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This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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The Red Grains football show with that all-time awesome

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Yes fans, it's time to step in range reveals those interesting inside stories behind the football headline

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interviews famous gridiron personalities and predicts the winners of all the big college and professional games

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Now here's the man they call the galloping ghost, Mr. Football himself, Red Grains.

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Thanks Bob Finnegan. You know fans, it's a smart quarterback who knows when to gamble on a long touchdown path.

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Now we'll be back in a moment to talk about some of the outstanding touchdown plays of the season.

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We'll also predict the winners of the top college and professional games.

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But first, a brief timeout for an important message from our announcer.

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The pressure was really on Ohio State's quarterback, Tony Cressella, last Saturday.

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On the third quarter against Wisconsin with Ohio State trailing 7-6

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and some 81,000 fans plenty worried about an upset, Cressella drove the Buckeyes down to Wisconsin's one yard line.

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Now it was their third down and the Bucs had two chances to make that one yard.

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Well twice Cressella sent his halfbacks into the middle of the Wisconsin line and twice the Badgers stopped them cold.

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So Wisconsin took over on its own six inch line and it appeared that Ohio's big chance was gone.

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Now Wisconsin punted out to the 30 yard line and Walt Clevey of Ohio drove off tackle for eight yards.

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And now here's the payoff situation, fans.

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It's Ohio's ball second down and only two yards to go on the Wisconsin 22.

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Well suppose you were the Ohio State quarterback and were on that spot, Bob Finnegan. Just what would you call?

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Well I suppose the percentage play would be a running play to make the first down.

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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.

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Now he noticed that the Wisconsin defense was masked to stop the unexpected running play.

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They probably had a seven or an eight man line in there.

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So Cressella called a pass and he threw a touchdown strike to Watson in the end zone.

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And that was the play that really beat those tough Badgers.

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It may also be the play that knocked Wisconsin out of the Rose Bowl.

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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.

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Because the Western Conference have a pact or it states anyway that a team cannot appear more than once in any three years.

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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.

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They used the championship team of the Pacific Coast Conference, but that's the way the Conference have set up that ruling.

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And of course Ohio State were out there last year and they beat California in the Rose Bowl last year.

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Now no doubt about it, a victory over Ohio State would have meant a Rose Bowl bid for Wisconsin.

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But Cressella's smart play calling dashed the Badgers' hopes.

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Getting back to passing, Red, when is the best time for a quarterback to call a pass play?

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Well generally speaking I would say any time Bob that you think it might work.

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I think that has to be taken into consideration the defense.

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When the other team is in a seven and an eight or nine man line then there's a time to throw.

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Although any time that you might surprise the opponents is the time to throw.

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I think a good pass play is that first down of a game.

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Lots of times that takes the defense by surprise.

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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

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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.

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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.

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That was the passing play.

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And we had the field divided up into zones. You could only pass out in the middle of the field.

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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.

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But that's the thing of the past.

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I think the down now to throw that ball on is probably the first and the second down.

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And of course those are the passes which have the element of surprise.

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Of course there are times when a quarterback has to pass and hope for the best even though the defense expects it.

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Lots of times along in the latter part of a ball game when you're behind.

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They know you're going to throw but you just take a chance on it.

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And that's when you have those big yardage situations.

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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.

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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.

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Red, you hear a lot about plays being called from the bench. Do the coaches actually call the plays?

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Well probably every coach calls at least some of the plays.

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Although this doesn't mean that they violate the rules with signals from the bench.

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They can send in plays with substitutes.

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Actually most of the plays that are sent in from the bench do not originate from the head coach.

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Well if the quarterback doesn't call the play and the coach on the bench doesn't call it, who does then, Red?

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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.

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They can see much better up there.

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I remember a few years ago when Illinois played Army down at Yankee Stadium.

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Herman Hickman, the present Yale coach, was assistant coach of Army and he sat right in front of me in the upper deck

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and he called just about every play and every defense that we ran.

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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.

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And fans, we'll be back in a moment with our predictions on all the outstanding college and professional games.

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But first, a brief timeout for an important message from our announcer.

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And now for those predictions.

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Down east, Princeton will clinch the championship of the Big Three by whipping Yale.

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I like Villanova to top Boston College.

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Navy to upset Columbia.

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Cornell to edge out Dartmouth.

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Holy Cross vastly improved in Eddie Anderson's first year as head coach to win over Georgetown.

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Lake Brown to whip Harvard.

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Penn State over Rutgers.

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And Boston University to lick Idaho.

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In the Midwest, red, Ohio State puts its Big Ten title hooks on the line against Illinois.

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Well, Illinois is still a bit of an unknown quality.

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Now, the Illini's attack has been checked off season by injuries to Johnny Karras.

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Plus the fact that the Illini have been plagued by bad weather.

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They played Wisconsin in a rainstorm and how it rained down there.

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They played Michigan in a blizzard.

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Now, potentially the Illini have a team that can give Ohio State or any other team a real battle.

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And they might even pull an upset.

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That is, if Karras catches on fire.

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I think it'll be a high-scoring ball game.

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I see that Cursello, the quarterback of Ohio State, is out with injuries, and that will help.

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However, I think you will have to pick Ohio State to win.

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Now, I'll give you this warning, though, that anything can happen.

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And if Karras and Raklewicz have a fast-track look out in other Midwest games,

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it's Detroit over the Oklahoma Aggies, Indiana to top Marquette, Nebraska to beat Iowa State.

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That's going to be a close one.

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Kansas over Kansas State.

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I like Northwestern to upset Michigan.

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That should be a close ball game.

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Michigan State has one of the finest backs in football, in Everett Grandilus.

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So it's Michigan State to overwhelm Pitt, Purdue to edge out Minnesota,

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and Notre Dame to outscore Iowa.

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Now, the Irish haven't got any backs that can match Bill Rickert.

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He's the Hawkeye fullback, and he has a lot of power.

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But I believe that Bob Williams and his passes will produce enough yardage

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to carry the Irish to victory through the air.

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Down below the Mason-Dixon line, Rad, there's some big games coming up this week.

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How about that Alabama-Georgia Tech battle?

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That should be a good one, Bob, but I'd like Alabama to beat Georgia Tech.

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And Clemson over Furman.

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Kentucky getting ready for its big showdown next week with Tennessee.

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Probably has its most, well, its easiest opponent so far this year in North Dakota,

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and they will not have any trouble certainly with North Dakota.

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I like Louisiana State to top Mississippi State.

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Maryland to whip West Virginia.

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North Carolina State to beat Wake Forest.

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North Carolina to win over South Carolina.

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And I think the best game of the day down south is going to be that Tennessee-Mississippi game.

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We're picking Tennessee to halt Johnny Dottley's running.

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Now that Dottley, he's already drafted, you know, by the Chicago Bears,

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and he is regarded by most pro scouts as the hardest running back in the south.

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Down in the cattle country in the southwest, Rad, this week, Southern Methodist goes at it again.

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What do you think about their battle between Methodist and Arkansas?

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Well, they've lost two games now, but I think they'll have little trouble with Arkansas.

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Harden Simmons to whip West Texas State.

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Texas to beat Texas Christian.

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Rice to defeat the Texas Aggies.

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Tulsa over Wichita.

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And in a battle between the two leading exponents of the split-tea offense,

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Oklahoma should overpower Missouri.

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Now, incidentally, that's one of the little ironies of football,

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that Don Ferro, the coach who developed the split-tea at Missouri,

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never seems to be able to get enough material to beat his young pupil,

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Bud Wilkinson, the Oklahoma coach.

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You know that Wilkinson learned the split-tea from Don Ferro

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when both coaches were in the Navy during the war.

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Out in the west coast, Rad, Rose Bowl bound California meets San Francisco,

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and Army travels west this week.

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Yeah, there's a lot of good ball games out there, Bob.

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Let's start at the top. It's Oregon over Colorado.

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Oregon State to beat Washington State.

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Santa Clara to top St. Mary's.

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I like California to whip San Francisco any way they want.

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Brigham Young to defeat the University of Hawaii.

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Washington to edge out Southern Cal.

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And in the big intersectional game of the day,

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Army should beat Stanford by three or four touchdowns.

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So much for the top college games, Rad.

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Now, how about those big games coming up this Sunday in the National Football League?

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Well, I like the Philadelphia Eagles to lick the Chicago Cardinals.

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I like Detroit to take the Green Bay Packers,

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the New York Giants to beat the Baltimore Colts.

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Now, here's a close ball game, probably the game of the day,

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the Los Angeles Rams I like over the New York Yanks.

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I like the Chicago Bears to beat the San Francisco 49ers

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and the Cleveland Browns to win from the Washington Redskins.

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And that's the way the big games look to me this weekend, fans.

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Now, here's Bob Finnegan.

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Thanks, Rad.

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Football fans, Red Grange will be back again next week at this same time

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with more interesting inside stories about your favorite teams and players

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and his exclusive predictions on all the outstanding games.

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This is Bob Finnegan inviting you to listen next week to the Red Grange football show.

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Till then, so long, football fans.

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[♪upbeat music playing.♪

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[♪upbeat music playing.♪