Bisbee daily review., 1912-02-23
PRINCETON GR|lLS NEW FOOTBALL RULES Alumni Magazine Finds Much Fault with
 ReviSionS

IhNt EION. \. J., Feb. 22.-Ihc
 Princeton Alumni Weekly the offi.
 cial organ of the graduates of Prince ton University, has come out in no un-
 certain terms against the recent re. vision ot he football rules in the
 current issue ''Bill'' Roper. head coach of the Tiger football team last tall. some days ago described the changes as having been particularly l constructed for Yale team. and ! The Weekly takes up the cry depre clating the changes. The placing of I greater advantage than formerly with ' the Offense is regarded as a seri lus | handicap to the type of football offer | ed by Princeton in the Harvard and ] Yale games last Fall which was de cidedly defensive. Although the de fensiye, this system was regarded by
 the coaches to be as practical as ihe offensive strens h and as likely 10
 v'P as if pr lyed The Alumni Week.
 ly says
 With the exception of the abolition Of the onside kick the changes in the foot ball rules. it is announced are
 made for the purpose of weakening the defense and strengthening the at tack. There seems to be no doubt
 that they will accomplish this purpose The addition of another down is ef- , feet reactionary legislation because | it will encourage continuous rushing and maAC possession of the ball of greater yside With unly an average of tv1 s'.h hlt yards to
 be gained to retain the ball We may expect q return Of the old marches down the field, with much less kick. ing. However, the committee wisely guarded against the return of mass | play by retaining the rule against l helping the runner. The increase in 1 the value of a touchdown is in our ! opinion bad legislation. The deprecia- ] tion of the field goal had already
 gone far enough. if not too far. IL is
 to be remembered that all roueh- towns are by no means the result of
 continuous rushing; also that in order to score field goal you have to get within range and that even then the
 ,ances are all against the kicker. In short it's harder ~o get two field goals l than one touchdown, and the two field goals should therefore count more than touchdown. This depreciation ! of goal kicking threatens the extinc. | ton of that very interesting and skill l ful feature of the game for no coach | IS going to spend much valuable time on developing drop kiczers when ! their speciality is Of so little relative value.
 The removal of the twenty yards 1 restriction on the forward pass is good, but if this play is to be re. l tained it is regrettable that the com | mlttee did not go further and allow the pass 10 be made from any point behind the attacking line As long as the passer has Jo stand five yards back or the line, thus giving the play | away, it cannot become a dependable feature of a consis;ant and effective | attack, but acts merely as buffer on l the defending backs 10 keep them from coming in to support their line An even worse error-an error Of commission rather than of omission is the total abolition of the Onside kick. This is distinctly a retrograde step, for which we have heard no i reason. The successful execution of an onside kick has been regarded as good football. And it is real football whereas the forward pass, though in troduced for the laGdable purpose of
 opening up the game, is not genuine
 Rugby. The onside kick has devel-
 Oped skillful kicking both as to plac.
 ing and distance; it has developed
 rapid covering of the ball, and it has
 put premium on sure caiching-all
 vital elements in first-class football
 Moreover, the Onsidc kick was dis
 tinct and desirable contribution tO
 the open game.
 It is of course impossible to pre
 dict what effect these changes fwiI
 have on the great college game We
 shall have to wait till next fall 10
 find out. But with the onside kick
 abolished. the forward pass sill so
 restricted as to be of little value ana
 m additional down allowed to gain
 ten yards it is hard to see how there
 is going to be anything in the game
 but continuous rushing. Even SO
 with the balance between the defense
 and the offense shifted so much in
 the latter's favor there will uudoubt
 edly be a great deal more scoring.