New-York tribune., 1920-12-26
Strong Elevens
More Plentiful
Than In Past
Pittsburgh, Penn State. Har-
ward and Boston College
Among Best Teams of Near
BY Ray Mccarthy

gong 70 get enough spectators 10 Il
thst huge smphishc4tsr go asked ever
football fan Of the other. THIS tal
the Yale Bowl proved in4dccuste for
she accommodation of she great number
Of people that wanted to sce the Yale.
Harvard game. and new everybody is
wondering now ANYBODY ccril hav..
heen 50 shortsight I'd as 10 construcs
sucn small stadium. There is & NOV,
on foot now 10 add smother deck t
the Bowl.
Thus do We not need to say tha
the 1920 football season wgs the great
est IL the history Of the game It wa
easily that, not only financially, b.
ESQ III the quality of the game tha
vas played in the many institutions
The vide dissemination OF ,hc grea
collegiate sport has not only made til.
game tremendously popular IN ever
scnool and college IL the country, buf
IT has tended TO produce z calher a
football that exceeds that of mast year
We do not mean that Princeton, for
instance, rated by the majority O
critics as the best IN the Fast this
year, is vastly superior 10 any othcr
eleven that ever played the game. Bu
we do mean that there were more good
teams paradlng the gridirons this yea
than IN any other season.
Princeton Ranked First
In other years there have been two
or three really good combinations.
while the others were only mediocre
! This season, although Princeton va
! given the honor of being the best
Pittsburgh, Penn State, Boston Co
lege, Harvard. Dartmouth and Syracuse
IN the East, Ohio State and Notre Damc
in the Middle West, and California O.
/ the Coast were ali about on q par, fssi
well-drilled teams that would have hell
their own with any team of past sea
sons
AS for the game itself, it seems to
have been developed to the stage where
the majority are quite well satisfied
with it. Of course, several change
are likely to be made in the rules neN'
season, but as long as football is foog-
ball there viii be some minor change
made in it.
However, the sport 'hss been g.
shaped that II is now as virile a gam
as it ever was and at the same time !
combines the spectacular element
something it lacked IN the good OIL
days. Moreover, few serious injurie
crop out now, comparatively speaking
Also the game as it IS now CONSTITUTES
gives the smaller and lighter eleve-
an equal chance with q larger ape
heavier opponent.
Some of the radicals would do IVA
with the forward pass entirely ano
revert to the good old push and haui
type Of play which produced so man
injuries. But these men are 'eatl,
in the minority and it seems quite SAT
TO say that football will never agair
be the game it was back in the 9sS-
May Curb Forward Pass
Some suggestions, though, have bes's
put forth which may be discussed 8
the next meeting Of the rules commit
tee. Haughton's idea, for instance, G
having the forward pass curbed b
having it made a free ball if it wel,.
blocked behind the line of scrimmage
seems to have met with general favo
and many coaches feel some such
change should be made in the rules.
The season Of 1920 will go down il
history as one which produced multi
plicity OF star backheld players. Ever
college in the country had at least on
star and some teams were blessed wit
a. whole quartet Of stars Princeton an
Penn State, for examples. Two Of tn
greatest Of these, we think, wer
Davies, of Pittsburgh, and Gipp, Q
Notre Dame Every football ia
mourns the death Of the latter, a ster
ling athlete and gentleman.
Good centers and capable ends were
plentiful also, but extraordinary guard
asd tackles were rather scarce. keck
Of Princeton, was probably the pcs
tackle turned out this year, while Alex
ander. center, of Syracuse, and Urban.
end, of Boston College, were two play
ers who stood out head and shoulder
over the others.
We believe that this season wss no
so productive of uNsets as that OF 1915,
and yet there were several startling
surprises Boston Colleges victor.
over Yale at that time caused much
surprise although later, when every
body realized the caiiber Of Cav&
naugh's eleven, The result did not a.
pear so startling.
Defeat of Syracuse an tpset
The greatest upset of all r tic Easl
here probably was Syracuse's defeat b
Holy Cross. Other surprises we're tn
victory Of Maryland oyer Syracuse
Carnegie Techs via ovcr Washington
and Jeferso Oh. Penn States tie with ie
= gh, the defeaf ~ Williams by An
herst. West Virginia's downfall at tn
hands of Washington and Jeaerson ri
North Carolina 5 VIII over the Navy.
Last minute victories, while ireQuer
in the West, Conference, were scare
here in the East Harvard again ral
lied in the last minute of play to Il
Princeton while the Tigers won ous
from West Virginia in the last part O.
the struggle. Otherwise most OF the
games were won and lost IA the earl
part Of the fray.
The punting this fsil was Of tn
worst pat or in years. only four res
good kicsers showed forth 10 :n,s see
ion, namely: Fitzpatrick. of Boston Co'
ieee: Brewer. Of sslano; >cteere
If Princeton. and AsDiandn. Of >warts
move.
The interference presented by Il
various back1eids aiso MAS none Z
coed. There was TO player wno II;
the equal OF Hardwics. Of Harvard,
this respect. although Davies. of Pitts
onrgn, Ad Gilroy. % Princeton. u
valuable WORK ln sldirg gAeir tesl
mates.
AS stated above Princeton vas rate
the bes: team ~ the ksss, visn Bosto:
College, Pittsburgh, Penn state an
Harvard ranked among the icp-notcA
ers Ohio State won Gre Couferenc
title. although there are many cor
hicting opinions as 20 Whether # Wa
4 better team tnan Notse Dame. Mos
critics have RANKED these two On a
par
California won the honors on tn
Cosst and or New Years Dav Wi
meet Ohio State at Pasadena et tt