The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-12-18
WEST HAS EDGE
OVER EAST AND
BILL SHOWS 1T
However. ROPER Wants Another
Year Before Admitting Com
plste Superiority.
b W. w. GILL, ROPER.
lFYincsten Head Cssch.

the Missouri Valley Conference, with
honors in the Middle West going to
Iowa and Notre Dame. As.1owa de-
feated Notre Dame, Howard Jones'
team It seems is justly entitled to
first place.
am glad to say the intersectional
gax6es have come to stay, and az q
result. we get a fairly accurate basis
tor comparison of 1.-THE relative merits
Of the teams In different parts of the
country. There 10. M doubt this has
BEEN o bad year for the east. Penn
States victory over Washington on
the coast IL the only bit ofconsolation
We get and at that, Washington has
not an impressive eleven sSby any
means. 81,
A few days>ago. I attended ! smol-
or given by the Michigan alumni to
Fielding Yost. Foster Sanford was
there, and in the course of q few re-
marks. he admitted the present a.
cendancy Of the West over the East.
"Ten years ago. said Sanford,
"there was no comparison; the east
was 30 superior. but <thingb have
changed now. and we have been forced
to take second place" pI
Percentage Against.
, While am not going TO admit for
4 minute that the west has porsnan-
emily displaced the east In the football
armament, must confess percentages
are greatly against w In the East
this year. Chicago, In the first inter-
sectional game between the Tigers ana
long end Of the score. winning 30; q
drop-kick in the first half and for
ward pass resulting in q touchdown
LATE n, the fourth period.
must say It was q different Prince.
ton team that played Harvard ana
Yale. But scores count and Chicago
won fairly and squarely.
The University of Nebraska defeat
ed Pittsburgh and I am told except
for some unfortunate penalties the
score might have been larger. Centre
College journeyed up to Cambridge
ana won 60. 1t Is true Harvard
didn't put her fun strength into the
rame until too late and at that might
have made q touchdown except for an
unfortunate penalty. But Centre de
served Sto win on the relative showing
Of the two teams. Finally Notre Dame
came out Of the West and ate up West
Point and Rutgers in four days.
Each of the Victories have men,
toned was won On the enemy's own
field. While Harvard. the Army. Pitt,
Princeton and Rutgers were not able
to score a-single point, their oppon-
ents made nearly an even century.
Under these circumstances, one must
admit there II q good deal of truth in
Sanford's statement that. the West
has outdistanced the East. ~
As said before 1 will have to see
more than one season go by before
will admit the Vests superiority. But
there Is no doubt at all that they have
made tremendous strides out there.
and II we in the East don't look out,
they win surely distance us.
South Is Backward.
In the South, the caliber of the game
is not UP to that played in the East or
West Center College had an excep-
tionL team this year, due in q large
part to the wonderful ability Of Nc
MILAN and Roberts. This team Is an
ISOLATED case Princeton had little diff
ficulty in beating Virginia and State
took Georgia Tech into camp very
~handiIy, while a weak Dartmouth
yeated the University of Geogria.
Relatively. the south hasn't im-
proved In the last few years. They
play mighty good football. but don't
think the leading teams south of the
Mason and Dixon line can compare
with the best teams In the east or
west, For one thing, the weather
down there Is against football. I
often wonder why they don't start q
month later and finish before Christ.
mas. / suppose 1t would disarrange
schedules, but there certainly would
be more pep in the air. ~
The forward pass has made football
what It is today. The Western coaches
have realized the offensive value OF
tho pass both as q threat and as an
actual gaining play. They have given
il its just consideration and have de-
veloped its real attacking possibilities.
The advantage which the defense
enjoys at present In the East 10 really
due to an almost universal failure to
develop tho full potential values OF
tho permissible lines of attack, rather
than an inherent quality Of the game
itself. The pass as they use 1t in
tho West, IL exceedingly troublesome
for the defense, physically and mem
tally.
It IL surely a hard play to stop
short of a substantial gain and even
when 1t fails, 1t tends to open the de-
Tense and expose 1t to other lines OF
attack. 1t is the most valuable single
feature Of offense because OF this dual
quality. The problem Of defense
against II come down to q play OF wits
between the attacking strategy and
the defenders. ~
How Chicago Gained
The Chicago shift plays made lot
of ground against US at Princeton, bur
the ground was made to some extent,
because of the failure OF the Prince
ton line to get behind the line of