Mississippi State at Alabama

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  Evening star, District of Columbia, November 6, 1961, page 13

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  AS IT TURNED OUT the Mississippi student editor who deplored to his Michigan State counterpart the impossibility OF a showdown for the national championship was preSumptuous. Neither the Rebels he extolled nor the SpartanS to whom he conceded grudging parity is among the unbeaten any longer. Michigan States defeat by Minnesota left the door to the No. ranking wide open Saturday afternoon. What better opportunity could No. team, playing that evening, ask? But Ole Miss blew it to Louisiana State, 10–⁠7. These and related results illustrated anew the futility Of trying to separate the top 10, or even 20, college teams Iowa, for example, was the preseason No. team and so highly rated that, al though the Hawkeyes sat out the opening week, they remained top choice. But now the Hawkeyes have lost two straight to chance that Minnesota may extend the unsavory streak this week. There are very few positions in life so insecure as the No. ranking in football. Holding it all season happens about as often as filly winning the Kentucky Derby. A couple of weeks is more like the average tenure, which brings us to Alabama, Texas and Colorado. HERE ARE THE REMAINING giants with unbeaten, united records among the major schools Texas, which hasn’t been sorely pressed so far, made it look easy in Sorely pressed so far, applied the power in the second half to smear Southern Methodist, 27–⁠0 Alabama, marching toward the Sugar Bowl, handled Mississippi State in stride, 24–⁠0 Only Colorado, which has designs on the Orange Bowl, had Squeaker. That was a spectacle, Colorados 7–⁠6 win over Missouri, worth dwelling upon for a moment. Both teams were unbeaten and taking dead aim on the Big Eight title, which automatically earns the blessings OF the Orange Bowlers. Missouri could have muddied the picture, perhaps, by settling for an extra point kick and TT tie in the final period Instead, the Tigers went for broke They tried to pick up two points with the identical pass, although from the opposite side, as that which scored their touchdown from 10 yards out. Coach Tom Nugent of Maryland took the same gamble against Syracuse in the third game Of the season, when the Terra pins were unbeaten and united. DiSdaining a tie, Nugent called for two-pointer, got it. and won 22–⁠21 Nugent was widely applauded for the brave act, just as Missouris coach is in some quarters, although IN the

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Officially, Alabama leads 89–⁠17–⁠3 on the field, but two wins were vacated or forfeited.; as played, 87–⁠17–⁠3 in the 107 games on file; the official count covers all 109 meetings, counting the 63 since this game.