Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-12
QUESTION THE GAME
Foot Ball Men Divided in Opin-
ions of Changes.
NAVY is IN REGATTA
Sailors Will Send Three Crews to
Events to Be Held on Schuyl-
kill River.
BY EDWARD R. BUSHNELL.

BY EDWARD r. BUSHNELL.
Foot ball men are divided as to the sort
of game which will be produced by the
somewhat radical amendment of the foot
ball code last week. On one point every
body agrees. namely, that the proper
balance between the offense and the de-
Tense will have been restored. There will
be no further excuse for so many 90
games, such as the Harvard-Yale con-
test last year, or games in which the
team with the stronger offense is de-
feated through errors or some good luck
which falls in the path Of the opposition.
There were three big games in 1911
which had a most unsatisfactory ending.
One was the Princeton-Harvard game. in
which Harvard. with the stronger at
tack, lost the game through an unfortu-
nate tumble which White. the Princeton
end, converted into a touchdown. These
conditions were almost duplicated in the
Yale-Princeton game. the same sort of a
f1uke. and the same player contributing
to the downfall of Yale In the Yale
Harvard game. although Yale had the
stronger attack, the rules OF the game
placed such fearful handicap on the
offense that the Ellis could not score, nor
could Harvard.
In amenOlnS ln0 rules LAl6 yOdA tAAO
committee had in mind the strengthening
of the attack. This body realized that 1t
was imperative that the offense should
play under such conditions that 1t would
have its proper reward. Last year, IN
order to score at all, a team had to be
nearly % per cent stronger than its OPP
ponent, or else be gifted with some lucky
break. Long before the committee met
it was fairly well understood that In Or
der to make ground-gaining easier rule
civ nHpnEIVR
team an additional down in which to
make ten yards, or reducing the NUMBER
of yards to be made in three downs from
10 to or 8. 1t was unanimously agreed
that one or the other OF these cnanses
suggestion that the forward pass De
abolished AS to the wisdom of this the
rules committee was pretty evenly olvIu-
ed. Nearly all of the eastern men were
agreed that the forward pass couia 10
ing side would be given enough assist
ance with four downs in which to make
ten yards.
primarily responsible Tor the rete tha ma
jority of the foot ball experts nad come
to the conclusion that this play was
gradually hurting the game TINS Uouy
held its annual convention in New iora
and instructed it's committee to stano
pat on the forward pass. They STOOD
hhv this NAV because since 1t was intro
diced the number Of fatalities and serious
injuries from foot ball had peen very
greatly decreased, and while they nad no
nroof that the forward pass should have
full credit for this change, they pc
lieved that they would be running FISK
If they did away with the play. Al,
though the sentiment of the comoiheo
committee was pretty equally oiVided On
the point, it was decided not to arouse
anv friction at this time.
Touchdowns by Forward Pass.
AS a further aid to scoring the COM
mittee removed several restrictions from
the forward pass. Not only did they
make it legal to make q forward pass OF
any length. but they even provided that
this play might be used to score
touchdown over. the line Of scrimmage.
Heretofore g. touchdown by means OF the
forward pass has been legal only on con-
dition that the ball be caught within the
confines Of the gridiron and then carried
across the goal line in the regular man.
ner. Under the new rules the ball may
be thrown over the line OF scrtmmage
and counted as a touchdown II caught
by the proper person within ten-yard
zone.
There was no particular significance In
decreasing the length OF the Held to lOO
ydIuS. DcCduSc tuC COuetAu SNiOAA " ~
many gridirons would not permit of add
ing q ten-yard zone to each end to indi-
cate when a forward pass over the line
Of scrimmage was legal the committee
cut five yards from the gridiron at each
end. This will enable those colleges with
small fields to have their gridirons prop
erly marked without imposing a hard
ship on them.
AS still further aid to scoring 1t was
provided that the kickoff shall be from
the forty-yard line instead of from mid
field as heretofore. This gives the side
receiving the kickoff an advantage of
ten yards. After granting that the new
rule will make scoring much easier there
is a radical difference of opinion as to
whether the new game will be a reversion
to the old style line-pounding attack or
development of the running game. In
the opinion of the writer the temptation
to develop the line smashing attack so
popular a few years ago will reassert it
self. With the necessity Of making only
ten yards in four downs. two and one-half
yards to down, it will be possible for
team with a set OF strong plunging backs
to march straight down the field few
yards at time.
When the forward pass was first in
three downs increased from yards to
10 yards there was a demand at all
the colleges for fast men. Now the de-
mand will switch from merely fast men
to men of the line-plunging type. This
game was built. 1t would mean, for such
men as Wendell of Harvard. Indeed, If
they had been in force last year Wendell
could have scored a touchdown all by