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The Red Grains football show with that all-time awesome
Yes fans, it's time to step in range reveals those interesting inside stories behind the football headline
interviews famous gridiron personalities and predicts the winners of all the big college and professional games
Now here's the man they call the galloping ghost, Mr. Football himself, Red Grains.
Thanks Bob Finnegan. You know fans, it's a smart quarterback who knows when to gamble on a long touchdown path.
Now we'll be back in a moment to talk about some of the outstanding touchdown plays of the season.
We'll also predict the winners of the top college and professional games.
But first, a brief timeout for an important message from our announcer.
The pressure was really on Ohio State's quarterback, Tony Cressella, last Saturday.
On the third quarter against Wisconsin with Ohio State trailing 7-6
and some 81,000 fans plenty worried about an upset, Cressella drove the Buckeyes down to Wisconsin's one yard line.
Now it was their third down and the Bucs had two chances to make that one yard.
Well twice Cressella sent his halfbacks into the middle of the Wisconsin line and twice the Badgers stopped them cold.
So Wisconsin took over on its own six inch line and it appeared that Ohio's big chance was gone.
Now Wisconsin punted out to the 30 yard line and Walt Clevey of Ohio drove off tackle for eight yards.
And now here's the payoff situation, fans.
It's Ohio's ball second down and only two yards to go on the Wisconsin 22.
Well suppose you were the Ohio State quarterback and were on that spot, Bob Finnegan. Just what would you call?
Well I suppose the percentage play would be a running play to make the first down.
Well I think that's right, Bob. Now most quarterbacks would go for that first down right on that spot, but not Ohio's Cressella.
Now he noticed that the Wisconsin defense was masked to stop the unexpected running play.
They probably had a seven or an eight man line in there.
So Cressella called a pass and he threw a touchdown strike to Watson in the end zone.
And that was the play that really beat those tough Badgers.
It may also be the play that knocked Wisconsin out of the Rose Bowl.
Now even though Ohio is an odds on favorite to win the Big Ten title now, the Buckeyes can't go to Pasadena again on New Year's Day.
Because the Western Conference have a pact or it states anyway that a team cannot appear more than once in any three years.
Now you may argue whether that's good or bad. I think out on the coast they think it's bad because they won our championship team in the Middle West.
They used the championship team of the Pacific Coast Conference, but that's the way the Conference have set up that ruling.
And of course Ohio State were out there last year and they beat California in the Rose Bowl last year.
Now no doubt about it, a victory over Ohio State would have meant a Rose Bowl bid for Wisconsin.
But Cressella's smart play calling dashed the Badgers' hopes.
Getting back to passing, Red, when is the best time for a quarterback to call a pass play?
Well generally speaking I would say any time Bob that you think it might work.
I think that has to be taken into consideration the defense.
When the other team is in a seven and an eight or nine man line then there's a time to throw.
Although any time that you might surprise the opponents is the time to throw.
I think a good pass play is that first down of a game.
Lots of times that takes the defense by surprise.
I remember I think it was about three years ago, 1948, when the Bears were playing the Cardinals and the Cardinals took the ball on the 20 yard line
and Chrisman went back and threw to the man chef on about the 30 yard line and he went 70 yards for a touchdown on that first play.
And then a good passing play, you know it used to always be the third down, the third down with eight or nine to go.
That was the passing play.
And we had the field divided up into zones. You could only pass out in the middle of the field.
If you'd ever throw a pass up around your own 20 yard line back to the goal line you wouldn't play any more football.
But that's the thing of the past.
I think the down now to throw that ball on is probably the first and the second down.
And of course those are the passes which have the element of surprise.
Of course there are times when a quarterback has to pass and hope for the best even though the defense expects it.
Lots of times along in the latter part of a ball game when you're behind.
They know you're going to throw but you just take a chance on it.
And that's when you have those big yardage situations.
And I think lots of times when your own team is inferior in personnel the only way you can score any points is to throw that ball.
And I'd say Bob summing it all up, any time that they don't expect you to pass that's the time if you know when that is.
Red, you hear a lot about plays being called from the bench. Do the coaches actually call the plays?
Well probably every coach calls at least some of the plays.
Although this doesn't mean that they violate the rules with signals from the bench.
They can send in plays with substitutes.
Actually most of the plays that are sent in from the bench do not originate from the head coach.
Well if the quarterback doesn't call the play and the coach on the bench doesn't call it, who does then, Red?
There's a secret. That's the assistant coach or a scout who is up in the press box on a telephone connected down to the bench.
They can see much better up there.
I remember a few years ago when Illinois played Army down at Yankee Stadium.
Herman Hickman, the present Yale coach, was assistant coach of Army and he sat right in front of me in the upper deck
and he called just about every play and every defense that we ran.
And he must have been pretty good because Army went on to win in there of a lot of help up there to the head coach, believe me.
And fans, we'll be back in a moment with our predictions on all the outstanding college and professional games.
But first, a brief timeout for an important message from our announcer.
And now for those predictions.
Down east, Princeton will clinch the championship of the Big Three by whipping Yale.
I like Villanova to top Boston College.
Navy to upset Columbia.
Cornell to edge out Dartmouth.
Holy Cross vastly improved in Eddie Anderson's first year as head coach to win over Georgetown.
Lake Brown to whip Harvard.
Penn State over Rutgers.
And Boston University to lick Idaho.
In the Midwest, red, Ohio State puts its Big Ten title hooks on the line against Illinois.
Well, Illinois is still a bit of an unknown quality.
Now, the Illini's attack has been checked off season by injuries to Johnny Karras.
Plus the fact that the Illini have been plagued by bad weather.
They played Wisconsin in a rainstorm and how it rained down there.
They played Michigan in a blizzard.
Now, potentially the Illini have a team that can give Ohio State or any other team a real battle.
And they might even pull an upset.
That is, if Karras catches on fire.
I think it'll be a high-scoring ball game.
I see that Cursello, the quarterback of Ohio State, is out with injuries, and that will help.
However, I think you will have to pick Ohio State to win.
Now, I'll give you this warning, though, that anything can happen.
And if Karras and Raklewicz have a fast-track look out in other Midwest games,
it's Detroit over the Oklahoma Aggies, Indiana to top Marquette, Nebraska to beat Iowa State.
That's going to be a close one.
Kansas over Kansas State.
I like Northwestern to upset Michigan.
That should be a close ball game.
Michigan State has one of the finest backs in football, in Everett Grandilus.
So it's Michigan State to overwhelm Pitt, Purdue to edge out Minnesota,
and Notre Dame to outscore Iowa.
Now, the Irish haven't got any backs that can match Bill Rickert.
He's the Hawkeye fullback, and he has a lot of power.
But I believe that Bob Williams and his passes will produce enough yardage
to carry the Irish to victory through the air.
Down below the Mason-Dixon line, Rad, there's some big games coming up this week.
How about that Alabama-Georgia Tech battle?
That should be a good one, Bob, but I'd like Alabama to beat Georgia Tech.
And Clemson over Furman.
Kentucky getting ready for its big showdown next week with Tennessee.
Probably has its most, well, its easiest opponent so far this year in North Dakota,
and they will not have any trouble certainly with North Dakota.
I like Louisiana State to top Mississippi State.
Maryland to whip West Virginia.
North Carolina State to beat Wake Forest.
North Carolina to win over South Carolina.
And I think the best game of the day down south is going to be that Tennessee-Mississippi game.
We're picking Tennessee to halt Johnny Dottley's running.
Now that Dottley, he's already drafted, you know, by the Chicago Bears,
and he is regarded by most pro scouts as the hardest running back in the south.
Down in the cattle country in the southwest, Rad, this week, Southern Methodist goes at it again.
What do you think about their battle between Methodist and Arkansas?
Well, they've lost two games now, but I think they'll have little trouble with Arkansas.
Harden Simmons to whip West Texas State.
Texas to beat Texas Christian.
Rice to defeat the Texas Aggies.
Tulsa over Wichita.
And in a battle between the two leading exponents of the split-tea offense,
Oklahoma should overpower Missouri.
Now, incidentally, that's one of the little ironies of football,
that Don Ferro, the coach who developed the split-tea at Missouri,
never seems to be able to get enough material to beat his young pupil,
Bud Wilkinson, the Oklahoma coach.
You know that Wilkinson learned the split-tea from Don Ferro
when both coaches were in the Navy during the war.
Out in the west coast, Rad, Rose Bowl bound California meets San Francisco,
and Army travels west this week.
Yeah, there's a lot of good ball games out there, Bob.
Let's start at the top. It's Oregon over Colorado.
Oregon State to beat Washington State.
Santa Clara to top St. Mary's.
I like California to whip San Francisco any way they want.
Brigham Young to defeat the University of Hawaii.
Washington to edge out Southern Cal.
And in the big intersectional game of the day,
Army should beat Stanford by three or four touchdowns.
So much for the top college games, Rad.
Now, how about those big games coming up this Sunday in the National Football League?
Well, I like the Philadelphia Eagles to lick the Chicago Cardinals.
I like Detroit to take the Green Bay Packers,
the New York Giants to beat the Baltimore Colts.
Now, here's a close ball game, probably the game of the day,
the Los Angeles Rams I like over the New York Yanks.
I like the Chicago Bears to beat the San Francisco 49ers
and the Cleveland Browns to win from the Washington Redskins.
And that's the way the big games look to me this weekend, fans.
Now, here's Bob Finnegan.
Thanks, Rad.
Football fans, Red Grange will be back again next week at this same time
with more interesting inside stories about your favorite teams and players
and his exclusive predictions on all the outstanding games.
This is Bob Finnegan inviting you to listen next week to the Red Grange football show.
Till then, so long, football fans.
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