Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-11-16
KICKING NOW
HARDEST PART
IN FOOTBALL

The toe is the thing In new football.
Without a good kicker the average
team stands a poor show Of harvest
Ing any laurels. Never before In the
history Of American college football
has the Importance os a reasonably
sure drop or place kicker been empha-
sized SO strongly as this season.
Under the new rules the attack has
been weakened to such an extent that
it is next to impossible to gain ground
consistently by rushing ifftwo elevens
are reasonably well matched. The old
time marches down the field have
been conspicuous by their absence this
year, and scoring by so called straight
football has become almost a lost art.
Good Kicker Essential.
Under the circumstances a good drop
or place kicker is essential to any
team as the only means In many
cases OF bringing about a score. The
coaches have not been slow to recog-
nize this fact, and more attention has
been paid this season to developing
from two to five men who can be
called upon when occasion demands
than I've before. The trouble is that
under the stress and excitement of a
big game the men fail to do what APP
pears to be so easy in practice, and it
strikes one that some of the coaches
are not paying enough attention to
their drop and place kickers in the
daily scrimmage work.
1t is one thing to drop a ball over
the bar between goal posts or to make
a kick from placement In practice,
with plenty of time at the disposal Of
the player; 1t is another thing to drop
a goal from the field or kick n from
placement when needs must and when
the player is likely to be hurried or
Slightly interfered with in getting the
ball away. Dartmouth was counting
on Barends to beat Princeton because
of his striking ability to kick goals
from placement. 1t has been no effort
at all for this player to kick five out
Of six In practice with remarkable ac-
curacy and precision, but he failed In
four attempts against Princeton for
the reason no doubt that the work
had to be done so hurriedly with the
Princeton forwards charging through
that any novice might have done as
well. This is not said to cast any re-
hection on the skin Of Bareuds, but is
used only as an Illustration, and many
other examples could have been picked
out.
Harvard failed IN four tries at field
goals against West Point, Yale In two
against Brown. ~spraekling, On the con-
trary, kicked four cut Of FIVE for
Brown against Yale, one not counting
because of o foul. To correct this fault
some coaches would do well TO devote
aceRtain part of the scrimmage work
each day to kicking goals from the
field or from placement when the
would be Just as hurried as in
actual game. The men get plenty of
practice OF by themselves fin the art Of
kicking, bat not enough In actual for
nation work.
Toe Men In the West.
Otto Seller of the University OF I'LL
nois defeated the Maroons, and again
was Otto, the selfsame kicker, who
put Indiana on the map.
Minnesota has not depended on any
particular kicker to win its games, as
this has not been necessary, but it Is
quite likely that WIN be needed in
the Michigan game should the teams
be anywhere near equal. Many of the
teams seem to have found q kicker
handy under the new interpre-
Of the rules. This phase of the
pastime has, of course, opened up the
game more than was thought probable
in the season, although line
plunging and semf-mass plays have by
no means been eliminated.