King and IBM 370 ready for pro prognosticators Jimmy the Greek has been crystal ball gazing a long time now, long enough to figure perhaps that he no longer need be concerned with young up Nevertheless, a new evangelist of the bookie's bible appears to be coming over the hoi . zon, and this guy doesn't work alone. His name is Gary King and his associate is a one and a half million dollar think machine that re-Iles in the Computer-? Science Building. Together. they call the spread on profootball con tests. and even predict the play-by-play of hockey King. a graduate student in computer science at prNent. said that while he was doing un dergraduate work at Albany State, he raked all the local prognosticators over the coals. "Nly prd,tram beat all five newspaper selectors tw o ear's ago, and last year it heat four and tied the other guy: . King said. "There was a sports ca-ter in town. too, and I clobbered him pretty In addition to that crew, King said his progrant, with a 70 per cent accuracy rating. topped another local computer by six or seven games. "The only input is the scores of the pro football games up to that date and a slight. one-point home field advantage: King said. ith a sl.stem like this going. how cone there's till a bookie in the country with a penny in ,his pocket? King explained that due to a flattening effect On the scores, .his system is incapable of putting any football bookies on the welfare roles. couple of times I (lid check my system Paterno not satisfied-yet By RAY McALLISTER Collegian Sports Editor The day Joe Pate•rno is satisfied. of course. is the day Penn State football %%ill cease to ride high in the national polls. to he a likely bowl participant. to he a near-certain Lambert Trophy %%inner. 13), run% it must he second nature. As alwa‘s. the Penn State coach is pleased Ivith some aspects of his team's progression to the level he feels it must attain for the Sept. 15 opener - at Stan ford. V er% oh% iott*. he is displeased IA ith some. - They're all so tired out there. They're %Cry sluggi4C Paterno offered Wednesday after another of the afternoon practices. This one. On the 10th straight day of 90-degree-plus temperatures. ran t s 0 and a half hours. That u as some 15 minutes longer than the norm. - But there', been no practice where they haxen't worked hard." he probubl, the hardest. working team we've es er had.- .1 spring and a summer of that uork by the player., and much more by the maybe,. has gone into preparation for Paterno's eighth ..easint here. More is needed. however. There must lie a certain luck involN ed. The offens'e., for instance. Most of it is manned lip those who (miter! the positions laq season. Experience.. then. would ••eeni to insure a pretty smooth working operation. But not necessarily. . - Staying healthy is the hig thing. Patent() "Either on offense or on defense. ultimately that is what produces the really go(HI team. I'm mit talking about just the good team. which you could ha% e am. v. al,‘. but the reall% good team. - That was the ease with the offense in 1971 (including Lytlell Mitchell. Franco Harris and John Hufnagel) which was so sue ce--ful We managed to keep (All-America tackle Da‘e) Joyner in there all the time. "I 41 . 1)0 think tse lint more than a minute of timing all And how about this season?- By now the fundamentals should he pretty well in hand. How is that timing?. "Horrible: . Paterni) said. "I had expected us to he much far ther along by now." - Still.-he does not seem worried. Concerned, yes. He always is concerned: he has to be. particularly when the progression has not been made quite as quickly as he had expected. as he hail hoped. But he does not .gix e the impression that he is worried. Indeed. he sacs h e is pleased with the quarterback situation. felt to be one of Penn Slate's weaknesses after the graduation of 111- kinerica John Multiage!. Though some depth was lost when Dan Tarosky as - forced out of the season by knee surgery, Paterm) calls the position "pretty good." Tom Shuman. he I.ays.. has shown himself capable of handling it while Dick Bar inchak has emerged as a strong backup. There is one area for more than a little concern. howeser. In Vitiello still kicking , - soccer balls By MARK SIMENSON Assistant Sports Editor Al Vitiello came hack and Herb Schmidt i, glad he did. Returning from a In° term hiatus. Vitiello is ready to .tart kieking again. This time he ha, :set hi , sights on the Jeffrey Field goals instead of his old -.hooting gallery at Beaver Stadium. "1 was coming hack to school and I thought I w ould play, - the senior offered during soccer press day earlier in the week. Vitiello is eligible for soccer because an athlete has fi'e years to use up four years of eligibility in each sport. He played soc cer and football two years at Nassau Com munity College before assuming the kicking chores for Joe Paterno in 1971. While fie was successful kicking, foot balls. the mustachioed Vitiello loves the fast-paced action of soccer, something that -t% as missing during his tenure on the foot ball team. `•I didn't do anything at football" he said. His playing ,time each game was limited to a coupletof minutes and a few swings of his left foot. In two dozen games Vidello set seen Penn State kicking records. They incluthi most extra points in a game—nine; season -59; eareer-98; best season percentagd for extra points 97.5; most consecutive extra points 43; most field goals in a season eight and the most points kicking in - a season 74. Where Vitiello will play is still one of the questions Schmidt has to solve. "He's been playing on the line and midfield," the Lion coach said. "We haven't really been having scrimmages that I could tell anything from, but he's done well." Vitiello said he likes to play offense and will play "anythinghut goalie." The reason is a simple one.' , "I don't know how to play it:" he admitted. Schmidt has a surplus of good goalies, so Vitiello might find himself in a position to score goals, something he- was ac customed to doing at Nassau. "But that was a long time ago." he added. against the bookie sheets," King said, "hut since it's essentially an average, my spreads, always come out closer. And since they're under the bet ting spreads, they won't work if you're trying to use the•computer to heat the sheets." Another bug in the prttgratit, King explained, is the necessity of relying on last year's results to predict the games during the first few weeks of a new season. "The first few weeks are kind of funny, but after about three weeks things start to settle down pretty much: King said. The idea is indeed interesting, but how about something- closer to home, like predicting the Nit tally Lions' Saturday football fortunes? College football, King said, would be much more difficult to program due to•the larger num ber of teams, their relative inconsistencies and the fact that they play so few common opponents. However, King has expanded his operations into pro hockey. If actual hockey games go by a little too quickly for you. computer hockey might be the answer. All you need is the program, and you can sit for hours and hours, watching the play-by-play of endless juries have mounted quickly thus far, nagging little things for the most part. But several have come to key players, keeping them inartiNe or at half speed. -1 "We had intended to scrimmagettoday." Patent() said 'ester day. "but we're a little hit too tired'. a little hit hanged up. and I didn't feel we'd get enou g h o ut of it so we've decided not to scrimmage." . What Patent() calls "Most of the tough: work" has been finished now. that is; most of the conditioning work. Now it is on to the mental work, on to refining the subtleties. That should be somewhat easier now. For one, the opikres.he beat'should "This has been the hottest pre-season practice we've ever had. Patent° said, "In the 20 years that I've been here. we've 'liner had nine or'lo straight days with the temperature over 90... But he doe.n't contend that is what has been holding his team bark this fall. The heat ha• not heen that hutch a factor. "If sse"re a good football team, that shouldn't hold us hark. If we're not, he laughed. .`ue'll use that a. an excuse.- While he would rather play soccer. Vitictllo jump l ed at an opportunity to play football when Penn State offered him a scholarship. "The reason I played football was I had to: he said. "There aren't too Man:, teams I could get a scholarship to play soccer on: When Vitiello was reunited to perform the Lion kicking Ames, he made some overtures to Schmidt about playing soccer after his football commitment was up. "We had talked about this from the time he transferred to Penn State." Schmidt recalled. "He's always -had a distinct in terest! in soccer and he thought he'd he around an extra term before 'he graduated. I'm glad it worked out." t Al Vitiello is back in uniform Rick Starr ass't sports editor Vitiello has a strong kicking appendage (he owns the junior college field goal record or 60 yards) and would compliment Chris Bahr, who has earned the nickname "Thunderfoot:" Unlike Vitiello, who would rather play soccer than football, Bahr wants to do both. An All-American at halfback last year as a sophomore, Bahr is trying to win year old job. Vitiello is confident he can crack the State lineup, which is shooting for a fourth consecutive NCAA playoff bid. "He has kept close to the game by playing in an organized league on Saturday's Back home in Nassau. "I'ni in pretty good condition," he haid, "but I have a long . Way to go." hockey games come churning out of the IBM 370. And building a program isn't really all that dif ficult: Start by dividing the ice into four sections, by using the blue line and the two red stripes. As King explains, "In each of the foOr sections, there is a percentage of times a player Will pass the puck, shoot it or keep it on his stick. Hcime ice is a big advantage since teams generally pass and execute better at home, and that is weighed heavily." - After the machine gets all the dope, start .the game with a faceoff and get out your reading specs. The play by play conies out looking like the transcript of a hockey game radio broadcast, com plete with a final statistical wrap up. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia playing a game at the Spectrum might come out 4-2, Philadelphia, while the same opponents meeting at Pitts‘burgh's Civic Arena might battle to a 2-2 tie. The pro football program, which would take a mere human about three hours to work out, only runs about one tenth of a second in the computer, and King claims that when it conies to calling the Steeler and Eagle contests, his speedy friend seldom errs. "Last year; was only wrong on one Steeler game (the first meeting with Cleveland) and one Eagle contest, not including ties," King said. The computer gave the Steelers the nod over Oakland in the Steeler's first playoff game last year by one point, due to the Steelers' home field advantage. Pittsburgh won 13-7 when Franco Harris scooped up a deflected pass that initiated the Feast of the Immaculate Reception. , , ^' 1 go,. Photo by Randy J. Woodbury almost Pirates Murtaugh joins team in Phi//y PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Pirates announced yesterday that they were firing Manager Bill Virdon and calling hack lianny Murtaugh to succeed him, effective immediately. The announcement was made at a hastily called late afternoon news con ference at Three Rivers Stadium by Joe L. Brown, general manager of the club. which has been plagued by malady and misfortune ever since star right fielder Roberto Clemente was killed in an air plane crash off Puerto Rico Dec. 31.1972. Brown said Murtaugh, 56, do affable, cigar-chewing Irishman, would remain as manager at least through 1974. available for comment. - removed at the last minute from a truck Brown's announcement was made as the that was to carry club equipment to the team, after a day off, was preparing to airport. leave for Philadelphia, where they begin a Murtaugh joined the team's front office weekend series against the Phillies today. as director of player acquisition and Player reaction was mixed, sources close development when he stepped aside as to the club said. One bystander said manager in 1971. catcher Manny Sanguillen had tears in Virdon, who had been Murtaugh .- his eyes when he learned of the change. right-hand man during the 1970-1971 Others appeared unconcerned, while some continued on page 12, column 1 DUNKEL'S FOOTBALL INDEX Brown refused to discuss his reasons for the shuffle, but said the announcement was his "most difficult ... in my 35 years of baseball." Virdon, 42, who had succeeded ,Mur taugh as manager after the Pirates' 1971 World Series victory over Baltimore, said Lions picked 10th, USC Ist By DICK DUNKEL And now the good news there's no pigskin shortage. A counterful, of choice cuts headed by Nebraska-UCLA awaits college footliall fans tomorrow. But first a preseason exhibition of our own these nominations for leadership in 1973: Best majors Southern Cal, Texas. Best minors Gram!)ling, Louisiana Tech. , Most improved _Houston,. Northern Illinois. ; Hardest seheduleS — Oklahonia, Kansas. This is just gues ! sivork, of course. The real glory of the 1973 season: will be told right here by the teams themselves. Each week the teams will :;et their oti•n ratings on the Dunkel College Football In dex, now entering its 45th year. Last season the Index again demonstrated its validity by selecting winners in 75.2 per cent of the 1,815 games covered. Here's how the Index works. A team's rating is a progressive combination of - the averages of thet)e two factors: (1) scoring margin and (2) rating of opposition. Example: last season Simthern Cal played Opposition with an average- rating of 90.6 and outscored it by an average 27.5 points per game. Adding the two figures gave Southern Cal its No. 1 rating of 118.1. Here's our forecast for this year's Top 50 (with last year's final ranking in paren thesis): 1. S.California (1) 2. Texas (5) 3. Alabama,(6) 4. Michigan (10) 5. Nebraska (3) EXPLANATION The Ounkel ”igteril provide. a continuous i all teams. it reflect. /te mowing margin combined with aver . Higher Rating , Opposing OTHER MIDWESTERN N.W.lowa 52.1 1221 Dakota St• 30.1 Rating Team DIM Team N'West Mo 47 8 -1121 1 41 m Jewell. 36 o ... SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 8 Ottawa* 36 3 .. 41 Bethany 322 MAJOR GAMES Ashland. 67.8 ... 1191 Franklin 48.13 Tabor' 15.5 _...121 McPherson 136 Augsburg 40.4 .(11) River Falls• 29.5 Valpar'o• 33.7 .. (6) Wabash 27.6 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 Bemidji St 21.1_ _.(9) Valley City• 12.5 Washburn 31.4 - 16( MONalley• 25.7 Appalach'n• 63 2 ._11) Western Ky 62.5 SharoX 298 clilßokyt 1 )XrNeb•ls.o l g eeti'r 0i0 k .349_. ilo, l Lst i n l l l . a nn47 .1 ) r c V esn :p i : Arizona 79.5 ......._1221 Colo. St.. 57.4 Defiance• 32.1 ..... ... (71 Olivet 25.5 • Clernson • 77.4 .... ... 116) Citadel 61.2 Delta St 65.3 11 . 41 So'east Mo. 51.5 Dayton° 67.8 .... 181 Youngst'n 59,5 gi o c a k n i e ns? ii r 3 l .9 St 15:4 "(31) 91 Ta a n e rto i n lls. 6.5 • 10.3 OTHER SOUTHERN Fresno St• 69.9... , .... i 24) Cal Poly 462 E.Mich'n• 69.8.""..110), Ball State 60.0 Grambling 82.1._.(171 Longßeach• 64.8 Eat) Claire 16.0 .. _._. (8) Winona. 9.3 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 Evansville 46.1 46.1 1141 11 1 n, cl.AClemnat: 111: . Alcorn 59.2 .... ...(91 Pinel3luff• 50.3 Idaho• 64.5 .. ____ (61 TexElPaso _58.1 Angelo St 68.4._ Alat Cent. Okla. 52.5 Lamar 62.5 ..._,.. __ MI N.Mex.St• 82 2 Findlay' 33.1 -. 1131 GlowrnKy 19.6 Louisville 895 --.(101 Memphis ° 79.3 Graceland 33.3 (16) Peru St• 17.4 Ark. State• 61.5 ... , 18) Abilene 53.5 Harnitne. 35.9 __. Stout 18.9 B-Cookman• 48.7.. ill) S.C.State 37.7 Mass.U. 72.5 .... . 171 Holy Cross 65.7 Illinois St 62.8 ..120111, ,1 15 7 . 1 117 irkee• 427 Iruefield 41.8 ... (11) Concord• 30.6 sippl• 98.6 ___ 1331 Villanova 65.5 Jackson St 61.6 ... _ tl5) Omaha. 46.2 C-Newman 66.3 .. 1111 Samford 55.1 Nebraska. 117.2 . 1201 U.C.L.A. 97.4, Kearney 41.6 ... .... 101 Cent.Mo 41.6 E.C . J . V. , ..p . kcla 52.7 ... 181 McMurry• 44.7 N.C.State• 100.3.. 1251 E.Carolina 75.1 kilnegales t ol'e'r. s3 ll.7 - 717.",61, B B i e s pg 41 ' E.Tex.Ste 3 4.1. 9.2 . - ... ' 1 1 1: f4 ll 'w a e n sr a 6 1 P1 - ; N.lllinois• 77.4 ......131 Indiana St 74 0 ' Mo.South'n • 54.9 . .. 1241 Ft. Hays 30.7 21m. 6" . 126) G-Webb 350 Paciiic• 72.0 .....135) Sac'to St 36 8 Morehead 49.3 ~. 1111 Central St. 37.7 Emporia 52.8 ...,2.110) Ark,Tech• 42.8 Presbyt'n• 59.9 . 120) Furman 39,5- rarat. 74 4.B --- -------------- N, Arizona a . g...; n Hardinna-60.1i2.5.....::461) T G age l l r l 94 6 1 San Jose• 72.7.......1271 Sta. Clara 46 1 N.E.Mo.St• 41.3 - . 151 Cent.Meth 36.4 Henderson 55.2._ "fa) Aus.Perly 48.9 Temple' 88.7 _ _ 116 1 Xavier 50.5 North'n lowa. 52.6 1121 Pittsburg 41.0 Hillsdale 51.3 Ill) Glenville .40.4 Virginia• 71.8 .. ____ 111) V.M.i. 602 How. Payne• 57.1_1101 Tex.Luth'n 46.6 Va. Tech• 91.6 ..1191 Wm & Mary 72.7 Tex-Arl'n 67.1 ... 110) N.Tex.St 57 5 W.Michigan 68.9.. (8) Cent.Mfch . 61.3 W.Tex St. 63.6 ..,.. 121 Drake 61.1 Wofford 53.0 .... ... _lll Davidson* 524 OTHER EASTERN SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 8 Delaware • 84.8 _ ..... _. 1241 Akron Edinboro• 40.7_____ 1171 Fairmont Lehigh 53.5 ~...........17.11 Hotstra• Maine 43.0 ....... ___llh Vermont* Would you bet on the Super Bowl with dump Vi dtaryCoiiegiap sports The Daily Collegian he had no immediate plans, beyond a seemed shaken. h!,standers said. vacation. The team knew something v.as wrong. Murtaugh was not immediately sources added, .when Virdon's gear ua- 10. Penn State (7) 11. Houston (28) 12. Notre Dame (23) 13. Oklahoma (2) 14. Florida (20) 15. Okla. State (19) 16. Arizona St (11) 17. N. C. State (12) 18. Georgia (18) 19. S. Methodist (30) 20. Colorado (9) 21. Wash. State (21) 22. Tulane (33) 23. Mississippi (13) 24. N. Carolina (22) 25. Louisiana St (15) 26. Georgia Tech (25) 27. Purdue (14) 28. Texas Teeh (25) 29. Louisville (38) 30. Michigan St )31) 31. W. Virginia (37) 32. Arkansas (39) 33. Miami. Fla (34) 34. lowa State (27) 35. Missouri (24) 36. Illinois (41) 37. S. Diego St (26) 38. Kansas (35) 39. Stanford (43) 40. N. Illinois (75) 41. Minnesota (44) 42. Yampa (45) 43. Washington (36) 44. Baylor (29) 45. lowa (58) 46. Utah (55) 'n th '. to the relative xtreol‘th or in furor of recent performance. Example: a 500 leant hew been 10 wonting poinc. .tn.nger. per age apposition rating.. weighted . game. than a 40.0 team agaimi opposition of identical strength. Ongtnated in 1924 LAST YEAR'S NATIONAL LEADERS 118.1 Arizona St .100.8 Wash. State 95.7 Michigan St .91.6 Illinois 87.1 Tex Christ'n 83 3 .117.7 N.C.State 100.3 N.Carolina . 955 Va. Tech . 91.6 Oregon 867 Air Force 82.5 . 117 2 Mississippi 98.6 Notre Dame 95.2 Tulane __ 91.2 Stanford . 86.5 Grambling .82 1 . 111.7 Purdue . - 98.4 Missouri 93.3 Miarq.l.F/a ... 90.4 Minnesota 86 4 Florida St 82 0 111.7 Louisiana St 98.1 Ga. Tech .. 93.2 Kansas 89.9 Tampa .._ 86.4 Utah 81 6 110.8 Ohio State _98.0 S. Diego St .92.6 Washington .89.9 Rice _ 86.0 Duke 81.5 103.6 U.C.L.A. _....97.4 lowa State ...92.1 W.Virginia _-89.7 California . 85.0 Brig. Young 81 3 .102.5 Georgia .... . 97.3 Houston 91.9 Louisville _- 89.5 Delaware .... 84.8 lowa .. 81:3 101.7 Oklahoma St 97.2 Baylor .'. ..... 91.8 Arkansas ......87.8 Utah State 84.7 Maryland .. 80.8 ._101.5 Florida ._ - 96.3 So. Methodist 91.8 Texas Tech 87.3' Texas A&M 83.9 Nliami.o 80 8 . Copyright 1973 by Dunkel Sports Research Svc Oklahoma Nebraska Auburn . Texas Alabama PENN MT Tennessee Colorado Michigan 6. Ohio State (16) 7. Tennessee (8) 8. U.C.L.A. (17) 9. Auburn (4) s man rdon Friday. September 7. 1973-11 47. Maryland (59) 48. California (47) 49. Florida St (54) 50. Memphis St (65) SMALL; COLLEGES: Grand)ling. Louisiana Tech, Delaware, Tennessee State, South Dakota, NW Louisiana, Idaho State, Tennessee Teeh; Montana State, Ashland. Oklahoma faces the season's toughest schedule. Sooner opponent. include Southern Cal, Texas and Nebraska and have an average rating of 97.9. Other with formidable schedules include Kan-a•. 96.3; Kansas State and Missouri. both 95.1; Miami. Fla.. and Nebraska. both 93.4; and Georgia. 92.8. Penn State, forecast to finish 10th. has four opponents picked for the Top 50: North Carolina State 17). We-t Virginia (31). Stanford (39) and Maryland 147). The Lions open at Stanford Sept. 15. Notre Dame continues to lead the alt lime (44-sear) Index Ns kb an a% erage rating of 101.2. Following in order are: Ohio State. 98.2: Southern Cal. 98.0: AWnutla, 97.3; Michigan. 96.6: Ten nessee. 96.2; Minnesota, 94.0: LI mi.iano a State. 93.2; Texas, 92.9: Oklahoma. 92.8: Purdue, 91.9; Army. 91.5; Michigan State. 91.4; ..Northinestern and Stanford. 89.5: UCLA. 89.2: Georgia. 88.9; Georgia Tech, 88.8; Illinois. 88.7; Texas Christian, 88.5; Washington. 88.5; and Nits y and Wiscon sin; both 88.2. Back to the busines- at hand. tler are comparative ratings carried over from last season on our minimums Index for this weekend's games: .rax,Ala• 67 2 141 Texas A&I 63 4 Ky State• 36.8 ... 1341 St Paul's 3 Mars HIII• 38 9 .14. 31111 saps 24 6 Md.E Shore 39.9 151 J.C.Smlth• 34 6 Miss.Vall 47.1 12/ Ala A&M• 45 M.Brown• 430 .3. Howard 402 NC. A&T 50.8 .16. Eliz.City • 34.8. N.C.Cent 522 .201 Win.-Salem• 31 9 S E.Austin• 58.3 , 16+ Cameron 41 r' S Houston 62 5 .9. Tot( South'n• 53 5 S'east La• 55.1 .8. Florence 473 S.St Ark. 60 1 .101 S E Okla 49 1 Southern 443 171 Tuskecee 371 T-Martin 47.1 .4. Nlcholls• 427 Tenn.St• 795, i lab Mul.Tenn 61.7 Trinity 666 1481 Austin IR Troy State 64.4 131 N'east La• 61 7 W.Carolina• 689 12 . 1 , T.nn.Tech 67.3 OTHER. FAR • WESTERN SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER a E.N.Mexlco 38.5 P Panhandle* 37.7 Idaho State 73.2 12, Mont St• 71.4 Montana* 61.1 33i S Fraser 2a I Nev.LasV• 47.1 - . 4151 St.Col.Ark 31.6 Nev. Reno• 57 1 123 i San Fran St 34 2 So. Utah 38.6 Chico St• 37 7 ME=l
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers