Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-21
NEWS AND GOSSIP IN
THE FOOT BALL WORLD
Small Teams at Big Disad-
vantage on Account of
Foreign Games.

One dsadvantage smaller teams expert
ence yearly is that they have TO play
moro games on foreign fields than the
bigger fellows The big teams won
come to them. so they have to 60 10 the
mountain There are reasons why they
aren't entirely averse to that. seeing
that money is necessary to conduct foot
ball campaigns and the sinews OF war
come more readily In the foot ball cen
ters So the smaller teams are accus-
toned to boarding the lions in their dens
and are not feazed at all at playing amid
hostile surroundings The stocal Carlisle
Indians DO all their playing of big games
away from home. and the position they
have earned high up in the loot ball
ranks is all the more creditable on that
account
Contrast the schedule of the Indians and
PENNSYLVANIA this year. The red men
play six games away from home IN sue
cession-New York, Pittsburg. Philadei-
phia, Washington, New York and 81.
Iouis-on successive playing days. AS
for the Pennsylvanians, they nave
unique schedule this season. Every game
is a home game. That's as unusual III
foot ball as goals from the 11O-yard line
Probably the only travelling the Quakers
will do will be to q nearby retreat 10
tone up for the Michigan and Cornell
games.
Dartmouth has TO go away from nome
three times-to Amherst, Princeton anu
Cambridge. the Princeton trip being any
thing but a soft one on account OF the
distance and change OF cars. Brown
makes four trips-Philadelphia. Cam
bridge. New Haven and New 1orhmou'
all within easy striking distance of Provi,
dence Cornell! has couple or haro
trips. one to Cambridge. the other 10
Philadelphia. Yale and Princeton go away
twice each. while the West Point game
is the only out-of-toWn contest on 'ne
Harvard schedule.
A play in the Indian-Syracuse game re-
called to one expert the split play USED by
Chadwick and Metcalf of Yale against
Princeton and Harvard with distinct sue
cess The Indians used the variation ana,
according to the expert. the mole was
always open as it was against Princeton
and Harvard AS this man saw 1t, the
quarterback passed the ball to the right
halfback, who passed it to Houser. the
fullback Houser and his interferers went
for the hole in compact group, the 1ull-
back cutting away just as the line was
reached The interference shot through
between tackle and guard. but Houser
made straight plunge of 1t and rammed
through a gap between center and guard
Often he got clear through. so much SO
that he almost fell from his own mo-
mentum. the Syracusans being fooled by
the interference coming through at an
other place and rushing over to plug up
the spot where they thought the ball was
covered up. the fake interference being
deceptive and the double pass behind the
line complicating the maneuver.
The game was one of a number this fall
in which the tackling was very poor.
Among teams from which the better work
in tackling was to be expected who have
given poor exhibitions are Syracuse,
Princeton and West Point. Syracuse
Fordham and West Point against Yale.
With the offenders on those days diving
tackles were lost art.
With the large number of games played
in which one side doesn't score the
strategic value of goal from the field is
practically as great as it was before its
value in points was reduced from four to
three. The play is deciding as many
games as it ever did, and in contests of
twenty-three field goals have been kicked
There were few games In previous years
in which eight points resulting from goals
from the field defeated a team which
made six points from touchdown,
though the possibility of such an occur
renee and the theory that one touchdown
was deserving Of as much reward as two
goals from the field were justification for
the change.
Great advance was being made in field
goal proficiency, and the frequency of
them this year shows that progress Is
likely to continue. There appears to be
no reason to fear that this attractive ex-
hibition of Individual skill will suffer
because of counting less. and besides
there is always the chance of two field
goals beating a touchdown. There is no
chance OF points being lost when field
goal has been made, but the touchdown
must be followed by the placement goal
TO make 1t the equal as a point producer
of two field goals. The committee might
have gone further and differentiated be-
tween the value Of drop kick and field
goal from a place kick.