The Detroit times., 1914-10-26
Modern Style Of Play Has Its
Greatest Day Yet in Satur-
days Game
BIGGEST FACTOR IN
AMAZING RESULTS
Nothing Shown That Can Stop
Varied Oifense Presented by
Speedy Elevens
By HAROLD v. WILCOX.


It's . flne mess OF pottage that the
gridders served up to us saturday.
From the top to the bottom Of the
list the dope was upset-and splashed
around with an abandon not equaled
IN . decade.
W. q ). usElsped Yale, Penn state
outDlayed end tied Harvard. Nebraska
overwhefmsd the Michigan Aggies.
MiaD1 routed Mt Union and clear
down he roll surpeises came thick
and 1nDt And the scores were not
the only cauees for astonishment. The
manner In which they were acquired
viii provide food for thought for
many years to come.
Out Of the mass OF information and
IDEAS to be cleaned by q study Of the
days performances pair OF facts
and one idea stand out by themselves.
The facts are these:
First--Never in single day In the
history OF football has the open game
been worked 30 successfully. Second
while nearly every college team In
the country proved that II had made
amazing strides In the development
Of the open game, all have failed to
develope any adequate defense be-
yon1 punting. against that style Of at
tack. The idea mentioned grows out
Of these facts and has Ito do with
Miclligan's chances with Harvard. II
II discussed elsewhere on this page.
*
IN the aggregate Saturdays scores
were much larger than has usually
been the case this late In the season.
Mcgeovsr, schools that would prdi-
nafiiy covef tAefnselves with glory by
making even one touchdown against
the leading teams Of the country Sat
urday made two or three, and in
many cases won their games. The
reason was the Wholesale and bril-
liant use Of the forward passes and
of formations In which the possibility
Of pass bewildered the opposition.
In those cases where the usual fav-
orites won, victory was due to the
same fact. But nowhere was there a
semblhnce of q defense which ap-
preached the brilliancy OF the open
attack.
Il has been contended that Il will
take at least another year to develop
that defense. and that contention now
looks very conservative. In this con-
nection II 10 interesting to recall the
claims early In the season OF the
Princeton coach who denied that the
open play was a theft from the west.
because the eastern schools were de-
veloping II with proper regard Of
defense, something that Yost and the
wolverine mentors imitators had
never done.
In considering the term open play,
It must be remembered that 1t In
cludes not only passing. but the use
nf formations that makes q pass or
kick possible, and thus serves to be-
wilder the opposition. The usual play
on such a fake formation is an end
run, or occasionally, a line plunge by
the quarterback. Usually the open
play Is used to put the ball within
striking distance Of the goal with the
first down up, when plunging is re-
sorted to obviate the danger of losing
possession Of the ball.
With that I'm mind, quick 'once
over" OF Saturdays games is inter-
esting. The defeat OF Yale by Wash
ington and JEFFERSON WAS probably
the biggest surprise OF the day. as
yale had been picked as national
champion and the peer of Harvard