Evening star., 1907-10-27
WEAK DEFENSE IN
THE BIG ELEVENS
Lesson Learned by Cornell
Coaches-YaIe Slowly
Developing.
By Edward R. Bushnell.


| At last one of the Big Five" foot ball
| teams has been defeated. The victim is
/ Cornell, and Pennsylvania State College.
| a minor college team, is the one which
| turned the trick a week ago. That Cor
! nell should have been beaten is not to be
wondered at, for the keystone state
/ eleven is so strong that Yale thought it
best to drop them from their schedule
this year else the Ellis might have gotten
the defeat which fell to Cornell. 1t was
essentially the new foot ball which
| brought about the discontinue of Cornell,
two drop-kicks from the toe of Quarter
back Norhis doing the trick. OF course.
| drop-kicISs do not belong exclusively to
the dispensation Of the new game. but it
was this which placed high a premium
upon goals from field, and 1t was indubi-
tably the new rules which enabled this
same Vorhis to make nearly 10 yards
! against Cornell.
There is a lesson to be learned in Cor
nelIs defeat, and the Ithacans will be for
tunate if they see the light before it Is too
late. The reckless abandonment of the
tackling dummy, the bucking board and
other elementary devices to teach the
rudilnents of foot ball proved very costly
to the IthacanS. who were weak in the
strengthen and which they do strengthen
at other unive- sites. 1t is small Won
der. then, that Coaches Schoekopf and
Halliday, who are learning their first les
sons in coaching a big university team,
speedily returned to both the tackling
dummy and the buCking board.
Weakness in Defense.
The work OF several big university teams
this fall indicates a lamentable weakness
in defense and one which is bound to
prove fatal the harder games approach.
Cornell and Princeton are splendid exam
pies of this. In the Penn State game a
week ago the Ithacans' defense was so
weak that the visitors carried the ball 341
yards from scrimmages in two short
halves. 1t should be cause for deep alarm
for any minor college team to carry the
ball one-half this distance, but when it is
doubled it indicates some fatal defects
Although Princeton sWamped Washington
and jefferson 10 to o, the visiting team
at times tore the Princeton line to tatters
and marched down the fed thirty or
forty yards at time without the loss
of the bal. on several occasions. Prince
ton ran up her big to al by means of
some cleverly executed forward passes
the outside kicks of Harlan and the end
running of the backs. AS a mater of
fact the Tigers, in the opinion of a good
many critics who have seen them at
W
Is safe In view of their hard test with
Yale on November Is. In fact. Prince ton
/ has shown one or two plays absolutely
new in the opening games which were
not needed at all and one would think,
should have been reserved for Yale when
they would count the most.
This tendency to show their new plays
in order to run up big scores and un-
deniab-e weakness on the deems should
troub Princeton men more than 1t Seems
to be doing. The Tiger line con aims
only two veterans, these being Phillips
at center and Wister at one end. All
the other forwards are green men. Tteir
wonderful back field has pulled them
along safely so far, but the best backs
in the world cannot win from Yale If the
forwards are thrown back by the Ellis.
Now the Yae eleven is being developed
ong an entirely different line The
Yale coaches know that a powerful Of
fense is worthless unless it is supple
mented with a stone wall defense. No
team Yale met has gained ground with
any degree of consistency against the
Ellis. Yale's whole campaign is being
planned for the Princeton game on No
vember 45 and the Harvard game on
November %. The Els are coming slow
perhaps, but they are improving grad
ual!H, and if history repeats itself, as it
now gives some Indication of doing, the
Blue wi be right at the top of its game
when it lines up against Princeton. The
Tigers may be there too. but if the New
Jersey men. going as last as they now
are can hold their speed to the end they
will be truly marvellous.
Penn Will Bear Watching.
Those teams which must meet the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania have reason to
be worried bit by the strength which
the Quakers are showing. Pennsylvania
although not playing her best game,
scored sixteen points against the power
full Swartmore eleven and then downed
the lightning fast Brown team II to O.
There are two factors in Pennsylvania
strength. These are a wonderful back
field and a defense which to date has
proved we'll nigh impenetrable. Ever
since the advent of DR.. Carl Williams
in 1902 Pennsylvania has had a very
strong defense, especially the secondary
part of it. Capt Folwell, Right Half
back Greene and Fullback Hol enback
make up a trio of defensive backs which
have no superors in the east and any
team which defeats Pennsylvania must
first dispose of them. Like Yale. the
Pennsylvania team has been developing
slowly the coaches being content to win
their preliminary games by small scores.
When the COACHES perfect the offense
they are now working on they should
be the strongest offensive and defensive
team that ever represented the Red and
Blue.
Although Harvard managed to win from
the Navy 6 to O. the exhibition given by
the Crimson was disappointing in the ex-
treme. Only a tumble by the mddies
enabled the Crimson TO get the ball within
striking distance of their goal. But for
this the game should have resulted in a
90 score, the same as the Yale-West
Point game. 1t should be said, however
that the Harvard team has by no means
bPen tried ont to the limit DreyiouSlv and