New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-11-15
rAas PLAYS AND KICKING.

MASS PLAYS AND klCklNG.
r CONCLUSIONS FORCED UPON STUD
r,,rs OF FOOTBALL BY RECENT
GAMES.
,.s+ week has been somewhat or revela-
,ootball. for beginning with the Harvard
w. ..,on game q week ago. there nave oeen
Frn.. ,,rust upon the football enthusiast
sufp,' hin, that football Is quite different
.o,, what Il was last year or what IL mas
'h'e 49,, before In the first place the game at
eve ,~,soa on the 7th showed conclusively that
'' formations cannot be absolutely done
'"" .,,b so long the rules OF American loot
Nv. -.,,a,n practically what they are. For the
'V"' ,,ous consent Of the Rules Committee last
uas given to rules that condemned any
:. ,,ass play. and the members passed pro-
NJ. laws so far as they could without actu-
,.ru,y the game itself And now 1t has been
s' .,,.,valv proved by the Harvard-frinceton
coho' ,nass plays could be formed by
n,,ca,on Just as thoroughly as wheh 'he rules
Ffi"' ..,adged the wedges and momentum plays
".s-as and four years ago In other words so
OF ~ .ho scriynnage-whch is the nucleus OF
'o'e --oser, rarne-lasts. that will always be the
'ne paa formation which is the closest which
nv ...sa that Princeton employed so effectively
aS 49, harvard. Harvard's formations were of
U.s. 's oIa stvle and the running Interference was
'"e .,o,. relied on. II never accomplish
We ...,r AGAINST a play which keeps four or fvc
""' moving forward and yet in circle ana
P'L,,g one another at the same time IN
Ai ,.ords twirlnC ball composed OF I'VE
o I'LL worm itself into and through rush
i .o ono man buckng that line Will ne
'-A. .a in his tracks. There is one point IN the
game that has been effectually cstap-
lIshed this year
leather is the proper place OF KicKihs' l"
game as Princeton's this year-ano las'
.,o, matter-with series or seml-niass
-. that gain only few yards at each play
~. ticker Is an absolute necessity Fiays 'iia'
ions s...,t,aIlv ground gamers for scores, that
=. nays that are more or less sure Oh d 'aiu VI
Is ' -, cannot be expected from their very
.r,. N gain more than five yards ought not
nS,. ,,.,sd IN the centre OF the field. Before
-, .saro that uses them can reach its enemy
-, line the PLAYS have been repeated so many
eOA' .ba other side has discovered how TO
80 ,Lo-, and the men themselves have grown
,oss =, executing them. The team must
49,. GOOD hunter therefore. 10 he used on all
.,o.s,ons where the ball is IN its own territory
- {, tho middle Of the field. When the oalI Is
=, Tho oononents' ten-yard line. as II can easily
- .,,,as IN game where there Is good
80 t,ctAr the next play is 10 block the KICK or
he ahla 70 hold the other side down - 1our
downs and to force a kick. which can again De
easily returned. This can be kept up UNI"
either a punt is actually blocked OF '"e 'V"'
eets possession OF II on the opponents '"e"'S
Eve ward line when the slow. sure ero"i'u
gaining mass plays can he used rahc' 1oi.s
runs. round the end plays. Beautifully pNanheu-
out interference plays with weil-neureo loriia
.,o,s arc no longer football. When Princeton
played them al Cambridge they did not "orh
we'll When Harvard tried them they failed'
When Princeton played her mass plays 'hey
aid gain ground and il should be remeinoereu
that they gained ground asalns. t 49, ~
which has the best and strongest deIence -,
snv team pIaving football this year HARVARD
co,,,d hold Princeton down for one-halt OF me
game Had she had better punter man ioa ~
combination OF mass PLAYERS Whlch ar h'l.lH inns
things 10 oppose for two hat-nours. anu q go
nunter who saves his own team $ strenstn, wa
80 r,uch for Harvard's weak and old -fasnloned
offensive plays even though these We're 10 a
certain extent helped out by the niashiicei'
defensive work of the Harvard men.
Still another lesson learned by the games TINS
year is the necessity of some play whch sha"
block an opponents kick. II such play can he
thoroughly drilled into an eleven so that u
works saw once in every two times II Is trleo'
one touchdown is practically assured in every
game. For there never has been big game OF
football between two Of the big college elevens
where each side has not by long punt given
the other the ball on its own ten or h1teen yard
line at least twice. and usually mucn ol,eneI'
during the course OF the two halves IN sucn d
Mace blocked kick means touchdown ior the
o,ber eide These are some Of the new points IN
the game which have not been especially ne"
"a students Of the game for year or TWO, Dut
which are new to the average man. anu WIN"
are being demonstrated this season
IN The hard-fought game yesterday between
Orange and Elizabeth. that finally ended in tie
score n. To 6 the first kick Of the game. made
by Brooke. Of Orange landed the ball in Eliza
be.h,s hands on their own twenty-yard line.
well-blocked kick would have probably meant
touchdown for Orange. That began the Har-
vard-Yale game in 1904 1t began the Yale
Princeton game two years before that But
Orange could not block the second play Of the
game The seventh or eighth play was a Kick
nv Ianeford which gave Orange the ball on
their twenty-yard line Brooke returned IT 10
the centre OF the field. Here Elizabeth failed on
q chance tor touchdown because she could not
block kick. Furthermore. IN the Orange-Ellza
beth game there is no question that orange out
PLAYED Eliza beth and yet the former could not
win because they had not a sufficiently clever
but simple mass twirl or turtleDack play, such
as Princeton's with which 70 gain ground surely
al critical time. Estimate the strength OF the
two teams and you Will see this Brooke is
better kicker than Langford. orange mace pet
ter and had better round-the-end inter
ference. but the Orange men were staiiec al the
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