College Football Showdown

December is a special time for this writer. The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria, followed by the Army-Navy festvties and the game as well in Philadelphia, and then back to New York for the Heisman Trophy festivities, which I have attended since 1962.
Billy Cannon and Doug Flutie are the Golden and Silver Anniversary Heisman honorees. As a sports writer I covered both of these grid greats.
Ole Miss can rebound from its embarassing loss to Mississippi State in a Bowl game. I called the Cotton Bowl and recommended that Ole Miss be invited back, giving the University an opportunity to be the team to have played the last game in the old Cotton Bowl stadium and the team to play the next year in the new stadium.
Playing in a Bowl fame also give a team an chance to have a second spring training to practice. Notre Dame made a mistake in taking itself out of the Bowl picture. The next Notre Dame coach could have used this time to get acquainted with his returning Fighting Irish players if ND was playing in a Bowl game,
Mississippi State's win over Ole Miss will help the Maroons in the recruiting war. Georgia's victory over Georgia Tech was just as big as the Maroons' conquest over the Johnny Rebs.
Alabama could only score one TD over Ole Miss, but employed its exceptional field goal kicking to run up the score. Against Florida the Crimson Tide was a clear cut winner over defending national champion Florida and now plays the Texas Longhorns for the national title in Pasadena's Rose Bowl Stadium, where Bear Bryant played with Don Hutson and Dixie Howell
Howell got a movie role invitiation. Hollywood missed a chance to get a pal for John Wayne if they had hired Paul Bryant to play in a Western movie.
Officiating hopefully will be better in the Bowl games. Years ago when P.W. Underwood was Southern Mississippi's head coach the Golden Eagles were playing a SEC Team. SEC officials were working the game. Butch Lambert Sr. was one of t he officials. They came over to greet Underwood telling him they were looking forwdard to working the game. Underwood had this to say: Are you going to kiss me now? I know what you are going to do later."
Underwood was Southern's head coach in 1970 wen the national ranked Rebels featuring Archie Manning were shocked by the Eagles.Four of P.W.'s largest players picked him up all 300 pounds and carried him olur ton the field to exchange handshakes with Johnny Vaught. They dropped him. Vaught said P.W. should not expect two miracles the same day. The next day Vaught had chest pains and had to go to the hospital. He was finished as a coach the rest of the season. He made a dramatic comeback a couple of years later after Billy Kinard was fired after the third game of the season. Kinard lost his star quarterback Norris Weese in the first game of the season against Villanova in Jackson.
A Bowl game column will follow on my return from New York and my 47th Heisman Dinner.
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