Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-29
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INTERcoLLEelATg ATHLETICS
Forward Pass the Most Thrilling Play
 Football Has Ever Had.
By SOL METZER, Coach Washington
 & Jefferson Football Team.

Football Has Ever Had.
 By sSOL METZER, Coach Washington & Jefferson Football Team.
 Within few days the intercolleg-
 late football season will have closed It is. we'll at this time to consider what this years play has brought forth in order to see if the game may
 be improved. The main advance made in 1916 has been in. good sportsman
 ship and good feelings between rival teams. The gentleman, it is we'll proven, can win games, or take de- feat with equal grace. On the whole the season has been full of surprises
 due to more widespread knowledge Of the principles of football on many fields. Certainly. if anything, football has become more popular for the req son that it is a decidedly more spec tacular contest than in the past Pri- marily. the open attack, or forward passing, has been the cause of this. It is decidedly the most thrilling play football has ever had. Granting that, what are we going tof do about the forward pass There is tendency to reduce it's possibilities as weapon on attack which is bal. anced, in measure, by the belief, and a correct one, that the light team which is forced to use it more than the heavy team. is not able to fight on equal terms with the heavy team. rms Tact alone VIII prevent any radi- cal legislation to further cripple it even granting" that the public likes the aerial attack best of all Had the season rroven otherwise. had it proved that skfliful, light players could, with | this attack. cope on equal terms with skillful, heavy players, featuring the running attack, the forward pass
 would have had days ahead. This is because the larger universities prac- ltically control the Football Rules com mittee and the larger universities have, as a rule, the good, big players who are best fitted to rush the ball The future of the worward passes merely a matter of whether the feel Ing is uppermost that a small and skillful team should have an equal chance with large eleven. If this is the opinion of the men who make football rules then the forward pass Is coming intol it's own. If this is not the view held by the majority of these men the open attack will not be permitted to give the team skilled in It an even chance with the big eleven which uses the rushing game as the | groundwork of it's attack
 ~-Of course. the big team which has mastered varied attack, that is one | which can rush or pass with equal ability, IS the ideal combination. But
 football has produced too few of these eleFenS- The season just ending as have all previous seasons, since the pass was born. is no exception, al- though there was more passing in the east.
 As the. rules stand today they favor the running. game. There is no ques- ton of this. Indeed. the whole theory
 of the present game shows it. The game today is to keep the ball in the opponents territory. Now a running attack can be used when a team is under the shadow of it's own goal free or danger GXnPnf fnr fnrnhIin1 p,,t the passing ,attack-no. The legis- iatIon- governing the forward pass is such that it can be recovered by the defending team. Such a recovery near the goal line either results in i touchdown by the opposition or places the team which forward passed on the defense near it's goal-line. No matter how skil!full an eleven may be at pass Ing 1t dare not try it in it's own terri tory for this reason. Let me illus trate by an example which, though several years old. will suffice
 Harvard, using a powerful running attack and possessing heavier team defeated Washington & Jefferson in 1914, 10-9. w. & J. could rarely gain possession of the ball in Harvards territory in order to use it's passes ef- fectively and without danger. In con-, sequence, w. & J.sswas forced to play. defensive game. On attack, in liar yards territory, it was able to gain eoHsisleiIlly, put IL cOulQ not get the ball in that part of the field a suffi- c1ent number of times to have a chance at winning.
 ] True. the legislation governing the pass is the same between the two goal lines, but team using it in the op. positions territory can afford to take
 the chance of it being caught by the opposition.
 If the forward pasa is to be put on
 equal terms with the running attack
 In the matter of legislation all passes
 not caught or fumbled by the attack Ing team should be incompleted- Fum-
 bled passes should go first to the
 team recovering them. just as all other
 tumbles do. But the team passing
 If the two plans of advancing the ball
 are to be. even-should not lose pos-
 session of the ball when the opposi-
 tlon catches it. This, then, should be
 an incompleted forward pass.
 Such rule, while radical to many,
 Is the simple way of cleafing the way
 for the, forward pass. If the football solons think the game should be more
 evenly balanced between light and
 heaSy men all that, ,is needed is legis-
 lation." to this effect. If they think otherwise them such a rule will not be passed. It is all a matter of opin- lon. If a. coach has good big men to work with he will oppose such al rule.
 On the other hand, if his material is light, it is human for the coach to wish for such legislation.
 Whatever is done the pass should not be removed from the game and no
 further restrictions should be placed upon it. The public. which pays the football bill likes the open attack, it
 has added a thrill to the game that no other, kind Of football has ever given the spectator. It is less wearing on the contestant than the running game and the chances of injury are slighter.