Football: Countdown to Pasadena

Though the college football season is barely under way, the experts are already excited about the expected climax. The date Jan. 1, 1969. The place: the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, Calif. The teams: Purdue (probable champions of the Big Ten) and Southern California (favorites to lead the Pacific Eight conference). That game, if it does take place, will probably decide the national championship. But the real drama will lie in the competition between the two most colorful players in college football: Purdue’s Leroy Keyes, 21, and Southern Cal’s Orenthal James Simpson, 21.

Both are Negroes, and both are seniors. Both are busy trying to rewrite almost every rushing record in the collegiate books.

All-Round Athlete. In Purdue’s opening game against Virginia this season, Keyes blasted his 205 lbs. through a wall of tacklers to score from 3 yds. out in the second quarter, then lofted a 12-yd. touchdown pass to End Bob Dillingham in the third period to lead Purdue to a 44-6 victory. Next week it was Notre Dame, ranked No. 1 and aching to avenge last year’s 28-21 upset by Keyes & Co. Not a chance. In the second quarter, Keyes took a pitchout on the Irish 16, faked to the inside, cut for the sidelines and raced untouched into the end zone. Minutes later, on what looked like the same play, the Notre Dame line swarmed in on Keyes; nonchalantly, he pivoted and tossed a 17-yd. touchdown pass to Dillingham. At the final gun, Notre Dame was down 37-22, Purdue was No. 1, and Keyes had added still another 18-yd. touchdown run to his personal scorecard. Defense? In tight situations, Leroy’s job was to cover Notre Dame’s famed End Jim Seymour. Seymour did not get his hands on the ball once while Leroy was guarding him.

“I watched Red Grange and Tom Harmon, but Keyes is the greatest all-round player I’ve ever seen,” says Purdue Coach Jack Mollenkopf. All-round athlete would be more accurate. In his senior year at George Washington Carver High School in Newport News, Va., Keyes scored 21 touchdowns in football, led the basketball team with an average 27.5 points per game, and set a state track record with a 24-ft. 4½-in. long jump. More than 80 colleges were after him until he chose Purdue. There, in his first varsity year, he was a defensive back—until he grabbed a Notre Dame fumble and raced 95 yds. for a touchdown. From then on, he played both ways, and last year he led the nation with 19 touchdowns.

Who Is No. I? If anything, Southern Cal’s O.J. Simpson boasts even more dramatic statistics. Molded in the slums of San Francisco’s Portrero Hill district, he was unheralded until he turned up at the City College of San Francisco, where in two years he scored a grand total of 54 touchdowns. He went to Southern Cal last year as a junior, and he wasted no time. In an awesome display of speed and power, O.J. led the country in rushing (with 1,415 yds. in 266 carries), scored both touchdowns in the Trojans’ 14-3 victory over Indiana in the Rose Bowl. This year he has been offering more of the same. On the way to victories over Minnesota and Northwestern and No. 2 spot in the national rankings, O.J. carried the ball a staggering 73 times for 425 yds. and seven touchdowns.

Some time late next month, the Heisman Trophy committee will have to decide who is the year’s top college player. With his passing and defensive skills, Keyes may be a shade more versatile. As a runner, O.J. is a bit heavier (at 210 Ibs.) and faster (9.4 sec. v. 9.8 in the 100-yd. dash); he has greater inside power and breakaway potential. So who is No. 1? Maybe this is the time for two Heisman trophies.