The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-23
In THE FOOTBALL WORLD.
NEW GAME INCREASES CHANCES
FOR STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT.
Coach BIOOmer Predicts Another Tie Game
! New Haven Tomorrow other Inn
SortaHt Battles committeeman Days
change OF Hcart-practIce Of Teams.

SortaNt Battles Northumberland Days
change OF Heart Practice % Teams.
1 close stud ent Of football and Its dev elop-
ments makes the observation that much as
the game has impr,v ed under the new rules
TOO much stress still is put on weight, Yet
he calls attention TO the fact that little men
have been more prominent on the gridiron
than big men this season. which Is one indica-
ton that the new rules are a step in the right
direction. Players below the average foot
ball weight who have shone this season are
Knox Of Yale. Starr of Harvard. f.. Dillon OF
Princeton, ECkersall Of Chicago. Mayhem OF
Brown, Bishop of Michigan and Lawrence OF
Pennsylvania: and there are a dozen or more
players just a shade above these in weight who
have had more chance to show their worth
with the changed ordcr of things.
Changes suggested for next year are OF two
kinds. One would mean n partial return to
the old game, a partial restoration OF the
massing. slamming formations of last year.
The other Is an application of the more open
game of this year. To restore the fve yard
rule when the teams are inside the IS OF Is
yard lines would bring about the first named
condition. and a good many persons whose
interest in the sport has been revived would
look on 10 as a step backward not a move
along the lines Of progress. Any proposed
change needs a stronger argument than that
IL would increase scoring to suppor IL, espe-
eially in view of the great decrease in the num-
Der of serious accid ents which the ten yard
rule and other reforms have accomplished.
IL is true that with the closer grouping OF
the defence inside the IS yard lines ten yards
are harder TO make than in other parts OF
the field, but the matter Of gaining ground
is Of secon dairy importance compared to the
improvement of the game as a spectacle and
its more open and less battering nature. IL
different rules are to prevail for different
80 ~ Nka 6aII univ nAY haya N Aiharanf
set OF men to put in according to the location
OF the ball? With only five yards to gain In
certain parts of the field beef would again
loom up as n vital possession, at least more
than now. And that is lust what the rules
committee has strivcn to get away from.
A way to cope with the dificulty OF gain
Ing ten yards inside the IS yard lines Is by
strategic methods, not by avoirdupois. We
have not vet begun 10 realize on the poesi-
bilities Of forward and other passes and the
onside kick. Football Is a game OF treInen-
dous Strategic possibilities. The new rules
and the direction in which they point for
further improvement are making more Of
strategy than did the old rules. which were
more a question Of smoothness in fOrma-
tions. Moreover, it is altogether reasonable
70 believe that a. players Of the new game
are turned out and become coaches existing
difficulties in gaining ground in certain por-
tions OF the field commensurate with the
ability TO do so in other portions will become
less and that moves will be worked out to
more nearly eguallEe attack with defence:
are promised from them with the experience
firSt Year. EVerybody was in the dark when
the season began and had to experiment.
Now players and coaches are in a much
better position to dig up and elaborate and
perfect.
instances OF ability of one strong team to go
the final twenty-five yards against another
strong team TO point to still more OF it as the
Princeton, Princeton to Cornell. Cornell TO
Swarthmore, Yale to Brown, West Point to
Yale, Pennsylvania TO Michigan and Harvard
to the India Ms. Somehow or other these
teams got there in the games mentioned,
and what was possible is still possible.
Next 20 the Harvard Yale battle tomorrow
the most important. will be between Brown
s snT t Psr toT%sr S az Spr Wiii be- u. ahs 1H Wsss
Point, referee; Edwards, Princeton, and Hall.
Dartmouth, umpires, and Ayerault. GrOton.
Corbin, Yale. will be the referee; Wrightington,
Harvard. and Burleigh. Exeter. umpires,
inson Of Brown says Dartmouth is superior
TO his team in punting and place kicking. that
Brown is better In open play, and that IN, line
buck ing the teams are equally matched,
Coach Folsom OF Dartmouth says he would
rather predict a victory. for Brown than for
confident Dartmouth will win. Capt. Schwartz
Brown expects the hardest sort of a game.
tlilL says Brown men leel IndL Iney nave the
team 10 beat Dartmouth.
The Amherst-Swarthmore game tomorrow
Is another OF no small importance; Swarth-
more, notwithstanding the drubbing by
cornell and crippled stars, is hopeful. The
team Is capable Of better football than IL
played against Cornell. The Amherst players
left for Swsr,hmorc yesterday and put in the
night in New York. Capt. Hubbard will play
auarterbsck today FOR the hrst time in a
morrow and Bucknell meets Getty sburg.
In both OF these games there is sharp rivalry.
4 nAtgA haa mot a Cr,.N .IaaI Of k,Y.n.a - ka.,szv
Lafayette after the ~latter's fine record this
season. but expects TO hold, the EastOnians
son and Bull. old Pennsylvania players, are
the respective coaches Of Lehigh and Lafay-
cite. The Army is likely to get some good
practice tomorrow in the game with Syracuse.
The SyTHcusan ms. since their triumph over
Lafayette, will go against the soldiers with
renewed zeal. Il sill be the last skirmish for
the Army prior to the Navy engagement.
Ralph Bloomer. the Yale coach. who pre-
dicted a u TO o game bet " cen Vale and Prince
ton, looks for another tie game in New Haven
Tomorrow Harvard has = sitter attack
than Tale, he remarks, and IL "A tTifebetter
~ punting. lale's defensive game Is stronger
thar, HarNsrd's., H. should he a harder game
for Vale Than thu! The Tri I. .6In q game was, bs,
game than II PUT upat Princeton" Rock well
also looks Tor n harder game TOMORROW
than Yale had last saturday Harvard
declares. and il will have to he met by more
energetic team play
Ysle's showing against the freshmen on
Wednesday was not especially encouraging,
though those self-same freshmen might have
done a. well against Harvard. for they are a
powerful lot. lf Knox does not play for Yale.
who will catch punts? There are capable
UNDERSTANDS for Knox. but he was n sure
catcher of pints and the best man on the
team at running them back. Harvard is
over with confidence and gin ger,
Coach Reds reference TO the bratniness and
preparedness Of his team makes one wonder
II II is IA good As the Harvard team of 1901.
IT Il Ia IL ought TO win tomorrow. However,
the desCript ION, the best ever" pplied to
this years Harvard eleven. also was applied
20 the PrinCeton-PleVen last week. This isn't
Nnle's best ever" team by any means.
Three captains for next season already
have been elected. Two of them are line men
and one 2 back. Wesleyan's new leader is
IavlOr, III" big guard. Exeter has chosen
White. the tackle, and Andover's new captain
Is Merritt, the quarterback.
There will he a big school game in New York
tn-morroW. The Central High School team
cf Philadelphia and the De Witt Clinton High
School eleven of New York will Clash AT
OLYMPIC Field. 136th street and ruth avenue.
Charles DAILY, the former Harvard and West
''-ipt quart eTbark and n member Of the
'rlrs committee. has undergone "A change OF
,'"nrt, II opposed more changes in the foot
N'I rules than any member of the COMMIT
too, he saws. but ! am now satisfied that the
anne il much improved. II certainly il