bradley received the kickoff and was promptly knocked loose from the ball; the Bruins were back on their heels on their own twenty. Next time he got his hands on the ball, Bradley lost 13 yards. It was time for Sanders to make his move. In a fatherly way, he took Ronnie Knox by the arm. The handsome, long-legged junior buckled on his helmet and trotted in to take over at tailback.

Notorious Auction. This was what the crowd had been waiting for. They had heard about Ronnie for years (TIME, July 12, 1954). As a teen-age star, he had traipsed from one high school to another while his vastly ambitious stepfather hand-picked his coaches. As a college freshman, he had been auctioned off to the highest bidder and gone to the University of California at Berkeley. But Stepfather Harvey had not been pleased when Ronnie was treated as something of a rookie. Last year he brought his boy south to U.C.L.A., casually tossed away a year of Ronnie's eligibility to get him the chance of playing for Red Sanders.

No one ever played as good a game as Harvey talked, but last week Ronnie almost lived up to his stepfather's boasts. He got off a 55-yd. punt that dropped dead on the Aggie eleven. His team relaxed and began to play football. In the next series of Bruin plays, pitching with an index finger painfully injured in practice, Ronnie completed two beautiful passes. When Texas defenders dropped back to cover his receivers, he ran with the bruising drive of an authentic All-America.

Professional Pessimism. With Ronnie Knox calling the shots, the Bruins looked as bright as their billing. Linemen charged with bone-crushing power, wingbacks moved with split-second precision. When defense men tackled, their opponents dropped. In all, Ronnie completed six passes, three for touchdowns. Whenever he wanted to keep the Aggies honest, he was able to send 210-lb. Bob Davenport, one of the best fullbacks in the country, bulling through the line. For the first time in his seven-year career at U.C.L.A., Sanders has a team that can either "go over 'em or through 'em." Final score: U.C.L.A. 21, Texas A. & M. 0.

This week's game against Maryland will be U.C.L.A.'s toughest of the season. To hear Harvey Knox tell it, Ronnie will win it singlehanded. "Maryland? Why, if Ronnie don't throw for five or six touchdowns, I'll disown him. I'll cream him." Red Sanders suffered from a little more professional pessimism: "If we get hurt in one or two places, we could go down pretty fast."

There are, indeed, a few positions where Sanders is woefully weak in substitutes. It helped, though, to hear that highly-touted Maryland barely got started against the University of Missouri (an easy 74-13 victim last year) and won by the thin margin of one point-after-touchdown, 13-12.

Other opening-day scores:

P: In a penalty-marred game, U.S.C. trampled on Washington State, 50-12.

P: A surprising Pitt powerhouse came from behind to beat California, 27-7.

P: A smart and speedy Georgia Tech team upset Miami, 14-6.

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