Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-27
TIGER FOLLOWERS
GAIN HOPE FROM
COLGATE CONTEST
Princeton's Development
in Recent Past Indicates
Team VIII Be Ready for
Big Battles
ROPER GREAT COACH
BY SPICK HALL

Tigers got an SO decision over the
Crimson. and she has not downed Yale
since 1910, although in 1912 Go
tie was played and the following sea
son they again split. each annexing n
field goal. When this season began
Princeton looked to be hopelessly out
of the running, but the wonderful ad-
vancement of the Tigers last week.
eliminating in their great game against
Colgate on Saturday, has inspired the
pluggers Of Old Nassau with vic
torious hope for the Harvard and Yale
There is no DOUBT that il Coach
Bill Roper and Line Coach Hal Ballin
can force the Princetonians to i'm
prove as much in the next two weeks
as he has during the last eight days,
the Tigers will be on virtually an equal
footing with the Crimson November 8,
regardless of how much Harvard may
develop during this same period.
Seemed Different Machine
The entire Princeton team appeared
to be totally different machine
against Colgate than the one which
showed such poor form in the two
early games, first against Lafayette
and then the University of Rochester.
Last week the Tigers worked and
were worked behind closed gates. Just
what went on there few know. but the
news leaked out that Bill Roper had
done something to his charges that had
improved them 100 per cent. Their
work, on the field in the Colgate af-
fair showed this to be true. Both on
the offense and defense the Tigers had
the appearance Of a real football team.
1t is true that Princeton was not able.
even with fine aerial attack, to make
consistent gains on Colgate, but it was
more the strength of the Maroon de-
fense than weakness on the part of the
Princeton Ofense that caused this.
Princeton's plays from scrimmage were
well conceived and began with good
execution. each man in the backfield
showing that he knew his proper place
in the interference. But the heavy, fast
forwards of the Colgate eleven were
too much for them. The result of this
was that Jack Strubling, the Tiger
quarterback, did not attempt many
straight plays. The majority of the
plays. and those which gained ground
for Princeton, were formations built
around Trimble as the motive power in
the attacking machine.
The formations that Princeton used
with Trimble as the mainstay were sim
liar to those employed by Harvard when
the, plays were built around Eddie
Mahan. Trimble took position from
which he could pass, punt, drop kick or
run with the ball 1t was impossible
for Colgate to tell what he was going
ITO do. and oftentimes he waited for de-
fensive Developments to determine his
own cour Zthat is, he would be set
I for pass. but if he saw that the
|. secondary defense had not closed in he
would run with the ball. and he made
most of Princeton's gains in this way.
1t was from just such a formation as
! this that Trimble ran around Colgate's
left end in the final period for 20 yards
and touchdown. which was disallowed
because Princeton was offside.-
Trimble Punted Well
J Trimble held his own in the punting
department. With the exception of one
poor boot that glanced off his toe and
shot out of bounds only yards ahead
of the scrimmage line, all of his punts
!. had good distance and were well placed.
? 1t was unfortunate that this bad kick
should have come when it did, because
1t was the play that gave Colgate her
chance to score the only seven points
Oh Ine game. however, ITiihpie can
not in any sense of the word be charged
with the loss of the game. 1t might
just as well be said that the Prince
tonians who were offside when Trimble
ran across the line lost it, or it might
equally be charged that Harvey was to
blame when he dropped a long forward
pass in the final period that would
almost surely have resulted in a touch
down, as he was standing on his own
four yard line when he dropped the
toss. But no one man on the Prince
ton team can justly be said to have lost
the game. 1t was simply case OF
Larry Bankhart's unbeaten team de-
feating an eleven that has not yet
reached the crest of its strength.
In Princeton's line, Callahan, keck
and Captain McGraw played superb
football. Keck, in particular, smeared
play after play on which Gillo and
Watkins made many yards against Cor
nell the week before. 1t was keck who,
in the third period, when Colgate had
the ball within yard of the Princeton
3 goal line and one down to make it,
crashed through and hurled Watkins
y back, temporarily saving the game and
!. wrestling the ball from Colgate on
p downs.
Strubling ran the Princeton team
well. He not only showed that he is a
good field general, but proved conclu :
sively that he himself is an individual
power on the offense. He is a fast,
strong runner in a broken field, han
dies punts we'll and materially aids his
teammates by his interference.
Backs Not In Condition.
According to the best available inside
done on the Colgate backs, Gillo and
Laird were not in good condition. Laird
retired in the second period and was
replaced by Webster, but the change
did not weaken the Maroon team in the
least, Webster played rafting good
game, both on the offense and defense.
As for Gillo,, he was the main per-
former, excluding Quarterback Ander-
son, Gillo was given as much work to
do as Trimble, and he did it in jam up
style, It is true that he was often
stopped by the smashing tactics of the
Princeton forwards, but he is full :
back of purest ray serene, lie Is tast
and heavy, and catapults himself into
a line with terrific power and reckless
abandon.
Anderson is the man who won the
game for Colgate. After Princeton had
taken the ball away from Colgate on
downs in the middle of the third period,
the Maroon quarterback realized that
not even his great backs could be
counted on to cross the line. There
fore, when the next chance to score
came, Anderson shot fast, low for
ward pass just over the right side
OF the line that went straight into the
arms of the Whiting Watkins who was