Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-10-30
idaho SWEEP"
new FORMATION
COACH MIDDLETON SPRINGS A
NEW ONE ON THE FOOTBALL
WORLD IN A WHIRLWlND
WORKING OF THE FORWARD
FASHION PORTLAND SAW 1T.

PORTLAND, Oct. 3O-Formations
that the football world never saw be
fore were sprung by the University OF
Idaho upon Oregon Saturday, says the
Telegram, and for the first ten min
utes they were in operation, Idaho
waltzed down the field 10 yards to a
down in the prettiest football ever seen
in Portland. Open work in football
has been talked of for two years, but
the old timers never dreamed of see
ing the plays that Coach Middleton
has turned out. When Idaho first
spread out over the field and the ball
was put into action without any pre-
text of guarding the sacred precinct
where the quarterback ordinarily
stands, the old-times looked dismayed.
and when the bewildering onslaughts
counted for yards every down an ON
inous hush fell upon the thousands of
Oregon rOoters on the side lines.
The Idaho sweep" as Coach Mid
dleton calls his new formation, is not
only new to the Northwest, but is
brand new in football, and is the in
Vention of Coach John Middleton. 1t
is based upon the rule that permits the
quarterback to advance the ball pro-
viGed he goes five yards in the right
or lett OF the point where the ball Is
put in motion; that is, from where the
center snaps it.
IN the Idaho sweep, the whole team
becomes quarterbacks except the CEN
ter. The guards play out five yards
from the center and the tackles and
ends are beside them at the ordinary
intervals. The halves play about three
yards to the rear of the guards, tackle
and end on each SIDE and the full
back and quarterback are placed one
behind each half, The center stands
cat-a-cornered, instead of astride the
ball, as ordinarily. with a five-yard gap
on each side.
Ready for Run.
Then he is in position to pass the
ball to anybody on his team and that
man is ready to advance the ball i'm
mediately without any side run or
passing the ball to anyone else. If
one of the backs. he can go to the right
or left of the guard, tackle and end in
front or can dart through them If a
hole is made. Sometimes the ball was
passed directly to the guard, who
lunged three or four yards ahead.
Again the ball was tossed to the backs.
who passed it across to the other back
for double-pass fake.
The possibilities of the game are
marvellous, and in the possession of a
stronger team with a good general
calling signalS the beauties of foot
ball might he enhanced hundredfold.
When Idaho stuck to that play and
depended upon runs she walked away
with Oregon, but in the second half
very few straight runs were made,
Instead, fakes and forward passes
were almost invariably tried, and Ore
gon stopped them, not because she had
found defense for the formation, but
because her individual men were bet
ter, and the fakes were not so strange
as the other runs
Oregon Men Better.
oregon won the game 81 to 5. The
victory came from better individual
playing in nearly every position. "Dud''
Clarke was the star with so and 60
yard punts. He put the ball over Ida
hos goal line on every kickoff but one
Chuck" Taylor ran the bill like a
fiend, hunting along his interference
for holes and darling through for
yards where an ordinary runner would
not have gained an inch. Arnspiger,
Scott, Moullen. Moores and Coleman,
all tall, rangy athletes, with marvellous
speed. just ran away from Idaho,
Kuykendall played a beautiful game
at quarter, giving a more varied at
tack than was ever seen here before
He made Oregon's first touchdown
too, with 65-yard run. He received
the ball from punt and darted for
ward 10 yards. There he waited ar
instant for his interference to form
and then swept through the whole Ida,
no team in one mad dash for the goal
Oregon had already scored a place
kick after seven minutes of play. The
next touchdown was earned by Oregon
in every sense of the word. The bal
was worked up the field on punts t.
the S0-yard line. Then by straigh
line bucks Clarke carried it to tn,
courtyard line, where neat fake lei
Zacharias slip along the side line t,
plant the ball squarely behind tn,
goal. The third touchdown came aftel
SO-yard run by Taylor, with an Idah,
forward pass.
"Sweep" Formation Wins.
Idaho's touchdown came in the frs
half. Quarterback Small, with hi
team in the sweep form, advanced
the ball from the center of the field t,
within two yards of the goal in flv,
bucks. Then he resorted to straigh