The Washington herald., 1911-12-04
Tigers, Navy and Penn State
Lead in Football RANKING
PennSy Tenth on List,
HARVARD and Yale Be-
ing Fourth and Fifth.

NIcr.I to The Washington Herald
Philadelphia. Pa, Dec. @.-Aside from
the dissatisfaction which is expressed
with the present system Cf football,
there is another feature that always
leads 10 endless discussion and is never
satisfactorily settled. This is the ranking
Of ;hc teams for the season.
Custom. which originated at the time
when the colleges like Yale. Princeton,
and Harvard stood out predominantly in
the sport, has always awarded th- cham
rionship to the institution with the best
record among these.
Now. when college teams and United
States lrademy cleVenS are so uniform
Iy strong. the matter Of awarding hOnOrs
for the season to the leading college OF
the "hig three" IS rather arbitrary. COL
IcGe critics, Of course. call Princeton the
champions of the year. But others feel
trat the Navy ought to he placed on an
equal footing with Princeton.
Look ut Records.
In order to justify this assertion It
Is hut necessary to look over the rec
ords Of the respective eIevcns for the
last season. Both elevens met and
neither side scored It was at a time
during the schedule when neither eleven
had reached the edge necessary in the
big game which was to form the eli
max of the teams career.
But on this basis alone it would seem
a if neither was entitled to the edge
uve~ the other Princeton defeated Yale
hut so did West Point. And the Middies
h. the Pointers. which would even
things UP. PrinCetOns scoring against
the Blue was touchdown, the result
OF n blocked kick. the military men won
in much the same manner So that
everything is eQualized.
Thus, on the basis of requisite fair
ness. it would seem as if the Annapo-
lis lads had a valid claim to dispute
PrincetOn's assertion that her eleven was
the champion of the season.
Third place in the ranking of the eev
ems would seem to go to Penn State.
as her eleven tied the Navy and was un-
defeated through the season. True, the
Middies placed several substitutes in
their line. but that does not detract from
States work through the season. Those
who watched the boys from Pennsylvania
declare that the eleven gave as fine an
exhibition of football on every occasion
as any of the other colleges.
Beat Yale.
West Point is entitled to fourth, on
the basis of having beaten Yale. which
tied Harvard, and was only beaten by
Princeton through the ubiquitous Mr..
White The Indians come in next, vic
tories over Penn and Harvard giving the
a clear title to their place.
Harvard comes next, because OF the
Caliber of it's eleven, with Dartmouth fol-
lowing, two defeats Of the Green having
been caused by Princeton on the peculiar
Dewitt kick. and also by Harvard on a
blocked punt.
Yale is down for the next place. its
victory over Brown placing the Blue
ahead of the Providence institution,
whose win over Penn gives the Brunon-
ians preference over the Quakers, who
follow in turn. Cornell and Lafayette are
placed in their respective order, thus
the ranking of the dozen
Eastern teams.
1t is impossible, of course, to have any
two men agree on the proposition of
ranking teams, but one guess is as good
as another.