Morning journal and courier., 1884-10-23
rALr,s roornALLTEAnT.


 A Lighter Set Of Men and New Mode
 of PIay1ng-Less charging by che
 Rushers and More SkfII-Chances
 for the Championship.
 Last evenings New York Post contained the following letter from Yale which dis cusses the football team in fair and inter esting manner: At the beginning of the foot ball season this fall Yale's prospects for re- taining the intercollegiate championship were not bright. Fale's football tactics in the past have been to rely chiefly on weight and to force the ball down the field toward their opponents goal by the inertia of heavy rusher line. This plan worked we'll for the past four or five years as long as the crop of colossal men held out, but this year the aver age weight will be about ten pounds less than last year. One giant, Cox '87, who weighs over 230 pounds, goes on, but Hull, Hyndman and Tompkins will not play. Both Hull and Hyndman weighed over 200 pounds, were strong and muscular, and acted as the battering rams of the eleven. Cox cannot fill their place, and it is not even certain that he will play, as he is so heavy as occasional ly to be cumbersome. Beside losing the three heaviest rushers, the eleven is weaken ed by Twombly, the quarter-back going to Harvard Law school, and by Farwells gradu- ation. This years team, with the exception of the two half backs, is almost entirely com posed of new men.
 So far the eleven have played three games, though the players have been partly changed each time. On October 1 they defeated Wesleyan university four goals and two touchdowns to nothing, and again on last Saturday sixty-three to nothing They also. defeated Stevens university ninety-siz to nothing. If it were to be judged solely by comparison of the scores made against small college elevens which of the colleges would win, the odds would be in Yale's favor as Princeton and Harvard have made much poorer scores; but Yale has put forth her full strength every game, and Princeton and Harvard has been playing with substitutes. Yale has been forced to do this by the neces- sity of giving the new men all the practice that can be got. So little surplus football material is there that one engagement to play Wesleyan had to be postponed because sev- eral of Yale's players were injured and there were no substitutes fit to take their places. This is something that has not been known to happen for years.
 The faults of the team are those natural to new and partly timid players. Almost all of Yale's old F'ferocity'' has disappeared and this years game is to kick and to run with the ball, instead of trying to force it through as in years when the rusher line weighed al most ton. This change of play is helped by the quality of the half-backs, Terry and Richards, both of them veterans and the best men on the team. If the rusher line can be strengthened and united so as to guard perfectly the half-backs the game pro- mises well. So far the rush-line has not done this well. They do not hold together as the old crowd did, nor do they show that unanimity in falling on the ball with which Yale men have been characterized A cer- tain daintiness is displayed by some men, though this is wearing off fast and will prob ably disappear by Thanksgiving.
 The passing is only moderate. To pass the ball well requires mutual feeling of confidence and constant practice. Any hesi- tancy or nervousness in it tells disastrously
 The prevalent opinion among Yale stu dents now is that the contest this year will be closer and harder fought than last, with the odds in favor of Yale against either liar yard or Princeton but in favor of the field against Yale.