Evening star., 1914-11-08
THE HAI.FB-ACk .

:. THE HAIFBACK
W His strength and his speed
Are ideal.
He crouches back there.
Spring of steel
2. Now quarter. the bali
- Let him feel.
" He's through with dash
~. On him steal
@.s. The backs. and they clutch a,-u..,,
II He scores, and the cheers.
~ How they peal!
IIf one divides the foot ball season
INTO four periods, the same as the mod
ern game is now divided. 1t might be
said that we have now reached the end
Of the third period, and are prepared to
enjoy the final exciting quarter. Sep
tember was devoted TO running through
signals, punting and catching. Then
the referees whistle blew and the
teams lined up. Then came second
quarter, October, of scrimmage devel-
opment, preliminary games and hard
action. Then came the first scoring and
now the teams have gone three-quar-
ters of the game and it is possible to
pass reasonable conJectures upon what
will transpire in the final period.
I'VE find the teams are scoring. Per-
haps it is not yet steady progress
down the field, but there is certainly
this to be said, that when n team once
0cgins to overpower it's opponents It is
pretty sure to score. A weaker or IN
ferior team may make stand for one
Or TWO PERIODS, Dut WneN IL CFdchs, /.
cracks badly.
Harvard, although affected by in
Juries, still seems to have coupled with
good generalship drive enough to ex-
haust the defense of opponents in the
end Princeton has been hanging up
over the question of field general
but showing a sturdy defense Notre
Dame held Yale manfully for a period
practically an even thing. but Yale
scored easily and quickly during the
do -hays i I.rn a
its opponents. Yet Yale showed against
Washington and jefferson practically
no defense whatever to running
game. Cornell met some stubborn re-
sistance and two defeats. Sut once
started scored with comparative ease.
Penn is still working on a lineup that
shall be effective. The Army is scor-
ing fairly we'll considering the teams
il is meeting. The Navy had a set
back from Penn State, but now is re-
covering.
Will the defense improve more rapid
ly than the offense during the final pc
riod or the second half Of November?
That is the question. The chances are
that it will.
Coaches who last year were search
ing for plays that would produce I
steady continuance of short gains.
enough to make 1t 10 yards in 4, and
proceed on down the field, are looking
Tor quicker and less exhausting results
through the medium of the passing
game. Meantime teams which have
nothing to lose and everything to gain
are abandoning any persistent work on
the running game and throwing them
selves into Il frenzy of forward passes.
The laughable part of it is the terror
that this avalanche of forward passing
seens 10 cause in the opponents camp
unless they have Il very safe margin
II score. A few successful forward
passes by a team that is behind may
throw into the utmost confusion Il far
superior team. 1t has never vet been
tried out, but IL is reasonable to be-
lieve that a team which had a fairly
=ood defense and very simple attack
that could at least mask the fact that
they relied on forward passes and have
their forward passing game highly de-
veloped would certainly score faster
than any team can the running
game. The so-cdlled lateral passing
came of Yale has shown great posi- :
"ilities of combination, with the for