The Washington times., 1912-02-06
Foster Sanford Predicts Re-
s turn Of Old Line-Buck-
ing Game.
ROPER THINKS YALE
WILL BENEFIT MOST
Others Favor Spectacular Plays
Promised by Regu-
lations.

With only two dissenting voices, the
experts on football are loud in their
praises of 1912 football That the rules
committee did some real work in equal
izing the offense and defense by re-
moving restriction on the forward pass
adding an extra down, and making the
open game more attractive, is, in the
opinion of experts, a vast Improvement
over the defensively topheavy team of
1910 and 1911.
Or. Carl s. Williams, former Penn
sylvania star and the Red and Blue
member of the rules committee; w
Hobart Porter, chairman of the Univer-
Slty OF Pennsylvania football cmmittee
william Roger, former advisory coach
at Princeton, and Andrew Latham
Smith, head coach at the University Of
,Pennsylvanta, yesterday expressed eX-
IRENE satisfaction over the new code.
Use Williams Theory.
Although DR.. Williams was unable to
attend the meeting. the University of
Pennsylvania being represented by
BILLY" Morice, he took much interest
in the plans of the committee His
theory in changing the rules was closely
followed out, for early in the year he
said:
1--WE must choose between the simple
game, with seven men on the line of
sCrimmage, helping in the back field and
retaining probably the onside kick, or
we must elect the present game"
The change in the most important
rules shows that the committee decided
to keep the new game in force and 20
make the plays more spectacular for the
spectators. DR.. Williams said:
I'm the latter case, some method had
TO be found to strengthen the attacking
power. This could have been done by
decreasing the number of yards to be
gained for first down, or more simply.
as the committee decided to do, to in
crease the number of downs from four
10 five downs, or four tries, one more
than last year."
This was one of the most important
rules changed at the committee meet
ing, and is in line with the suggestions
presented by DIR. Williams through
Billy Morice.
Smith Likes Changes.
Head Coach Smith was one of the
most disappointed men in the country
when the iSlO-19l1 football was in vogue
THE old rules took something away
from the man of strength said Smith
land he deserved fairer show. The
new code will enable team to make d
few line attacks. The retention of the
forward pass means that the secondary
defense cannot be anchored right be-
hind the line of scrimmage and a team
now and then can vary its open gamt
with some we'll devised line play.
The increased value of a touchdown
touchdown, with its additional point foI
kicked goal. will force the opposlns
team to kick three. goals from the field
to beat It; Altogether l think the com
mittee did some real work"
Walter Sanford, former Yale star Il
one of the dissenting voices. He be
lieves the revised code will see a return
to the old line-bucking game. He says
Sanford's Opinion.
They may try to tell the world tina;
they have not gone back to the line
cracking game-it looks innocent on
pape-but you can take my word that
they have done so, and just watch the
Yale and Harvard backs pry omen tic
lines of their smaller foenen next fall
They would not permit a runner Ia
assist a halfback. they would not slice
the distance by two or three yards
They played 1t as safe as they could
The game this year will be the same
fusky halfback is going to jam his way
along for ten yards in four attempts
That is gain of only little over two
yards on the average. Take that fell
low Wendell, Of Harvard; why, those
roles were just built for him. 1t means
that every coach In the land will sort
his material in September, and what he
will be looking for with the keenest OF
interest will be an athlete who can rir
Up the line all alone, just as Wendell
Coy, Hoilenback, and good many
more might mention, could have done
under this system"
william Roper, who gave t. Prince,
ton the football championship of Amer,
lea, thinks that the new rules wclc
constructed 50 that the llore powerful
elevens would whip the smaller frs
and he says, like Walter Sanford, that
the scores will prove 1t.
81 have read the changes" sal,
Roper, ''and I must say that they yer,
surely built so that the best team woulc
win, and win by handsome score.
Line SCATTERING Regime.
1.-THE additional down, the fact tina
the forward pass is legal anywhere
and the retention of the same dis
tance to be gained has made tf'
game a great one from the offensiV
Standpoint A team needs to average
hut little more than two yards pc
down. and 1T can march right dow
the field for touChdowns. 1t ais
takes three goals from the field nov
to better the score of touchdown
This means that a small team, witt
a great kicker will find that it has. t
be three times within the drop kicking
distance of rival players and tina
each one of these three tries mus
be successful for them to offset
single touchdown.
"The new game Will be good on
to watch. l will say that for It, 70
once the better teams gets the bal
IL will be able to advance II rlgh
along the line. The Door defense !
going to take a pounding this fail.