The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-15
B|G ELEvENS ARE UP ID STANDARD Appear To Be Very Evenly Matched UNDERSTAND RULES Last Years Chaos Over New Rules Is Not Visible This Season.
 Play More Varied Than
 Ever Before
By ". $. FARNswoRTH


 New York october 14.-(Special.) 1.-Two months ago football critics were predict ing that the big elevens would not meas u:e up to the standard this fall. but the early game scores have upset the dope It begins to look now as though all the leading colleges would be represented by teams every bit as good as last years aggregation
 While no team sticks up prominently above the others, like Harvards did last season, the material seems to be above the average evenly spread out over the field. ! am speaking only of the east ern teams as I haven't received any reports from the western colleges With the material so scattered it assures close and hotly contested struggles with an open question as to which team will carry off top honors
 The early games furnished evidence that the teams are going about this de- velopment with a more clearly defined idea of what policy is the best to fol- low. A seasons work under the new rules has given the coaches and the play CTS more ground to work on. They can make moves with more certainty of re- sults than they could d year ago. Com fidence and consistency supplants the chaotic and cratic.
 And now that the rules have been di- eested, harmony will rule in all the camps. Yale probably suffered more than any other team last season in the incon- sstency among the coaches, each and eeery-one of whom had different idea a. to how the game should be played un- der the new code. But now Yale is go- ing along or. more substantial basis.
 It is much too early to obtain re- Fable line on the ultimate strength of the teafns. Not until the last of the month can one get a true line. Only the heavfer games, the ones that come two or three weeks later. will test the sys- tems and material.
 In the games played so far, long runs, field goals and forward passes have been used freely and the play has been more varied than ever be- fore. Because of the fact that the penalty is less severe the forward pass will be the big method of attack this year. The producing power so far has been excellent. but as said before, the teams are so evenly matched early in the season and the scores to date show nothing.
 There is one team that must be watched closely by the big fellows this season and that is Brown The Provi- dence eleven has an excellent collec- tion of material and Sprackling may lead a team to victory over both liar yard and Yale
 While Browns losses were severe both in the line and the back field through graduation, Coach Robinson has been favored with some corking new talent. While many of the best players at Providence college are not eligible to play on the varsity team they will form great scrub team. And scrub team can work wonders with the first eleven.
 The fact that Brown beat Yale last' Brown n college attitude, into which they fell back because of repeated beating. To- day they figure every bit as good as Yale Harvard and Pennsylvania. They will go into the big games confident that they are the better team and con tidence in football counts for more than in any other branch of sport, not eX- cepting baseball or boxing.
 Harvard has never been beaten by. Brown, but the Crimson has been very lucky, inesome of the battles in which they were outplayed only to win by q fluke When the teams meet on De- tober 2S the odds will probably be even although many will wager on the Cambridge team because of the jinX ethey held on the Brownonians. ! On October 21 Brown clashes with ,Pennsy and l look for them to get re- aixenge for last seasons beating. But on November II Brown and Yale will meet in what should be one of the greatest if not the greatest struggle of the year. The coaches at New Ha- ven will give their team special prep eration for this game in hopes of wip- ing out the 1910 trimming.
 Just keep an eye on Brown this sea son.
 Yale is going o have pretty nifty back field. Reilly, Philbin, Spalding. Church, and Anderson have also shown marked promise. The line men have not shown up so well, but the New.