The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-12-21
WEST HAD GOOD
PROGRESSIVE YEAR
Of NEW FOOTBALL
MANY SMALL! TEAMS MAKE REC
ORDS BIZ MEETING NEW
STYLE PLAY.
BY EDWARD r.. BUSHNELL.

BY EDWARD r.. BUSHNELL
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 2o.--The
1913 football saeson, which ended with
the Army's sensational 22-9 VICTORY
over the Navy. contained moro than
The usual number of features. The
one that stood out the ciearest was
that the team which made the best
combination OF mastering the rudi-
ments Of the game. and developing
even plays, produced the best scoring
eleven. The days when the team
could get away with narrow ideas In
football attack has passed. Progress
Sive football. like progressive politics,
is what the general public wants.
Next to this feature was the re-
markable rise of the Middle Western
universities. Although no games were
played between the teams which could
be fairly considered the strongest in
the West and East, the five important
matches played between representa-
tives of these two sections resulted
in decisive victories for the West
The games referred to were Mich
igan VS.. Cornell, Michigan VS.. Penn
sylvania, Notre Dame vs.. West Point,
Notre Dame VS.. Penn State, and Mich
igan vs.. Syracuse. Out of five starts
f9e w est peat the EAdst every Tint
To have gotten a perfect line on the
comparative worth of the football as
played in both sections. the public
would have been better satisfied to
have seen a game between either Chi
cage or Michigan, and Harvard or
Dartmouth. There Is no way to de-
termine the relative ranking of Mich
lEan and Chicago, because they not
only did not meet but played no
common opponents.
Chicago Indicated.
Chicago went through the season
undefeated. while Michigan WIS
Agricultural college. The character
OF games played by Michigan led the
supporters of the Wolverines to class
this eleven with that OF 1912, un-
doubleday the greatest that Yost ever
turned out The Chicago team was
uniformly successful. and owed its
success to the speed and orenness OF
the attack.
In the East no one disputes the
right of Harvard 10 be ranked first.
The Crimson went through the season
without u refea-, anu IN It's ff1tr7ai game
with Yale displayed the best all
round. open game seen on any Eastern
eridiron. Some Dartmouth men Will
undoubtedly maintain that Harvard
should not be ranked above the Green.
The two elevens did not meet for the
reason that Harvard. after last years
$40 victory, side-stepped the Hanover
eolleglans.
Had Dartmouth been able to go
through the season without a defeat,
the Eastern intercollegiate public
would have been inclined to rank
Dartmouth above Harvard. because
the lack OF game was due to no
fault of Dartmouth. But the other
wise perfect record OF Dartmouth was
considerably spoiled by the Indians
overwhelming $50 victory in the
last game OF the season.
Whether Michigan or Chicago could
have beaten Harvard is purely a mat
ter of speculation. Well-inform sd
critics who saw both Chicago and
Michigan play. contended that their
elevens had tremendous undeveloped
power. but doubted whether the infe-
rior nature of their opponents would
have given them enough strength and
experience To cope with the Harvard
eleven, which, in addition to getting
an unusual amount of reasoning from
strong preliminary games, contained
enough veterans to make the team al
most invinclble.
Classy Games In West.
At the same time the brand OF foot
bali played by the Middle Western uni.
versities was Of an unusually high
class. In its originality and inventive
nes the Midie West showed more
progress than the East. There Is q
on the part Of Eastern insti
tutions TO pattern after what the biz
do. This year Harvard.
Yale and Princeton almost completely
ignored the forward pass. and many
OF the minor colleges in this section
were inclined TO do likewise.
The writer made a careful tabula-'
ton Of the use to which the forward
pass was put in the three champion
ship games--Harvard VS.. Princeton.
Princeton VS. Yale, and Yale VS.. Har-
ward. In these three games the for
ward pass succeeded but once. and
then only for a gain OF ten yards In
about fifteen trials. About so per
cent OF the attempts which failed re-
suited in the ball being intercepted by
the opposing side, and frequently run
back for big gains. In other words.
the forward pass as employed by these
big colleges proved a boomerang. q
instead of ground
gamer.
1t. is now reported that Chicago Is
negotiating for a game with one of
the big Eastern universities for 1914.
Michigan now plays Pennsylvania. Cor
nell and Syracuse, and for the sake Of
the football played by the two sec
tons. it is hoped that Chicago ar
ranges to meet one Of the other four
members OF the Big Six--Harvard,
Yale. Princeton or Dartmouth. Yale
and Harvard have always fought shy
Of Western alliances. so that the
chances are brighter for a game be-
tween Chicago and Dartmouth, though
possibly Princeton, on account Of the
brevity of its schedule, might be
to give the Westerners
game.