The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-10-13
(By Sol Metzger, Coach Of Washing
ton-Jefferson College Team)

| TONI emerson College Team
AS the football season grows older
we are in a better position to state
| what effect this war will have on this
most interesting branch of college
| sport than has SO far been the case.
Hitherto our views, for the most part,
have been surmises. Now we may
deal with fact. 1t is not surprising
that the effect is somewhat different
than it was expected to be.
While we have lost many valuable
! players because of the war and are
prone to exaggerate our losses from
this cause it would seem as though
the absence of these stars is not go
ing to effect the quality of football we
are to witness this fall. We have also
lost substitutes and scrubs in as great
proportion so that our. present prob
lem in building teams is one of lack
of numbers rather than lack of quail
ity. Football players. unlike baseball
or golf players, are readily developed
to high point in playing proficiency
during one season. This is so because
the game holds a greater appeal to
the participant than any other sport
and because our systems of coaching
are SO systematized that results Of
A the above kind-producing stars in a
single season-are not exceptional.
4 The problem this year in coaching
differs from previous ones in that the
coach has fewer men to work with.
In case of injury there are few sub
stitutes to draw upon and so small
are some squads that practice scrim-
images are largely done away with
simply because there are not enough
men in good condition to put against
each other. In my own experience
this fall at w. & ]. our squad is linn
tied to but rs men and as several are
always unfit for scrimmages we have
J had quite a new problem to solve in
our coaching.
It is necessary for us to work along
new lines, to build up the team with
, little scrimmage to aid us. In for
mer years a squad of 40 players made
!, it possible to hold scrimmage on any
Eday we desired. All sorts of make
shift arrangements have been neces-
sary and they are working we'll. But
we, like others, do miss the second
| string men who have gone to the
colors are much as the veterans, all
Though the varsity men who have en-
: listed or been drafted have been get
l ting most of the publicity praise ev-
, erywhere.
( Then, too, this fall football squads
! have had more men injured so far
| than in previous years. This is due
to the curtaiIment of preliminary
training. It is a fact that If thesteam
3 candidates are scrimmaged within
t three weeks of the starting of practice
: l-before they are in good physical
) condition-injuries often occur. For
r tunately, though, this period is now
4 past and the work of developing the
elevens will go ahead much as be-
fore
\ All of this is resulting in closer
II games in the beginning than has been
II the case in the past Those teams
II which will, in the nature of things,
II come to the fore at the end of the sea-
ii son and in the big games, are show
II ing but little more form right now
II than the so called smaller elevens
II Therefore. it would not be surprising
II to see the so-called big teams get an
In upset or two. For one thing, their
II period of development must be so de-
II layed that they will reach top form
II in November and. for another thing,
III with green men to he developed and
bad bruises to be cured, team work
II is not likely to feature their early
II games-and it has not. Within
III another week or so this stage OF
u crudity will have passed and the big
teams will be forging we'll to the
front; the others dropping by the
way.
Because of the conditions govern
ing football this season we are giving
/ more attention than usual to the fun.
\ damentals of the game-charging
tackhng, interference, kicking and
passing-and the reward will soon be
: noticeable in marked Improvement
! in those rudiments which are, after
:. all, the foundation of success in al
9 games. Lillard, the old Dartmouth
: player, once told me that all big
games were won by the teams best
equipped with fundamental knowl-
edge-there Lil1ard said something!
!, Il About the hardest task for the
:. coach is instructing a team to make
II interference. It is all very we'll to
i have fine tackles and wonderful run
= ners but fine tacl.lers cannot break
Il through interference and wonderful
. runners cannot carry the ball without
interference. In the old days inter
ference was not as highly developed
as it is today. For example. any old
players or coaches of 10 or more years
- ago still maintain and do preach the
doctrine of interfering, or blocking
off tack1ers, they say, should never
leave his feet.
1 have before me such an article
: written by football authority OF
many years standing who has not
been actively connected with the game
form any years. He advocates the
;. old style of interference, the kind we
were taught in my college days, an6
r, the kind that is not practical today
Today the interferer generally leaves
~ his feet to stave off ticker.
Interference has developed within
;. the past reached a high point. The
spectator rarely notes its effectiveness
,s except in open field play. Now and
- then 1T is brought most forcib1y tc
4 everyone's attention on kickoff Ir
:, 1908 the present form Of running
back kick-offs was used for the frs,
time by Columbia in game against
Pennsylvania in which was playing
I think the idea first originated in the
q brain of Morley, a former Columbia
Il half back, then coaching it's team.
= We kicked-of to this eleven at tn,
t, start and when the Columbia clever
ran back and gathered in front of tt
: half who caught the ball and ther
d ran interference for him we encoun
q fered a new idea in foofholl .5iHo,,It =,