Evening star., 1914-11-15
SENSATIONS SPRUNG
| IN GR|D|RON SEASON
MANY Wonderful Performances
Accredited to Teams and
Players.
ELEMENTS OF CHANCE
ARE GREATLY INCREASED
Opportunities for Brilliant Exhibi-
tions Are Greater Now Than
Ever Before.
By II. C. BYRD.

surprises galore, but such complete re-
yersals of form have taken place as al
most to discount anything that may be
said previous to a contest relative to it's
probable result Big elevenS have gone
down repeatedly before the onslaughts
of minor colleges, and in the con-
f1icts between the representatives of
the great universities things have not
happened as were expected. Also the
style of play used has been such as
almost universally to cause remarkab BILE
exhibitions of prowess in many de-
partments and hardly a game has taken
place that has not been productive of
sensational performances.
Early in the year Cornell lost to two
of the minor colleges, Colgate and
Pittsburgh. and yet it has developed so
rapidly as to give two of the big teams
decisive defeats since. Yesterday the
Itha cans surprised even their most san
guine adherents by their wonderful and
the overwhelming defeat of the Penn
sylvania eleven by Michigan it was not
thought that the Ithacans would do
more than win by close score, and the
chances are the majority of experts
thought the odds were against Cornell
Despite this. Cornell was the victor over
the Wolverines by a big margin.
Notre Dame came east with great
reputation. the result of splendid
records made year ago, and yet failed
dismally to show much form against
Yale or the Army. Notwithstanding
that, the Indiana eleven went against
the Carlisle Indians yesterday and de
feated them by forty points; and the
indians were strengthened consider
ably by the recent acquisition of Gus
Welch, star quarterback of two years
previous to this.
Michigan won from PENNSYLVANIA by
a surprisingly big margin. and yet
the following week succumbs to the
prowess of Cornell, even when the lat
ter was hardly rated as highly as the
Wolverines. Harvard. unbeaten for
three years. was considered a bis
favorite over Brown, and was expected
to tie. Substitutes, it is true, werc
used in the game, but ten chances to
one 1t was thought at Harvard that
those substitutes would be sufficient to
win.
Yale. with the confidence of early
victories. meets Washington and ,Jef-
ferson, team defeated by Harvard on
the previous Saturday, and is defeated
Yale again goes to Princeton, and by
some marvellous playing runs up nine
a look-in; then. by wonderful displav
OF reserve energy, the latter awaken
and give the Dark Blue such a scare as
1t has never before had.
Game after game this season has
been decided by a long forward pass
that covered ground which could not
be gained by rushing tactics Time
after time teams have been said to be
outplayed and yet have won. Michigan.
and Yale have taken games by fair
margins in which they were outrush-
ed and beaten as far as ground gaining
and general foot ball were concerned
yet they have been victors. The same
is true of other elevens
pennsylvania. a school with thou
sands of students. starts poorly, shows
a flash of form. then succumbs to Michi-
gan and Dartmouth in succession by
one-sided scores. Two of their big
games have been lost by the Quakers
already, and it cannot be remembered
when any school was able to run more
than forty points on it and keep it
from scoring in the meantime, as Dart
mouth did yesterday.
Truly a new era has dawned for foot
ball. 1t is an era in which the style of
play is changed, in which players of
different character must he used, and
in which a new school of coaching has
risen with the dropping of the old. Foot
ball has become sensational in the ex-
treme in many ways, yet with the
speeding up of the plays and the more
accurate execution that will come with
another season sensational will be a
mild word to express its possibilities
The game has become more like base
ball, in that there is a greater element
of uncertainty as to the probable vic
tor; the element of chance is greatly
increased, the possibility of winning
a contest in which team Is behind is
much more apparent, and the general
interest is intensified to that extent.
The contest between the Maryland
nd al nd nf Nxyi11 a
Saturday morning at 1880 o'clock. This
was agreed upon by the managers of
the two teams at a meeting Friday
afternoon.
Judging by what Gallaudet did to the
Pennsylyania Military College yester-
day, the Maryland Farmers are in for
q rough time of it when they meet the
Kendall Greeners. The work of the
latter against the Pennsylvania school
yesterday must have been extraordi-
nary, to say the least. They they could
run up a score of SIS points is evidence
of greater strength than has been
shown by them at any previous time
this season.
This, coupled with the fact that CAL
laudet plays harder against NJ. A. c.
than any other eleven, is sure to make
it an exceptionally formidable COM
bination for the latter. The Aggies do
not have the veteran team that rep
resented them year go, out theFe Will
be one fatcor that will not work
against them this year-a feeling that
they are certain to win.
Virginia probably has the strongest
team this year that 1t has put out in
mighty long while. The chances are
the Orange and Blue is represented by
the strongest combination in the south,
and II 1t defeats North Carolina Uni
versity Thanksgiving day it will have
to be given the honors not only for the
South Atlantic section, but for the en-
tire south as well. Virginia has de-
feated Georgia and Vanderbilt deci-
sively, and yesterday 1t won from
Swarthmore by so much larger a score
than did Washington and Lee, that
there appears to be little comparison
between the two elevens.
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute is
showing much greater strength this
season than for some years past. The
Blacksbure eleven played Washington
and Lee to a standstill a week ago,
and Yesterday came through with g.
too victory over the North Carolina
Agricultural and Mechanical College.
It is interesting to note that a Wash
ington boy is captain of the v. p. 1.
team In fact, mention was made of
his election to that position early in
the fall, but attention is again called
to it in view of the splendid showing
his team is making. "Mooch" Peake Is
a graduate of Technical High, where he
played at quarterback and halfback.
The last important game in the high
achool car1oo fa IN ha played Tuesdav.