The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-11-05
GRIM GAME OF WAR. TRIPS ARMY TEAM
Defeat By Notre Proves Football Only Secondary at West Pont-Syracuse Upsets Brown-Overconf dence of Providence Eleven Forces Robnson's Squad From Title Glass.

The effect of the grim game of war on the game of football was evident
 at West Point, Saturday, when the Army team bowed in defeat before Notre Dame. The gridiron pastime is a secondary matter with the cadets al Uncle Sam's service school. The mas. tering of military problems is fore- most in the daily life of the young soldiers who are giving every avail able moment to a more serious game than chasing the pigskin. Football at the academy has taken a back seat. It can not have the attention it has re- ceived in other years.
 The game is being played this year merely for it's physical advantages There is neither the time nor the de- sire to perfect winning eleven. The team which fell before Notre Dame is a big, strong eleven, but the lack of practice and the absence of the incen- tive of an annual game with the Navy are evident. The soldiers have not had the extensive coaching they have had in former years. The players are too busy with other things.
 There is wealth of good football material at West Point this year, which, under normal conditions, would
 
 powerful teams the academy ever turned out. The veteran players of the eleven have not been coached to that point which shows them at their best, and the plebes are crude and green. Notre Dame has received the coaching and attention 1t has received in other years and was far ahead of the Army team in development. The uncertainty of the season and cancellation of the Navy game seem to have taken much of the ambition from the Army team. The cadet corps has the enthusiasm and lends the Hup- port which it has given to other eIev- ems at the Point, but the real object for well-developed eleven is miss ing. The soldiers didn't know az much football as Notre Dame, and the knowledge they had was not utilized
 to it's best advantage. It Is no dis credit to the Army team or It's coaches that it does not come up to the stand ard of other years. in view of the fact
 that the attention which usually goes to its development is given up to more serious undertakings.
 NotFe Dame Checks Oliphant The West Point team is a one-1nan | eleven. With a player of Oliphant's 's | 9A OS~~ e%oAAAey AI3 WOoA0 Sc0Ili I0hHOuaDl6 that the cadets could go through an ordinary schedule of games without developing any great amount of team play But. against a team as well drilled and as spirited as Notre Dame the task was too much for one man to shoulder. Few football eieyens have been able to stop Oliphant. but the quick charging line of the West erners was able to stop him but not
 until he had expended nearly all his strength in a sixty-yard march down the field.
 Notre Dame, although light in weight, had fast pair of ends in King and Hayes and two we1l-dri1led tackles in Phflbin and Andrews. Mad igan, PhiJbin and King, on the right side of the Westerners' line, were able to outplay Luce, Pulsifer and Marci,
 West Points left trio of forwards. West Point was weak at this wing and
 Allison, the Notre Dame quarter back, was quick to see it. With the No-
 ire Dame backs aligned in a diagonal
 formation, they were able to pierce
 this side of the Army forwards with
 deadly effect.
 The game was high tribute to the
 physical condition of Notre Dame, for G went through the game without
 making a substitution. A few weeks ago they did the same thing against Nebraska. It is one favorable fea-
 ture of football this year that substi- tutions are less frequent than in for mer years. The new rule prohibit
 ing substitutes from rushing into a
 game with instructions is partly re- sponsible. Another enjoyable fea- ture of football this season is an ab-
 sence of fumbIing. Players in most
 of the big games thus far this sea- son have handled the ball cleanly,
 and the direct passing from the cen-
 tre is more generally practiced. With splendid material at West Point and the rapid strides that Coach Doble is making with the Navy eleven, the cancellation of the Army Navy game is matter of much regret among the men in both branches of the service. In the last four games the midshipmen have scored BOT points and have not been scored on. Their one defeat was in the second game of the season, when West Vir- ginia won to 0. The Annapolis eleven reached the seasons high scoring mark on Saturday, when it ran up Go pO1nLS on western h0SeTVe I of Cleveland. The hardest game the Navy has to play comes on Satur- day, when Georgetown invades An napolis.
 Brown Also is Jo1ted.
 Next to the shock which the Army suffered at the hands of Notre Dame comes the unexpected downfall of Brown before Syracuse. The Provi- dence eleven did not show the az Aggressive fight and drive against the | Salt City team that 1t dtd against l Colgate. After the Colgate triumph l Brown undergraduates were so jub1- | lant that they freely predicted thefI team would go through the season undefeated, as they considered Col
 gate the hardest opponent on the | schedule. This overconfidence on the part of the undergraduates may have reached the players, for it surel! seemed after its great work agains | Colgate that Robinson's fighting e1ev I en would be able to beat Syracuse
 an eleven which was easily beaten b. ! Pittsburgh, 2s to O..