The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-09-19
LONG GRIpIRoN SEASON.

] Ia US 61AOHCA ~ 81 E1CGEFASAC AlS2%l
season.
LONG GRIDIRoN SEASON.
Are 3e2 College Games Scheduled East
and West
New York, Sept 19.-The dull thud of
the pigslzin is once again heard on the
football season of 1905 gridiron- Coach
ers, veteran players and substitutes
with the ambitious prep. school stars
ready to report at all of the universities
on the opening day of practice, and ev-
cry indication points to one of the best
seasons of recent years. All of the var
Sity squads, with one or two exceptions,
are in the pink of condition for the
Ieges known as the Big Six" Columbia
will be only one who can not call on
nearly all of last years eleven for work
this season. With such a condition ex-
listing the contests will surely be close
and well played, and the public will
have q chance to see some magnificent
struggles.
Naturally the two rival claimants for
the football championship of 1904, Yale
and Pennsylvania, loom up as the like
lest to win the nonor this year. Each
has nucleus of veteran players who
will be able to fill nearly all the posi-
tons on the team and with the strong
substitutes from last season and the
coming class, the coaches will appar-
entity have little difficulty in turning out
formidable eievens. Should both of
these colleges go through the season
without a defeat, and 1t is probable that
they will the championship would once
again remain in doubt. 1t is unfortu-
nate that they do not meet in contest,
for deciding the championship by COM
paratiye scores is a sorry business at
best.
Harvard Is Weak
'In comparison with the material at
Yale and Pennsylvania this year, that
from which the Harvard team must be
developed is but poor"
This was the statement made in an
interview held with Bill Reid on Sol
diers' field, the first authentic interview
that the Harvard coach has given this
fall.
II have been greatly disappointed in
the size of the squad that has reported
so far" continued Reid. Just 291 men
were ordered to report last Wednesday
and at that time only so men put in an
appearance. Since then ten more have
reported. This is far too small num-
Der. There is a great dearth of big men
for the line positions who can do more
than carry their own weight. I have
been greatly disappointed in the loss of
some of the big men on whom 1 relied
to play in the center of the line, nota-
bly, Talbot and Upham of last years
freshman and second team, both of
whom were fiunked out of college.
81 have yet to see the timber for the
end and fullback positions that must be
filed
Reds pessimistic statement has done
much to dampen the roseate visions that
Harvard students were beginning to
have of a successful year for the Grim
son eleven.
The gridron campaign will be a longer
one than usual this year for the reason
that Thanksgiving day falls on the last
day of November. and Thanksgiving
day is usually the final day of the sea-
son for the college eIevens. There will
be one more big engagement after that,
the Army-Navy game, which this year
comes on Saturday. December 2.
The schedules for the approaching
season show that there are to be 24s
games in the eastern college circle and
IA in the west-3e2 in all. That is a.
good deal of football. It shows how tre-
nlendously the game has spread and
will give the devotees of the sport
rich and varied programme of pigskin
battling. Of all of the teams the Car
Isle Indians are the most extensive
travellers. The bigger teams, such as
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Pennsyl-
vania, Columbia and Cornell, make only
two or three trips from home, and
these are short trips. Therein they
have an advantage over the smaller
fellows.
Big Four Play at Home.
The larger colleges play nearly all of
their games on their own home grounds,
they being the bigger attractions, and
opponents come to them, West Point
and Annapolis travel less than other
teams, playing every game but one at
home. The schedule for the Indians
this year shows that they play at Har-
risburg, Richmond PHILADELPHIA Cam
bridge Cincinnati PftfSf141rc-
ington, as well as at home. Doubtless
they plan out many a, play to the music
OF the rolling car wheels. In the west
they make longer journeys than here
abouts. For instance, the Notre Dame
I1nd.) eleven makes a trip to Madison,
Wis, and the University of Nebraska
eleven makes jump from Lincoln to
Ann Arbor. Mich, for single game
Interesting Comparisons.
The Harvard-West Point and Yale
West Point games always are interest
ing, not only in themselves, but coming
only a week apart as showing how two
big rivals are progressing for their own
encounter. Harvard plays the soldiers
on October q, and a week later the
Ellis tackle the cadets. On October
this year Yale is to play Wesleyan, and
three days later Columbia plays Wes-
leyan. Both Yale and Columbia will
be more or less crude that early in the
season, but the game will be all the
more interesting for that very reason.
The question is which will make the
more progress before they come togeth-
er in this city on November 4.
Cornell plays Bucknell on October Z
and Princeton plays Buekneu on Oc-
tober Il. Those two games will be
eagerly watched and deductions made
as to the possible bearing the results
may have on the Princeton Cornell
game.
Yale plays the Springfield Training
School on October IL, while Harvard
measures strength with the same team
on October IA, but three days later
Williams and Amherst, whose game on
November 18 is an important one, each
plays Columbia in October, Williams on
October Il and Amherst on October 21
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