The Washington herald., 1915-10-03
BY EDWARD r. BUSHNELL.

Idergraduate interest in their teams
| through an excess of secret practice
the big universities of the East are
| trying to make student attendance at
! the daily practice popular once more
by throwing wide open the gates and
| inviting them to come in. There Will
not be one-third the amount of secret
practice in the East this fall that
there has been in the past II has
| taken a good many years to shatter
the fallacy that secret practice, ex-
cept before a championship game, was
| of any particular Importance. but
| through the initiative taken by Prince
! ton and Yale the undergradua are
having an opportunity to get acquaint-
| ed with their football teams This
/ year Pennsylvania has Joined Prince
! ton and Yale in decreeing that there
shall be as little work behind closed
| gates as possible. and several other
| ing it.
Secret practice became popular
about fifteen years ago. 1t was the
outSrowth of the rivalry and jealousy
/ that existed between the big teams.
On the theory that they might learn
something of their opponents strategy
big eleven would send forth a spy,
who. armed with field glasses, would
station himself in the grandstand dur
! ing practice, identify the different
] players and sketch the plays they
used. This information his own team
would use to break up the enemy's
attack when they met. The advan-
tage of the information thus obtained
was always open to question. and GER
tainly the methods taken to get II
were not exactly creditable. Now the
big colleges are going to the other
extreme. and on more than one occa-
sion last year members of the coach
ing staff of one team were permitted
on the field during an opponents
practice.
The value of secret practice has
been greatly exaggerated. A sprinter.
for example, can't run any faster be-
cause his opponent doesn't know his
best time. Nor does a football team
play any better because it has trained
in secret 1 never saw game in
which the result was affected either
way because of secret practice.
Test for Big Teams This Week.
have now played their first two or
three games. They have progressed
far enough to give their coaches some
idea of their strength and capa bilities.
OF course, these early practice games
are of doubtful value as the real
measure of a teams power. If there
were some machine by which one
could measure an opponents strength
it would be possible for coaches to
draw definite conclusions from scores
/ But the minor colleges which furnish
the practice games vary SO much in
strength from year to year.
Next week, however. the first flight
of medium big games are played. Or
them all the most interesting should
be the meeting between Harvard and
the Carlisle Indians. The last time the
two met the Indians won. That was
the year the Indians had the wonder
full Jim Thorpe, who ran wild against
every team the Indians met This
year the Indians should be more easily
tanned. They have lost the services of
Glenn Warner, whose coaching was
principally responsible for their great
work in the past. Yale also takes on
a team that is likely to make trouble.
This is Lehigh, coached by Ready. of
Dartmouth. Last year Yale beat Le-
high 2o-3, but for half the game Le-
high held the Ellis helpless.
The University of Pennsylvania is
looking for an interesting afternoon
with the Pennsylvania State College.
About every three years the men from
the western end of the keystone State
surprise the big Quakers by giving
them trouncing. Princeton lines up
against Syracuse. whose team held the
Tigers 10 a score of 12-7 last year and
should have won. The Syracuse men
hope to achieve their object this time.
Dartmouth plays the University Of
Maine whose team Yale smothered last
week. while Cornell opens her new
football field with Williams as the
attraction.
How Big Teams Look Now.
Touchdowns against the big teams in
their initial games may mean much or
nothing according to the conditions With
in the ranks of the big Six Harvard
was the team to suffer this misfortune in
| the seasons opening games last week
Colby College. although pummelled
numerically with 80 points rolled up
. by the Crimson machine. had the satis-
faction of earning a touchdown by
/ carrying the ball nearly half the
length Of the field by straight foot
ball. Harvard, though. was expert
menting with aat of substitutes in
the final period when this disaster oc-
CURED. The veterans had been with
drawn and because of the change in
rules the Crimson coach was unable to
rush the veterans back in this final
quarter when Colby began its march.
In spite Of this touchdown the Har-
| ward team looks formidable. The
backfield promises to be as strong q