Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-11-03
SERVICE BALL TEAMS
DO NOT STAND HIGH
If Storms Indicate Which Way the
Wind Blows, and Saturdays
Games Count.
NO FAULT WITH CALIBRE OF TEAM
No Really Big Teams Now Play West
Point Or the Navy---This May
Account for IL.

Account for il.
A few years ago many members Of
he naval and military contingent were
convinced that at the close OF the sea
son the teams representing the service
academies played the strongest foot
bail of any team in the country.
1t was the custom for the team
WHICH was defeated in the annual con-
test to consider that it was defeated
by the best eleven in the UnitedStates
When. however. the Naval Academy
loses to the North Carolina Aggies,
and the Militay Academy on the same
day is vanquished by Villa Nova, the
most ardent friend of either team
cannot claim that they stand very high
in the football scale.
The most plausible reason for the
decadence seems to be in the fact that
the service teams are not now able TO
play one or two of the really big teams
of the country each year, and their iso-
lated situation keeps them out of touch
with the progress the game is making
and the pace set by the players on the
big college teams. Certainly, there is
no real difference i'm the material
which is given TO the coaches or in the
spirit with which the work Of the sea
son is udertaken. The fault seems to
lie in the fact that other teams are
advancing all the time. and the Army
and Navy teams are not advancing
with them.
No fault can be found with the cal
ibre of the teams on the Naval Acad-
envy schedule at the early part of the
season. hut they taper down badly to-
wards the close. Georgetown was
strong enough to win from the mid
shipmen in the first game. Pittsburgh
overwhelmed them, and then Pennsyl-
vania and the Navy lads drew in o
game in which the midshipmen did
better than at any time before or since.
The improvement which was expec-
ted after the Penn game was not no
ticeable against Virginia Polytechnic
or the Ncrth Carolina Aggies, and now
there is danger that there is no other
game on the schedule which will fur
nish a real test of playing ability.
RuclIuell. which plays next SaiGr-
day. is not as strong as it was three
or four years ago. and Colby, which
plays the following Saturday, played
remarkable game last year, but was
defeated by a large score by the Uni
versity of Maine last Saturday. Ursi-
nus, which plays on the Saturday
week before the final game. il likely to
he still weaker.
West Point has something the better
in point of opponents, as next Satur
day it will play Notre Dame, a team OF
considerable strength. and on the fol-
lowing Saturday the University of
Maine which defeated Colby decisive
ly AS usual. the final game for the
soldiers on their own grounds will be
against Springfield Training School
team.
Ten years ago the service teams
we're playing on very equal terms
against the best in the country. Yale
Princeton and Pennsylvania had sue
cumbed to the Army, and the record of
the midshipmen contained several vic
tories over the University of Pennsyl-
vania and one over Princeton. Al
ways, teams which made the trip TO
Annapolis had a hard game, and a des-
perate fight to win, if they won at all
One by one they began to drop the
service teams from their schedule.
They admitted that the effort TO secure
a victory so early in the season against
such strong teams was too severe. and
pointed out also that the trip was gen
orally taken at considerable financial
loss compared to what might have
been secured by playing elsewhere.
Now, not one of the really big teams
play at West Point. In the University
of Pittsburgh the Academy has as an
opponent one Of the strongest teams in
the country, but it has not occupied
such a place long, as it is likely TO
to cease its trips to Maryland when its
reputation is fully established. An
annual game has been arranged with
teh University of Pennsylvania, by
playing in alternate years in Philadel-
phia, but Pennsy has fallen upon rath-
er hard lines herself, and is by no
means the team it used to be.
Such institutions as Penn State. Le-
high, Swarthmore and Lafayette. which
/ which used to appear regularly upon
| the schedule of the midshipmen, are
now seen there no more. and there can
be no question but what Navy football
! is feeling the fact, while a similar set
of circumstances is bringing about
identical results on the Hudson