Evening star., 1905-10-22

That the root pail season VI i"Vc - i"'N
nearing the climax is abundant'y proven
by the beginning of secret practice among
the Big Six and their ambitious rivals
Cornell was the first to start 1t. and the
ithacans are said to be preparing to spring
some deadly formations that will put the
wing shift and other versatile forms oi
attack completely In eclipse. Yale fehh-
sylvania. Columbia and Harvard followed
quickly in the footsteps of the lthacais'
Princeton alone continuing open WORK ro'
,hasrest of the season college correspond
ents will be as busy Russian press cen
sors sending out tales calculated 10 mis-
lead and puzzle their rivals. 1he:e VIII oe
nnvsterious references to new and startling
formations calculated to revolutioniZ9
the game" and do other remarkable 'hlhss.
This is an early date to inauguratc secret
practice. but it has been mace hecess'iy i,
by the exisencies of the SITUATION 1oinSh
thinks she has chance to reverse tine tales
of defeat in previous years and proposes
to leave no stone unturned to ipiish
this At Pennsylvania and Harvard tie
reason given is the large number OF GRIP
nles which makes stringent meausres nee
cssarv Yale has started work behlhi
closed gates because of the loss OF SO many
veterans from 1901 and the necessity VI
some startling plays to make amehcs. 70
Iumbia had To begin secret practice because
the other colleges did it, and Princeton VIII
follow suit this week.
4 *
The inauguration Of secret practice at TINS
time is only another indication OF the pit-
terness with which the championship games
are to be fought this year. At the peghi-
ming of the season the writer pointed ou'
that the present one was to be the most
desperately fought in the history OF Ioot
ball. This assertion was based on .iie .e,s rare
that the members of the Big SIX Were
more evenly matched for one thlng, anu
that Harvard, Princeton and Cornen haa
defeats from 1904 that they were wliilng 10
move heaven and earth to revenge. Co
lumbia, too, is desperate to get out OF the
rut of defeat while Pennsylvania and Yale
will fight to the last ditch for their laurels
of 1904.
With these conditions existing it is only
reasonable to expect that the foot ball for
nations of 1908 be radically different from
those of 1904. So far all the teams nay. have
been relying on straight foot ball. but With
in the week they have been practicing new
forms of attack 1t is a notable fact that
the possibilities of the new rules have by
no means been exhausted. Last year the
coaches were remarkably non-inventiVe and
the game suffered in consequence.
This year things have started out to be
different and a varied style of attack Is
promised for the big games. The Yale
Princeton and Yale-Harvard games of l9o4
were notoriously duh and uninterestng.
The Ellis then had new play called tine
line divide" with which they expected TO
do great things. But the play was never
exhibited In big game. The Ellis found
that they could win without showing their
hand and purposely kept the innovation for
this year. How effective it is to be remains
to be seen. 1t was devised by Walter Camp
and has been thoroughly tried out on the
second team and with signal success. 1t
is said to be remarkably effective with a
fast team. which is what Yale has this
year. In fact the Ellis have a team of
great speed and are expected to play a
game very similar to that played by Penn
sylvania last fall.
The presence of Reid at Harvard is evil
dence enough that the Crimson will be well
cared for with new formations. In 1891
Reid turned out tremendously powerful
team at Harvard. and as he has splendid
material this fall the 1908 team should be
strong combination. The situation at
Harvard during the last week has been
greatly helped by the arrival of knowlton,
the all-American tackle of 1903. knowlton
did not play last year but he still has
another year of eligibility and will help
Harvard out with it. One of the surpris-
ing features of the present season at tiar-
ward has been the continual shifting which
Reid has been making to find the strongest
combination. Three or four sets of backs
have been used and almost as many line
men. 1t is the backfeld, though, that has
been giving the most trouble. Previous to
yesterday Capt. Hurley had not played
single game, but Foster and Nesmith, with
a strong game as halfbacks. At fullback
three men have been tried, knowlton, Carr
and Hanley. with Hanley giving the most
success Starr has done the best work in
running the team aud he will doubtless du-
plicate his brilliant work of 1904.
:. x
The Crimson players have had goodly
rorllon of injured men this fall but luckily
the men were crippled only temporarily and
are back in tie game again In some quar-
ters fears are entertained that Harvard
has been overrated, and Coach Reid has
done his best to strengthen this impression.
Harvard has been winning its games by
rather low scores and this has further en-
phasized the thought But ii is a mistake,
for the Crimson eleven will be most pow
orful ono physically. Furthermore, 1t has
had the advantage OF splendid coaching.
Most OF the men are veterans at the game.
Their scores have been low merely because
Reid has been developing the team slowly,
aiming to have them near the top of their
form when they run up against Pennsyl-
Nanil.
No one who has been watching the run
OF hard luck Penn has had can accuse the
Quakers of sending out hard luck stories
for effect. In fact. il is seldom that any
team ever has many tribulatons as the
Red and Blue. OF the 1901 team Penn
has just four members left. Four were
and the eligibility code have removed the
others. Drake, Pickarski Butkiewicz and
Smith were the men lost by graduation.
Here is the casualty list since the season
opened: Weede. left end, out of game for
season with broken leg; Snkler, right end,
out Of game for season with operation for
appendicitis; Capt. Reynolds, LETT half back,
disqualified by faculty; Ziegler, right guard
out of game for season with typhoid fever
Among the first substitutes the following
have been lost: Hollenhack half back
broken leg; Hurr. left guard. left university;
Gibbons, substitute half back, broken collar
bone. The only regulars from last year
now on the team are Torrey, Stevenson
Greene and Lamson. All the rest are sub
stltutes of 1904 men.
The injury OF so many men has naturally
retarded the development OF the team to a
marked extent. The coaches have been
unable TO tell just what players they would
have left after their hard luck had run it's
course. Now they have started secret prac-
tice in a desperate effort to catch up with
their more fortunate rivals. OF the entire
team the backheld is all that is showing
true form. Stevenson has played enough