New-York tribune., 1900-12-02
on THE FOOTBALL FIELD.
YALE'S WONDERFUL STRENGTH AGAINST
HARVARD - HOW THE COLLEGE
TEAMS SHOULD BE RATED.

completeness Of IL were the points 10 excite
wonder. Almost every so-called football expert,
with the possible exception OF some Yale graou-
ates whom dhe other experts regarded as mis-
guided, had predicted a close. gruelling con-
test the hardest and most stubbOrnly fought OF
the wear. with The result very likely in doubt
up 10 the last moment. and with only a small
margin between the scores Of the two eleyens.
on the other hand the struggle, while pluekiiy
fought on Harvards part was not close. and. in
stead Of being undecided almost up to the last
moment. was practically decided after the first
moment.
AS ne looks back at the situation just before
the game IL is now difficult for any football
man 10 see how he could have predicted a Har-
ward victory. For instance. one OF the Yale
coaches made this remark before the game:
Harvard has practically the same eleven which
she had last year. and il playei our team only a
lie game az Cambridge. Ysle's eleven this year
Is fully three times strong II last
yea-. How. therefore, can thrice our strength OF
last year fan 10 win against an eleven no better
than Haryards OF last season." This is highly
logical reasoning. and. the events proved
there no answer 10 H. The fact was that
none Of the several circumstances which the
harvard coaches had counted upon came 10
pass They had regarded Yale as Ell the top OF
her speed in TIRE Princeton game, and as sure
10 he slower when il came 10 Harvard. Yale's
trainer OF the other hand. had stated before
the game that his team would play - per cent
hetter against Harvard than il did against
Princeton. II he had said 100 per cent better
il would have been nearer the mark. and what
ever the Improvement was, great or small II
was more than ample 10 bury Harvard. good
many Yale men said after the struggle was
over. that they thought the heavy score OF -
points more than represented the ability be-
tween the two teams with Harvard in good
condition and I rather agree with this state
nent. ] believe that with Harvard in first rate
condition Yales score would have been any
y here from l. 10 is points 10 O. This belief is
based on two facts: First that Harr-ard's rather
poor condition might readily be accountable for
al least two scores by Yale: and. second, Yale
had a couple OF pieces Of very good luck in
Fincke's long run, which was the result prac-
tically Of a mum by a Yale halfback. and a
little later in Coys interoeptng double pass
and getting three-fourths Of the length OF the
field for another touchdown. Had the fortunes
81 war been more equal on these two points,
Ysles score Of course. would have been CON
siderably smaller.
WHY THE SCORE WAS so HEAVY.
Yet the fact remains that Yale would have
licked Harvard any way by a decisive score. and
there can be little comfor; to Harvard men in
figuring out why the score was 2s instead Of
about, however. is how in the world It happened
that team which had been vaunted as one OF
the fastest and best that had ever been turned
ont at Cambridge WAS completely showed
under and beaten worse than any Harvard
eleven has been whipped since 1884, those days
in The early eighties when Harvard's football
system feeble that there never the
slightest question about Yale proving the win
ner. The answer 10 this anxious inquiry and
alr.7Tuc /
this year are perhaps manifold. but they can be
summed up without much difficulty. The first
answer is that Yale had the best all around
team that had ever stepped on q college grid
iron. There have heen not a few other elevens
that have contained more individual stars but
there has never been an aggregation that
touched this Yale eleven for good. consistent all
around team play. The material this year al
New-Haven superb. the only question be-
fng as 10 whether the men were not heavy
that IL would be impossible 10 get them playing
fast enough together II was with this special
idea in mind that the Yale coaches framed their
game throughout the season. What Harvard
tries 10 DO too often is make certain style
Of game a standard. and then 10 try pour the
material into this particular style OF mould
matter what the material may be- Yale reverses
the process and makes the game that she de-
NelOps nfOrm largely TO the sort Of material
she has to work with. This is the policy that
was pursued this year with signal success. An
other point is that Captain Brown was mag
DfCent leader. a never failing tower OF strength
In his individual play, and possessing the exact
qualities which are necessary 70 secure the best
work from his men. Third. and most important
q ALL the team was IN perfect physical condi-
tiOn. II almost seemed though Yale could
have played another two hours on top OF the
Harvard game without tiring out.
HARVARD NOT Up TO HER OWN MARK
These positive reasons all the result OF YaIe's
strength. were the causes OF Harvard's over
whelm,ng defeat. but Harvard men want 10 go
much further than this. and il is due to them
20 state that their team did not play nearly
such good football SIS il is capable OF playing
The men had been coached 10 play low and to
charge at pistol shot when the ball was
snapped This is exactly the style OF play that
they carried out in the Pennsylvania game, and
10y it were enabled 10 smash the guards back
completely and kin il. II they had carried oct
this same mode At New-Haven they could have
stopped the tackles back formation many times.
even though Il must surely have rolled over
them eventually. The trouble that the
Harvard line men played high in the sir-were
SLOW and sluggish and did not charge quickly.
Ihey blocked poorly and let their interference
ior end runs be killed before IL reached the line.
good deal Of this failure was probably due TO
me condition Of the eleven. But ID is nonsense
10 say that the Harvard team was very badly
"Fertrained-in the worst possible physical
enepe, etc. That was not the case. though II
vas certainly true that the men by no means
were N Inc pink OF condition and were lacking
ID IRE and snap The same thing was the mat
ief with them that allied them at Cambridge
year ago. and that lost them the game with Yale
WIN HarVard's trainer, but he does not show
me ability 10 get the team in fighting form for
llf last game The Harvard men certainly
showed ths; they We're not "Quitters" They
playeo The last quarter OF the game much more
strongly than they had al any previous time.
They went down fighting hard. and their last