Rice Beats Colorado, 28-14, in Cotton Bowl
Jake Schuchle Scores Owls' First Touchdown on Lateral Pass Early in Second Period of Play in Gridiron Classic Here
32,118 Watch Texans Overcome 14 Point Lead to Cop Tilt
1/2/1938
Driving from behind as they had frequently done throughout a rough and hectic season to win the Southwest Conference championship, the Rice Institute Owls of Houston overcame a 14-point lead and defeated a fine University of Colorado Buffalo eleven, 28-14, in the second annual New Year's Day Cotton Bowl grid classic promoted by the young East Texas oilman, J. Curtis Sanford. A crowd of 32,118, by official count, including such notables as James V. Allred, Governor of Texas; Teller Ammons, Governor of Colorado; Jesse Jones of Houston, chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, many other celebrities from all parts of the Southwest, Midwest and Rocky Mountain sections and nearly 10,000 rooters from Colorado, thrilled at the swift-moving action in one of the most exciting football battles ever waged here. The setting was near perfect with the sun, conspicuous by its absence for nearly three weeks, shining down brightly and the field, which had been protected by a huge tarpaulin from the December rains, being in good condition. The attendance was the largest ever to see a college game in Dallas.
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An array of 46 uniformed school bands, headed by the colorful music-makers of the competing schools, and including representatives of many high schools in North and Central Texas and Southern Oklahoma contributed their part to the spectacle. In winning, Rice made it two victories in as many Cotton Bowl games for the Southwest's standard-bearers, T.C.U. having defeated Marquette University last Jan. 1 by a score of 16 to 6. The result Saturday marred an otherwise all-victorious season for the silver and gold-clad Buffaloes.
Superior manpower, as expected, was the deciding factor, the Owl substitutions carrying on more effectively than Colorado's reserves were able to, but the invaders from the North gave a well-executed and clean-cut exhibition of play that won the admiration of their opponents and from every fan in the big stands.
The promised brilliant individual duel between Ernie Lain, the 218-pound Rice sophomore sensation, and Byron (Whizzer) White, Colorado's All-American back, Phi Beta Kappa and Rhodes scholar, not only developed to the delight of the spectators but it high lighted the action throughout the afternoon and was the standout feature of the melee. White, lacking the assistance that the Rice backs had, more than lived up to his advance notices. He convinced this crowd that he is one of the year’s great backs, one of the finest all-around football players ever to show here. Added to the roster, he could have transformed any one of three of four other teams in the Southwest Conference into a championship outfit. His kicking was brilliant, and he proved an exceptionally dangerous runner, a strong defensive back and a good enough passer. He was his team's spark plug and he assumed most of the ball-carrying burden on a 60-yard drive that sent the Buffs to the front in the first few minutes of play. Then he intercepted a pass and ran it back 47 yards for the second touchdown, all before more than about thirteen minutes playing time had elapsed.
Lain gave the Rice eleven the pick-up it needed to come from behind and win. On short ground gainers inside the ends he was a consistent powerhouse driver who packed enough dynamite to average nearly 7 yards per try on 28 plays. His passing was as deadly as it has ever been pictured. He figured in all of his team's scoring, engineering drives of 72, 58, 87 and 50 yards, passing for three touchdowns and plowing the line himself for the other one. The Owls were a distinctly different outfit when he was on the field and it was during his absence that they were halted on the Colorado one-yard line late in the fourth quarter. He was in the fray, however, when another drive in this chapter bogged down to give the Buffs possession on downs on their own 16 three plays before the final gun.
The contest was unusual, too, in that six touchdowns were recorded and every try for conversion of the extra point was successful. White made good the two for Colorado and Jack Vestal sent four attempts from placement soaring squarely between the uprights for the Owls.
Bunny Oakes' grimly determined Coloradans, decided underdogs in the betting and conceded little chance to win, demonstrated early that they came South to play a lot of football as well as to enjoy a holiday vacation away from the snowbound Rockies. The Owls won the toss and elected to receive but after Tom Vickers retuned Acting Capt. Gene Moore's kickoff 24 yards to his 30, two plays netted only 2 yards. Vickers completed a long pass to Frank Steen and when he fumbled, Joe Antonio pounced on the leather to give Colorado possession on its own 40. The Silver and Gold was not stopped until the scoreboard read 7 to 0.
The Whizzer carried twice and Erv Cheney once to eke out a first down. A thrust inside tackle and a sweep of right end by White made 15 yards more and White and Cheney alternated to drive to the 25-yard stripe for another first down. The same duo pounded out still a fourth one to the 14 and Cheney got through on a quick opener to the 8. White picked up half a yard and Cheney was spilled by Husbands for 2 paces loss. Then White completed a perfect pass to Antonio behind the goal line for the touchdown and converted the 7th point.
Taking the next kickoff, Vickers ran it back 15 yards to his 23. Cordill and Vickers pounded out a first down on their 41, were stopped there temporarily and on third down, White came in fast to intercept the first pass thrown by Lain, fresh in the game, on the Rice 47. He sped untouched nearly half the length of the field for a second counter and again made good his try from placement to give Colorado a 14-to-0 advantage and send the fans from the mountains into a wildly cheering mob that was convinced it was their day to howl.
The touchdown pass that Lain completed into enemy hands was not to be taken as a true sample of his work, however. By this time his mates lost some of their cocksureness got down to business and, realizing the job in front of them, they responded to his leadership to put on a drive that lasted almost throughout the remainder of the melee. Starting from their own 28-yard mark the Owls slammed their way to three successive first downs before the first period expired. Lain went off left tackle for 15 yards, Schuehle added 12 on a reverse, Cordill was stopped by Brill with a yard at tackle and Lain flipped a 12-yard pass to Steen in the flat and he reversed and galloped 15 more paces for a firster on the Colorado 20. Lain picked up 8 yards on two smashes inside left tackle as the quarter ended with the ball on the Buffs' 12-yard line.
Starting the second stanza Lain rammed the middle to the 9 for another first down, was stopped by Smart and Gene Moore with a yard at tackle, and his team paid a 5-yard penalty for off-side. Then Ernie whipped a perfect pass to Schuehle, who loped the six remaining yards for the Texans' first tally. Vestal converted.
Colorado got only 5 yards from its own 20 on two plays after Schuehle sent the next kickoff over the goal for a touchback.
White's punt out to Cordill, which incidentally was the first punt of the game, saw the big Owl soph downed on his own 42. Lain got two at right tackle, threw a pass to Steen for 7 and hit right tackle for first down on the Buffs' 47. A short pass, Lain to Hager, and a reverse by Cordill made another first down on the 35. Lain got nine yards cutting back inside left tackle and Vestal punched tackle for a first down on the 24. Lain threw a short flat pass to Cordill and he galloped 13 yards before White brought him down on the 3 for another first down. On the next play Lain went off left tackle with good interference, untouched for a touchdown, and Vestal's kick tied the count.
When the next kickoff went out of bounds Colorado got the ball on its own 35 and White hammered out a first down on two tries, but then the Buff attack bogged down and a punt to Cordill, who was dropped after 3 yards return to his own 13, set the stage for an 87-yard scoring drive. After an offside penalty Vestal ran left tackle for a first down on his 23 and Lain drilled the same hole for 20. Cordill picked up six yards Schuehle carried on a Statue of Liberty play for first down on the Colorado 42. An offside penalty against Colorado put the ball on the 37 and Lain completed a pass to Cordill, who gathered the leather in on the 8-yard line and scampered the rest of the way for the marker. Vestal again converted. There was not another threat or a first down by either side in the remainder of the half, which ended with the Owls in possession of the ball on the Colorado 39.
With Lain on the bench Rice looked like a different team through the early part of the third quarter. Neither side was able to make required yardage for a first down. The Colorado line, weary from the battering it was receiving, couldn't give the Whizzer a start and the Owls merely held their own. Then Lain came back into the melee after Scat Sullivan had returned a punt to the midfield stripe. An offside penalty against the Buffs and two off-tackle smashes by Lain made it first down for the Owls on the Colorado 32. Neece swept right end for first down on the 9. A penalty for excessive time out set the Houstonians back 5 yards but Lain regained 4. Neece dropped a perfect pass from Lain but Steen stretched out almost to the end zone border to grab the next one and complete the touchdown making. Vestal again converted. This stanza expired with Rice holding the leather in midfield.
Opening the fourth quarter, Grove, reserve end, intercepted a pass by Coffee, but a bad pass back from center put the Buffs in a bad hole and they had to kick. Rice drove back to the Colorado 35, bogged down, punted and then got the ball again when Flowers, substitute center, intercepted a pass by White on the Colorado 35. With Vickers doing most of the work, the Owls managed two first downs to the 10 and Vickers hit Hager with a third-down pass to the 1-yard line. Vickers failed to go over on fourth down and White kicked out to the 50, where Coffee received. This drive accounted for two first downs, but Colorado braced and took possession on downs on its own 16. A pass, White to Lavington, was incomplete, and White was spilled for two yards loss running end as the final gun popped.
Individual statistics for the game show that Tom Vickers of the Owls was the most consistent ground gainer with an average of 7.3 yards on twenty plays. He also returned kick offs 24 yards and punts 15. Ollie Cordill, reputed to be the Owls' best runner, gained 38 yards on seven tries from scrimmage, not counting yardage he made after catching passes. Lain made 189 yards on twenty-eight plays and White made 177 on thirty-three, not counting 25 and 33-yard returns on kickoffs and his 47-yard scoring sprint on an intercepted pass.
The yardstick of the game gives Rice a clear team advantage. Except on its early first quarter touchdown drive Colorado never penetrated the Owl 45-yard line from scrimmage. The Mountain eleven was decisively out-first-downed, 20 to 6. Rice completed eleven of twenty passes thrown for 158 yards, while Colorado completed one out of six for eight yards. The Owls out-gained the invaders, 422 yards to 133.
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