Evening star., 1914-11-09
FOOT bALLP[AYS
BEING SLOWLY RUN
Forward Passes and Open
Work Cause Game to Ap-
pear Sluggish.
A. AND M. ELEVEN'S ENDS
ARE BEST IN THE SOUTH
McDougall, on Left Flank, Is in q
Glass by Himself-0ther
Gossip.
BY n. c. BYRD.

Contrary to general opinion. foot ball
in some ways is less interesting than it
was ten years ago. Forward passes
and other open plays of various kinds
have slowed up the game until it is
very questionable if it is more to be
liked by the uninitiated than was the
sport as played under the old five
yard rule, when it was only necessary
to go five yards in three attempts to
get first down. There is only one re-
deeming feature to make the sport more
interesting now than then-the chance
that some spectacular play will turn
the tide in a close game.
Never was foot ball as sluggish as it
is right now. So slowly do the teams
line up for plays it is questionable II
the spectators see more than one min
ute of actual play out of every four and
a half or five minutes Of time occupied
for the contest. A play is run, and, un-
less 1t is line plunge directly over
center, the players are widely scattered
over the field, and it takes them about
two minutes to get back into their po-
sitions. Then the quarterback starts to
oA1l his signals, the play takes about
half a minute to run off and then the
men leisurely resume their places once
more.
There may be some in the line-ups
of the teams now who are more ex-
pert at running through broken field,
but that is the only particular In which
the foot ball teams of the present day
are faster than those of past years.
The game has been slowed considerably
by the tactics employed in the offense
of nearly every eleven, and the play
ers themselves are making little ef-
fort to increase the speed. There have
been foot ball teams that would have
run off four or five plays while elevens
that now exist are going through with
one. \ defensive combination that
lined up as slowly in front of the Of
fense of real fast team of bygone
days as most defensive elevens get in
line now would be swept off its feet
and scored on before it could have the
opportunity to get set for single
play.
The play of the North Carolina Agri-
cultural and Mechanical College ends
was the best that has been seen in
this section in long while. 1t Is not
likely that there are two other flank
holding down the positions for the
Raleigh institution. Both are fast,
splendid defensive performers and are
accurate catchers of the forward pass
is the lighter of the two. but there is
no fault to he found with his ability
on the defense. Seifert is a great little
player. almost from every standpoint.
but on left end A. and NJ. has one of
the greatest men in the position the
south has ever known-McDougall.
McDougall is fast. weighs more than
1S0 pounds, and is the best on the de-
fense in the south today. He gave a
splendid exhibition in the first few
minutes of the game last Saturday
when Georgetown directed play after
play at him. Several successive times
he piled up half dozen men without
help and got the runner. McDougall
gets down under punts so we'll that
the man seldom has an opportunity to
bulge after catching the ball. Nc
Dougall is almost a type unto himself
in the game. Unlike most players, he
hardly says u word during the entire
contest, but he is listening for his
plays, ever on the alert to take ad-
vantage of his opponents slips. In
short, McDougall is star
The backf1eld of a. and NJ. is strong
in it was thought to lie its greatest
power-but without that pair of ends
the team would decrease in efficiency
al least 20 per cent
one can hardly help but agree with
Il New York foot ball critic who writes
the following about the coaching sys-
TEN at Princeton:
This is no time, perhaps, to criticise