Coach, this is the game that everyone has been talking about for weeks.

Well, Jim, this is one of the biggest college games of the decade, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

... that has attracted as much national attention as this Spartan Irish football game.

Well, Jim, I've been in college coaching about 17 years, and gosh, I don't know of any game that I've ever been in as a coach or as a player that has just had so much interest.

We've had newspaper men on our campus here for the last week and a half, even before the Michigan State game,

and I know Duffy's had a great group up there on his own campus, and gosh, it's been quite a week and a half, I'll tell you that, and I don't know of any game that really has had more interest in this one. There's no question that Michigan State is an extremely talented football team. What do you expect them to try to do on Notre Dame? Well, Jim, I'll tell you, one of the strong points about this Michigan State football team is the great balance that it has. As a matter of fact, offensively, I think that they're better balanced than they were a year ago. I think in ends Alan Brenner and of course the great Gene Washington, I think they have more speed than they had last year. Washington was playing a year ago and a boy byropesville, who isn't quite as fast as Brenner.

And, of course, in the backfield, fellows like Lee and Clinton Jones and Bobapies and Ray, and I just figure that they probably will continue with the same sort of attack that they've had. And Michigan State's defense speaks for itself. They've been a tremendous defensive football team for the past four or five years, and I imagine that they will continue with the same formula that has brought him 19 victories in the last 20 starts yeah that's not a

bad record is it it certainly isn't I'd like to have the same kind okay coach Terry Hanratty of course

your fine quarterback has had an outstanding year do you think that he'll get a harder pass rush from Michigan State than he's had in some of the other games? Oh, I'm sure that they'll get a heavy pass rush. As a matter of fact, one of the things that Terry, of course, is going to expect in this ball game, and one of the things that Michigan State does well is rush the passer. So we hope that we're ready for it. All right, we'll have more on the nation's college football in just a moment.

Coach, when most people talk about Michigan State's quarterback Jimmy Ray,

they think of him as a runner. And he is a fine runner. He's carried 101 times,

which is certainly above average for any quarterback.

But looking at his passing record, that's not bad either.

He's completed 55 of 103 for 968 yards, and that's just a little behind your quarterback.

Jim, that's exactly right.

As a matter of fact, I pointed that out earlier in the week.

I was aware of it, and of course I had read prior to our starting to study the Michigan State offense that he had been a very ordinary passer.

Well, after I got the film and started to study it and also the statistics, I'm convinced he's probably one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country.

Not only can he run well, which the statistics indicate, he also has got a wonderful passing completion record. And as I watched the film, he just bites off yardage and great big chunks. And really, every time they get in a jam, by golly, this little ray comes back and throws that ball. Now, he also has done this. He's gone back and not found receivers open. And he takes off with that ball. He's a great scrambler, tremendous speed. And I think that that's why I said that I think that their offense probably is a little bit more versatile

and even more dangerous than a year ago.

Is there any one factor, if you could point to a single factor in this football game,

that you think might influence the outcome of the game more than any other point might. Jim, that's a very difficult

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