Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-23
REVIEW THE
HARVARD-YA GAME
Quickly Played and With
Scarcely Any Time Lost
for Delays.

O'Clock when it began and it was over
by o'clock The thirty five-minute
halves the ffteen-minute intermission
than two hours. 1t has been long
time since a game, important or other
wise. moved along with so few delays.
The first half was played in close to
forty minutes, pretty near record time
for a thirty-five-minute half. OF men
being laid out for repairs or other causes
of delay there was SO little that time
flew by faster than the spectators real
lied and the half seemed surprisingly
short when its end came.
Both teams were in splendid condition
for keeping right at it all the time they
were in combat, and surely the howl OF
brutality could not be raised against
foot ball as expounded by this game.
Here were men trained and fit. prepared
to give and take the hard knocks that
go with foot ball without shrinking or
collapsisg Moreover, the coaches on
both sides were quick to see any man on
whom the unceasing demands of the
game were beginning to tell and 10 re-
move him. There was no totterlnG or
staggering or writhlng such as are seen
in games in which the contestants are
less carefully prepared, and on the infre-
quent occasions when d man was laid
out he was up and doing quickly and
without fuss or was relieved by some
body else.
game which can draw 5000 persons
and hold their attention closely every
minute becomes the greatest sporting
event of the year when the condi-
tions are such as those that attend
ed the Harvard-Yale contest. No base
ball game, rowing regatta, morse race
or what not would draw so many people,
and at the same time from far and near,
as this event did. The amount of money
spent in railroad fare to get there and
in various other ways In preparation lot
it, as we'll as the widespread interest,
commercialism only in an amount that
was necessary to bring about the more
dominant phase of sentimentalism.
Subject for Analysis.
A game as close as this one. won by a
solitary field goal, and in which there al
ways was a fair chance of victory being
turned into defeat, is rare subject for
analysis, and could be analysed from now
to doomsday without exhausting the SUBJ
ject 1t occurred to some Onlookers that an
additional day of scrlmmaglng last week
would have made the Yale offense better
prepared to keep going than it was. They
argued that Yale needed all Of this she
could get because of the advantage Har-
ward had had in keeping its team so near
ly intact throughout the season. Against
Princeton Yale's attack showed signs of
being forged into a Solidity which could
carry it successfully through the next
week with a certain amount OF practice
on top Of it.
AS it was. Harvards rushing game was
more productive and more seasoned than
Yale's. 1t was covered up better, the
man with the ball being shielded so that
he was harder to get at. Much of this
was due to the excellent manner in which
the forwards and the backs worked to-
gether and when the forward did his
part by making an opening, the play
moved so that the man with the ball
struck the spot SO timely that he was able
to get the full benefit of the cooperation
This was the very essence of good team
work, and bespoke men splendidly drilled
in working in unison and with faith In one
another. That Yale was able to offset this
to the extent of not having her goal line
crossed was due to three things: a de-
Tense that was aggressive and unWaverlng
in it's determination, better punting and an
offense that kept possession of the ball a
goodly part of the time.
Judging from comments heard after
the game those who bet on Yale to win
would bet on her should the two teams
play again today. and those who bet on
Harvard would back the Crimson again
just as willingly. That showed how close
the strife was. Yet none could gainsay
that Harvard'S victory was merited;
that she won because she was just
enough the better team to win. 1t
wasn't Monday, it was Saturday that
counted. Messrs. Burr Haughton. DAILY
and the rest of the Harvard coaches
are to be congratulated on the success
full climax to Il season which represent
ed painstaking, systematic and compe-
tent planning on their part and which
accomplished something that had gone
unaccOmpliShed for six years.
No New Plays.
Still another big game has come and
gone without the cleverness in eXecu-
ton of plays due to the new rules being
brought out as they were last year or
the year before. We had the right and
left formations for high-class work in
assaulting the line. but not the skill in
forward passes. double passes, onside
kicks and the like of last year If these
plays are to come this year the Penn
sylVaniaCornell- and Army-Navy games
must bring them. The old talk of myS-
FERROUS plays being developed in secret
practice went on Just the same. Spec
tacular and foxy plays have been devel-
oped in secret practice, enough to lend
their share of Zest and variety, but the
talk of what is going to be done in that
line is, as always. out of all proportion
to what actually is done.
\ foot ba man said last Saturday
night that since the springing of the
new plays of the open game teams had
been so busy preparing Il defense for
them that they hadn't gone ahead on
celebrating in the plays themselves
Now that progress is being made in pre-
pairing the defense the interdependent
lettering the offensive branch of the
plays may come. All things cannot be
done in three years
Syracuses triumph over Michigan was
fully big was Pennsylvania, and
Amherst is entitled to great credit for
topping off with an important victory a
season which had discouragin begin
ming. There is not unalioyed satisfaction
for the east in Syracuse's one-sided vic
tory over Michigan, considering how the
Indians were bumped by Minnesota. Min
nesota is by no means the strongest west
ern eleven, while the Indians for time
were supposed to be one of the best in
the east. Harvard Smeared the Indians
easily enough. but then Harvard is with
the possible exception of Pennsylvania at
the top of the eastern heap.
Indians Gone Back.
Ii is natural to say that the Indians
reached the top of their form about the
time of the Pennsylvania and Navy games
and since then have gone back OF the
were able to make touchdown against
onl,- onc-PennSylVania-an beat the
Navy and Syracuse because of the skill
of one man in kicking goals from the
field. Their rushing game was at its
the Indians are not soft at any time.