New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-24
ON COLLEGE GR|D|RONS
Football, as Played Here, No
Longer a Misnomer.
SOME BIG GAMES AT HAND
Treat in Store for Lovers of the
Sport When Tigers Meet
Dartmouth.

defensive measure on the third down,
after every other means had failed to ad-
vance the ball. Under the new rules how
ever, kicking has become an offensive play
| OF much strength. that two or three
good punters and one or more reasonably
sure drop or place kckers are absolutely
! essential TO the well rounded out eleven.
| This fact has been established in many
games this year, and it is almost sure to
! Re emphasized in the big battles 70 come
! The increased value of kicking in one form
or another is the natural result of the radi-
| cal changes made in the rules last winter
| in the effort TO open UP the play and bring
| about a safer and saner game. 1t is hoped.
however, that the players and coaches VIII
not carry this feature of the game to an
extreme. as those who have learned to adj
mire the sport as developed here will not
be content with a punting duel when sharp
dashes and quick plunges are looked for to
advance the ball in way to show the
tactical beauties of the game. The last
f, Army-Navy game in 1908. was spoiled, in
my opinion, to a large extent by the con-
slant punt, punt. punt. The ball was in
the air so much of the time that one was
forced TO draw the conclusion that neither
team, but particularly the Navy eleven
had anything else to fall back upon. A
certain amount of punting and plenty of
d:op kicking add spice 70 game, because
of added uncertainty. but too much punting
will rob it of its most attractive features
|. Enough games have been played and the
season has advanced far enough to make
the assertion without qualification that the
chief aim of those who worked so hard
last winter as members Of the rules COM
l. Cd arno
much safer and the players are open to
fewer and less serious injuries 1t is pos
sible TO go even further and say that the
game is less exhausting and freer from
much unnecessary roughness. which more
than anything else opened the way TO con-
slant unfavorable criticism. There are
bound TO be some injuries. 1t could not be
otherwise in such a strenuous sport. but
the injuries up to this time have been OF
a minor kind. except in two or three cases.
and not more serious or more numerous
than are suffered in a season of baseball.
soccer. lacrosse, polo or any other Of the
more active sports.
In accomplishing their chief aim and pur
pose the rule makers doubt have saved
the game, as the demand for a radical re-
vision vas so strong and farreaching that
it could not be denied. IT begins to look,
moreover. as il the game itself, so changed
as ii is. has not been robbed altogether OF
its leading characteristics. and that it will
be quite as popular, If not more so. with
players and onlookers, as the one of old.
The time has not come, however, to pass
fair judgment, so that any discussion on
this point must be reserved until after the
big games have been played late in No
vember.
treat is in store for the lovers Of
college football in this city on Saturday,
hen the eIevens of Princeton and Dart
mouth will face each other at the Polo
Grounds The team from Hanover has
fought it's way TO a place so close To the
top in the last few years that the game
has assumed an importance little dreamed
Of several seasons back. Dartmouth has
ambitions TO win the So-called champion
ship by defeating II possible Princeton and
Harvard, and the game on Saturday can
no longer be ranked practice affair
or a stepping stone for the Tigers TO the
Yale game, but 4 real struggle, with the
chances Of victory about even. Dartmouth
has another purpose in view, and that is
to hold Princeton and Harvard on her
schedule in face of the rUmors, which
will not down. that the two last named
will meet on the gridiron next season for
the first time in years Under the new
rules this game could be arranged without
sacrificing Dartmouth, but the men from
Hanover are more or less fearful and viii
spare no pains to prove themselves the
same worthy foe as in 1908, when they de-
feated the Tigers at the Polo Grounds by
q score of 10 to 5. and last year. when they
tied the men from Tigertown by a score
Of 8 10 s.
The Princeton Dartmouth game is not
the only important struggle on Saturday
In fact almost as much interest Will centre
in the meeting between the Harvard and
Army elevens at West Point. The critics
are looking for a good line of comparison
between Harvard and Yale for the big
game at New Haven on November 19, and
the Army team, which beat Yale a week
ago on Saturday by q score of TO 3, Is
regarded as an excellent medium. Foot
ball form is a delusion and snare, more
particularly as indicated by comparative
scores but those who can look below the
surface are sure TO find something on which
to base an opinion when they leave West
Point after the coming struggle is over.
The impression has gone forth, and is
more or less well founded, that the play
ers from Cambridge have adapted them
selves quickly to the conditions and
that the eleven is more powerful and more
finished at this time than the ones at Yale
Princeton, Pennsylvania, Cornell or Dart
mouth.
Early in the season II was felt that IN
der the new rules Harvard, with much
veteran material, was no better of than
Yale, Princeton or Pennsylvania, which
lost many stars by graduation. The the
thing TO teach an old dog new tricks, and
that the Harvard men would have much
to unlearn while studying the new that
they would be at quite much a disad-
vantage as the green men at other col
Ieges who We're being coached to play The
remodelled game. While working out this
theory the critics appeared TO overlook the
fact that practically all the men who were
trying for places on the elevens of Yale.
Princeton, Pennsylvania or Cornell had
played football before and consequently
had as much to forget in adapting them
selves 10 the new requirements as the men
at Harvard who had the advantage of
greater experience. This is the reason no
desbt, OF the vast difference between the
DRY and practice, indicated in the fact
that at +he~present writing the Harvard
eleven IS ranked as the strongest in the
field. II is just possible. OF course. that
the Army eleven, strong it is, may
prick the bubble by defeating Harvard on