Norwich bulletin., 1915-11-17

more excitement than the blowing
up of the city. hall It was against
into the charmed circle and the rules
were observed until a few years ago. |
With the Introduction Of the for
ward pass and open football these
smaller teams found that they could
play just as well as their larger RI
walls, and, after playing a few close
games, decided to go in and win. This
has been done with amazing regular
ity. Colgate, Washington and Jeffer-
son, Carlisle and Brown leading the
Two years ago Colgate walioped
Yale, and there was CONSERVATION in
the Blue camp. Then Washington
and the coaches decided that some
thing was wrong. They tried to
strengthen the team in 1914. but Bob
Folwells team scored a victory and
Harvard gave Old Eli a severe drub-
bling.
Yale merely is used as an example,
of what can happen to big college
when the smaller fellows discover
that she can be beaten. Penn is in the
same boat, but losing games has be-
come such a habit on Franklin Field
that a victory over any eleven is just
cause for a big celebration. Dart
mouth and Princeton also fell into
lodged from the top OF the heap by
Cornell. The smaller colleges have
confidence in themselves and realize
that they are just as good as the big
ones.
There probably is. big five" In
college football today, but the per-
sonnet has been changed Those
who rule supreme now are Cornell,
Princeton, Washington and Jefferson.
Pittsburgh and Colgate These teams
have gone through the season with
out a defeat until last Saturday.
The mental attitude of the players
on small college team was explain
ed by Tom Ready. of Leigh, one day
recently Lehigh almost beat Yale
losing out by the score of to g.
1t was hard, but not rough game,
and the Brown and White athletes
| outplayed their opponents.
| Several years ago., said keaoy,
sit was the idea in all minor colleges
| that Yale or Harvard could not be
| beaten. The players knew that they
represented a school that had only
four or five hundred students, while
! the other had four or five thousand.
They thought that they had to play
| the entire student body instead Of IL
i men, and the numbers were too
| great.
AT present they know that col
4 lege with a million students can put
| but IL men on the field, and the odds
are even. They also realize that they
/ know as much football as the other
/ fellows and have an equal chance to
win. That accounts for the success
of the so-called minor college teams
| this year"
Another reason for the downfall of
the big six" is that the smaller col
Ieges got the jump on them by adopt
ing the open game the first year Of
its existence. With Yale, Harvard,
Princeton. Penn and the others look
ed upon the new rules with disdain,
and regarded the forward pass as a
joke, the others developed a whirl-
| wind attack and made them look
foolish when they met on the grid
| iron.
The success of the Carlisle Indians
from 1907 to 1914 is a good example
of this. Glenn Warner saw the pos
sibilities of the open game and used
the forward pass as his chief weapon
of attack. The Indians were apt
/ pupils, and it did not take long for
/ them to become acquainted with the
i new style. They demoralized all of
/ their opponents for years, and had
the new game down to science be-
fore the others even thought of TAX
It also found that a small team
had tremendous advantage under
the new rules. The game was not so
hard on the players: and big, heavy
men. were not needed to cope against
the rush lines of the large colleges.
Team play was the most important
asset in the early part of the season,
and they started in to perfect this on
the first day of practice AS a result,
the members of the big six" and Of
tentimes something was slipped
over while the others were still in
the experimental stage.
| When the old game was played
and it was necessary to gain five
yards in three downs, the coaches did
not pay so much attention to the de-
velopment of team play. They de
veloped their teams slowly, which
was perfectly proper in those days
when the attack consisted chiefly OF
line plunges after the opposing line
had been worn down. 1t wasn't foot
ball then; it was brute strength.
Before the rules were changed in
1906, a small college would go to
Penn, Princeton or any of the others
with a squad of about 20 men for the
4 game. For a time this visiting team
would put up hard fight and hold
the home team without a score. But
the contrast battering at the line,
with fresh men rushed into the game
as soon as player shwed signs OF
firing, soon wore them out, and at
the end the visitors were helpless
The big six" always had 40 or 90
and sometimes all of these would be
| used.
That was the time when the small
college had to play the student body
Oh a dig lnSllCuIlOn- Inc prayers were
not physically able to stand the
I strain, and is 1t any wonder that they
never won a game?
: Yale and Penn have tuInbled neal
J the bottom of the heap aid in the las
few years and the time-worn alihi o.
developing the team slowly Il
sprung on the dear old public aftel
, every reverse. This sounds good fol
time. but something new should b
tried.
DANIELsoN FIVE PLAYS
n AT RAlTIC NOV q