The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-08

the Harvard Princeton, Yale-Prince-
ton, Harvard Yale contests no touch
downs were scored, but nine field
goals were ~kicked-six of the nine by
Charley Brickley Of the Harvard cam
In the face Of these Statistics
said an eastern expert to me after the
Harvard-Yale game, don't you think
it has been shown that. the touchdown
is obsolete, that it can't be scored eX-
.cept by a .f1uke?' ...,. -
81 don't think so by any means. I
saw the Yale-Harvard game, and that
was enough to show me- that nothing
had been proved against the open game
or the western style, for this system
had never drawn q chance. Harvard
made little attempt to score a touch
down, being content to rely upon the
unerring Brickley and to shoot punts
over Wilson's head or out or his
reach. Yale had little to score a
touchdown with except an occasional
strong running game that was not va
,ried enough to be a. puzzle and was
accompanied by no u~p-to-date forward
pass that might be of any avail what
ever.
The First Shock.
Out west we nave been working
on the open game and using the for
ward pass for. some time. We were
handicapped in team building at first,
as I said above. by numberless restric-
tons. but after we had become accus-
toned to these we soon saw h a moth
ing was to be gained by sticking to
the old rushing, piling up order.
sit soon became evident to me that
the forward pass, as used by so many
leading teams, was Of no use when
thrown high. like a punt. | soon saw
that to be effective it had to be han
died like a baseball, thrown sharply
on a line to the runner moving at good
speed, who had to handle 1t as a Sec
ond baseman might handle a throw
from Schang or Archer.
"a forward pass that is thrown high
in the air is absolutely worthless.
When you feel that you could run
down from the top Of the stands and
block one, it is fairly certain that a
man already on the field could block
one ever easier. I'll admit this for
ward pass is useless against n sort
of defense, and yet this Is the type of
pass that has been judged SO largely
in the east.
Now the army eleven has always
been known for its wonderful defen-
sive work-for it's sharp, sure
Itackling and its general alertness on
guard. Yale for years had found it
almost impossible to penetrate this
Army wall. Strong Navy elevens have
failed to score a touchdown against II
for years. And Army experts have
told me often that a forward pass would
fbe a joke liz attempted against their
team. This belief lasted until this last
fall, when Notre Dame came along
from the west with a real collection OF
forward passes-not the punt innita-
tions that a child could stop. And one
gray afternoon on the Hudson, Dorais
and Eichenlaub Inc Rpckne of Notre
Dame shot sc any forward passes
against the Army's standard defense
that the ~scorer became dizzy marking
up touchdoWns.
The Second Shock.
u rather think the east got its sec.
ond awakening rs to the value of ths
open game In the Arrny-Nayy contest
The Navy came to New York a top.
heavy favorite. 1T had a veteran elev.
en- back--a big, fast. powerful team
with a world OF punch. Everyone ex.
pected 1T to win again and to win cas-.
lily. But by. now the Army had foynt
out the value of the forward pas.
worked the right way. And it hat
upon its eleven three western boys
Pritchard. Markoe and Merrflat from
Morningside college In Iowa. Tht
NAVY soon got the junapand IL looked
as lie a Whatsoever would result. AAns
i then. all OF b sudden, to the in1rleraas
surprise Of the Navy and to tie Thrill
of 1900 in the stands, Pritclard be
shooting those a1sst Low Acsarski