"I Feel Awful Humble"

How does a coach get his team up for a game? He wheedles, he needles, and if all else fails, he sinks to his knees in solemn supplication. But when the game is Army-Navy--the bitterest of all rivalries--nobody needs to be keyed up. WE CAN, WE WILL, WE MUST, read a banner at West Point. Bah! snorted Navy Coach Wayne Hardin. "We think we are the No. 1 team in the nation. We want to prove it." Army's Paul Dietzel mockingly agreed. "Don't panic," he told his players.

Panic? Army was lusting for blood. The Middies had trounced the Cadets four straight years--and they were eleven-point favorites to make it five. To rub it in, Navy's gold uniforms had "Drive for Five" lettered on the back. Navy was the nation's No. 2 team. Quarterback Roger Staubach was the most talked about player in college football. Army's quarterback was a converted halfback, Rollie Stichweh, and most of the 102,000 fans in Philadelphia Stadium could not even pronounce his name (it rhymes with which way).

Then the war began--and for the first three quarters it looked as if the oddsmakers were right again. Army scored the first time it had the ball, Quarterback Stichweh slicing over from the ten after driving his team 65 yds. in eleven plays. But then Navy's Staubach went to work--on the ground, not in the air. Sending Fullback Pat Donnelly ripping through the line, throwing just enough to keep the defense honest, Staubach put together three drives of 47, 80, and 91 yds., capping each with a touchdown by Donnelly. With ten minutes left to play, the score was Navy 21, Army 7.

Get That Ball! Nobody could have imagined what was going to happen next. Outmaneuvered for most of the game, the Cadets inexplicably reared up with a fury that stunned the complacent

Middies. Delicately, deliberately, Quarterback Stichweh dismembered the Navy defense. When Navy beefed up its flanks, he sent Halfback Kenny Wai-drop cracking off tackle for big yardage. When the Middies stacked the middle, Stichweh scampered around end. From the Navy five, Stichweh rolled out to his right and launched himself into the air: six points. He rolled out again, this time to the left: a two-point conversion that made it 21-15; a touchdown would tie, an extra point would win--but first Army had to get the ball. The Cadets gambled on an onside kick: Quarterback Stichweh grabbed the ball on the Navy 49.

Now Army's greatest enemy was the clock. There were still six minutes left --plenty of time for a team to travel 49 yds. with time-outs and sideline passes to stop the clock. But Army had no time-outs left, and Stichweh was no passer. Steadily, Army marched down the field; relentlessly, the seconds and minutes ticked off. "Touchdown! Touchdown!" Army rooters screamed. "Stop them! Stop them!" pleaded the Navy stands. With a third down on the Navy four and less than one minute on the clock, the Army team could not hear Stichweh's signals. The referee called time-out--in the meantime Army lost 20 seconds. When play resumed, Halfback Waldrop barreled to the two. Now there were 16 seconds left. Quickly, Army lined up. Once more, the din drowned Stichweh's signals. Once more, he pleaded for silence. Bang! The game was over.

"We've Got a Game." For the first time in months, Navy's Hardin was a subdued coach. "I feel awful humble," he muttered. "You just can't crow over a game like this." But then after the trembles wore off, Navy got quivers of anticipation. Hardin escorted Felix Mc-Knight, chairman of the Cotton Bowl selection committee, into the dressing room. "Men," said Hardin, "we've been invited to the Cotton Bowl. Do you want to go?" A roaring cheer rattled the lockers. "Good!" said McKnight. "We've got a game." And what a game. Navy's opponent: No. 1-ranked Texas.

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