New-York tribune., 1900-11-25
M THE FOOTBALL FIELD.
sTRIKING LESSONS IN PRINCETON'S
DEFEAT - A FORECAST OF THE
THANKSGIVING DAY GAMES.

Tigers zero sounds worse for Princeton than the
tally of 20 to . a week ago. Yet in fact. think
that most football experts will pronounce the
recent defeat of Princeton worse than the
one ten years ago. decade ago the open game
vas being played almost entirely in which long
end and rapid gains were a feature. Now,
n last Saturday Ysle had worked the open game,
as she undoubtedly could have done with ease
around Princetons weak ends, she could have
rolled up a score Of 81 methng like 40 points.
frstead Of this. however, the New-Haven eleven
sOntented itself with steady line bucking which.
Fhile perfectly iuvincible. means, after all, a
very Slow march mp the field. Had Yale played
openly and around the ends her score would
undoubtedly have been much higher, and this s
the reason that most football men look upon
the victory in Tigertown a week ego as by far
the greatest that Yale has ever scored over the
Hew-Jersey college.
TWO POINTS WHERE THE TIGERS FAILED
In the game at Princeton as in every notable
victory defeat on the football gridiron. GER
tain marked lessons may be drawn from the
play-essons as the different policies pursued,
the physical condition Of the men. etc. Now,
there are two lessons which stand out as per-
fectly plain in the midst of Princetons downfall.
One Of these IS the poor policy which Captain
Pell displayed throughout the season. and the
other is The emincntly poor physical condition In
which the Tigers found themselves. AS TO the
first point. it is pity 10 criticise too severely
Captain Pell. who has always been \ atrong and
gallant player, yet here the facts Canaan
Pell. eighteen or nineteen years old on''-. an1 .
Junior at Princeton. with experienc- IF only
one year on the varsity team, made up lis mind
at the beginning of this season that he could
steer the football ship Of state without r'I,cA
help from the Princeton graduates. So what he |
did practically TO constitute himself head !
coach and carry out his own ideas from the /
beginning Of the season. banishing at time !
or another a fcW of the best known graduate |
coaches that Princeton has had. After t3e
defeats by Cornell and Columbia of these
men were summoned back in hot haste. but then !
it was too late to repair the damage. In a by!of |
forecast which The Tribune printed on the day
Of the game. this poor policy on the part Of the
Princeton captain explained 1t had not
before been explained in any newspaper. and it
was set forth at that time how the Princeton
eleven had suffered in consequence of this i'm
mature policy. The event of the game proved /
that this point fairly taken The Tigers |
had always been unusually successful with !
Junior captains. and no junior captain of the |
football eleven had been known to meet defeat !
in his first year leader up to Pelrs time |
Poe, Cochran. Trerchard, Hillebrand and one or |
two others were all junior captains and Pells !
disastrous season seems all the more conspicu-
Gus by comparison.
HOW ABOUT THE TRAINERS?
This criticism Of the valiant Tiger leader is. of
course, not intended in a personal way. but is
pointed out simply to show great mistake
which Princeton made, and which should be
avoided in the future The other great point OF
weakness which the contest brought out was
the old. old story of physical condition. The |
Tigers were not ft-the Yale men were frisky |
fVVO fas uad
the hour and absolutely prime. The Princeton |
men were of the same age. but they acted like !
crippled and broken down old horses The |
fire and spirit of old battles were still in them
but the flesh was weak. Princeton men say that |
they had extremely hard luck this year in hay |
ing their best players laid uo constantly
throughout the whole season. There is some
thing more than hard luck to account for this |
Either the players were let into the scrimmages !
too early in the season, before their muscles be- |
came hardened, or else after each injury they !
were put at hard work too again. |
throughout the course of the Yale game they |
were constantly being laid up for long repairs |
and this brings up squarely the point of how |
much leeway should he given to an injured |
prayer myself think that II would improve the |
game about 100 per cent If the trainers were |
allowed on the field only in the rarest instances
This practice of having trainer chase out on |
the gridiron about every three minutes with a |
sponge and pail Of water is both annoying !
and useless 1t makes the game slow and J
tedious, and is unfair to the spectators. If a |
player is so fabby that he has to be sponged |
and rubbed every few moments he ought to be |
taken out OF the game at once. Yale was not |
once an offender IN this particular Saturday |
whereas Princeton score Of times and l |
nave less hesitation in bringing up the matter !
strongly, because the Princeton graduates them
selves have, in the proper spirit, mentioned the
POINT TO me as a great drawback l think it |
would be we'll for the committee to amend the |
rules next year. so that the trainer should not |
De allowed to go on the gridiron more than |
tnree times, say, in either half.
II Prlnceton's leadership poor, and If her |
condition was weak. and If she had to send a |
Trainer on the field every few moments all |
through the contest on the other hand the |
spirit that the Princeton undergraduates |
showed throughout the long struggle wa4 a |
narkable demonstration Of loyalty and devotion |
as the Princeton team of 1900, and while Yale's |
play was superb. many heart thrilled still more |
10 near that swelling chorus of "Old Nassau" |
sung unfalterinsly up to the very end. This is |
the spirit that VIII bring the Tigers victory |
another year. There is already talk of new |
cdptain, ana the choice, am informed, Is likely |
10 rest upon Dana, the best guard at Princeton,
VINO unfortunately, owing to injuries, did not |
ger chance in the Yale game this year. l |
.iink also there viii be next season more serious
talk Of playing the le-Princeton game in New
York again. While the accommodations in New
Haven good, those at Princeton re made
quate. and the attendance there has not been
enough to make the Princeton financial man
ayers easy or happy.
LAFAYETTE's SIGNAL TRIUMPH
While the largeness of Yales score was sur
Prise. this was not SO much Of a surprise as the
reversal Of form. which Cornell showed in her
game against Lafayette. The Easton players
won by the broad margin of II to O. Cornell had
iaiien off badly in both defence and offence but
ner defeat was due more than anything else to