Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-09-04

no the casual spectator football
looks the same year in and year
n out--a jumbled up mass of
q tror,-down and drag outs. with no
n ssmbance Of order or system. He
Fl doesn't know. the difference, anyway,
h be,0een a tWenty-yard zone and
& fas kick: so why concern himself as
.o whether either or neither of them
& has been changed into fozzle dill or
X VbfAenpoof, so long as he is assured
II NJ that thrilling, lightning dash through
broken field, that mad charging and
n sampeding of the buffalo herd, and
& that dul. boom which means another
n .yrockering punt the same as it al
ways did?
Well, so far as he is concerned, foot
bsu will look just about the same this
year as II always looked; but it win
he changed a-plenty for the coaches
& and the field generals, Not so much,
oarbaps. in the ntatter Of fundamentals.
Z ma, even in the formations or plays,
n br in the system of handling those
,sys in the strategy of the game, in
h ,e policy of play. | will illustrate fur
t1sr on.
The first change comes in rule /,
i which defines the field Heretofore the
field has always been $50 feet long and
1870 feet wide This year the width re-
mains the same, but the length be-
,veen goal lines is reduced by 80 feet,
esving the distance from goal post to
goaI most an even 800 feet.
Now suppose a team gets real close
down to that opposing goal line and
YET sees that it is going to be almost
impossible for them TO shove the ball
across by either running or bucking.
Many a time in the past that has been
the case. and they have wished so
hard that they might be permitted to
throw the ball across the line by use
NJ a forward pass and trust to one of
heir eligible players getting 1t on the
~ as the rule requires. But hereto
fore it would have done no good what
ever to attempt such a maneuver for
the reason that the instant the ball was
nassed forward across opponents goal
line il was declared a touchback and
rae ball was dead, and in the posses
sion of the team defending that goal,
no matter who caught it or where.
rs a touchback entities the defend
Inc team to the possession of the ball,
and to bring it out to the twenty-yard
line and put it in play, it was. mani
fas,ly suicide to make a forward pass
across the goal line. But when team
+, pushed right Gown 20 its own goal
line it is forced to bring its second and
even its third line of defense right up
on the heels of the rush line in order
TO be on hand and do something be-
fore the offensive team can advance
he ball the slight distance yet remain
ms
This made the defensive formation so
compact that it was exceedingly diff
cult for the attacking eleven to CON
Hnuo to make the required ten yards
IN the three downs permitted them
The result was too frequent failure to
score. and altogether too many tie and
s.oreless games.
So, in order to keep that secondary
line Or defense of the goal crowded
team back the usual distance behind
rs rush line, it has this year been
decreed that the attacking team shall
have the right to make a forward pass
across the goal line and to capture it
again if it can-provided the fall gives
Us more than ten yards beyond that
goal line and is, of course, caught with
that ten-yard zone. AS the other
Team must have the same right at the
other end of the field, it results that
every field must have a playing zone
of ten yards marked off and added be-
hnd each goal line, thus making the
ne.d this year in reality $50 feet long,
instead Of $50 feet as last year.
But these added playing zones are
'"f forward pass use only and cut no
more figure with the bucIing or end
running game than they ever did; so
mat II team once gets the ball across
opponents goal line either by running
or odcklng, it will have scored a
touchdown without further reference to
me additional ten-yard forward pass
zone.
VIII this change result in compelling
cam defending a goal to keep its sec
o'oary defense back as in the open
"'.o 10 look out for the possible for