The New York herald., 1921-11-08
STATE HAS
BEST GROUND GAME
Army Backward Against Notre
Dame and Must Improve
a Lot.
BY WILLIAM II. HANNA.

| OF the football teams seen by the
writer this fall--Yale, Princeton, the
Navy. the Army, Notre Dame, Penn
State and Georgia Tech-only two,
Penn State and the Navy, who are to
meet next Saturday, have shown a real
running attack, and the Navy's hadn't
| the finality to carry the ball to the goal
! line.
BY real is meant consistency and
power and an offence strong enough to
constitute a sufficient form of attack If
need be. Penn State has made one or
more touchdowns in every game played,
and you'll notice a great scarcity Of
others who have done that Next Sat
urday the Nittany men will encounter
the best organized and stiffest defence
| they have met this year and the best
| test for their attack.
But, speaking Of offensive play. that
Of Notre Dame against the Army was
| exceedingly effective. IT combined the
running and aerial game in effective pro-
| portion, but In such proportion that the
ground work was supplementary rather
| than otherwise to overhead procedure.
| Here was team having that commodity
| so greatly lacking in many teams
| finish.
The ordinary conception Of football
probably Is that forward passing. used
not only to gain ground but to dispense
the defence, is secondary to advancing
the ball by foot but with Notre Dame
| such was the tremendous figure cut by
its forward pass from direct use there
of. with man9uvring and running lead
| ing up to the passing, that the running
| attack assumed in the eyes of the spe-
/ tators. whatever 1t may have bcen in
the minds of the coaches and players,
the place Of purely contributory factor
| to the advances overhead.
Penn State Leads in Driving.
| I have been under the impression
that 1t Is the other way around in mod
| ern football though II seems to me that
! real modernness, or modernity or mod
ernisn. Is playing whatever tactics
will give winning number of points.
The running game is stopped so often
these days within a few yards of the
| goal line that II is rather to be expected.
and the running game is OF value only
as 1t dovetails with kicking and pass
! ing. In proficiency at that Penn State
and Notre Dame have shown more than
any of the other teams the writer has
seen. Penn State has shown the great
est ability in consistent free driving
power along the ground, the Navy the
best concerted drive within the 20 yard
! llUcS, ItOTSl III ItCH TIE DeSL SlUSlC SuS-
! tanned squirt, and Yale game much
like States and Notre Danes in theory
| but not as good in execution.
! George Foster Sanford, Rutgers coach.
saw the Army and Notre Dame play
He was scouting for Rutgers, and
Rutgers plays the South Bend team ut
| the Polo Grounds to-day. It would
be interesting to know what he thinks
10 Ar.xt-. - "a
coaches think not within the rule pro-
hibiting men being in motion when the
ball is put in play.
| The Army folks are sincere in their
! belief that the shift was not legal, and
Coach RoclSne of Notre Dame no doubt
is just as sincere in his belief that it
was. The officials watched closely to
see whether or not men were moving
when the bali was snapped. 1t was n
question for the referee, and Mr.. Thorp.
| an experienced official. decided on the
plays just as he saw them. He has no
doubt in his own mind that he penalized
whenever a penalty was warranted.
Notrc Dame Speedy.
Irrespective of all that, however
| Notre Dame had more speed than the
| Army and a better playing equipment
| There must be lot of speeding up of
the Army team IL 1t is to enter the
Navy game with a lighting chance TO
win. Saturday the West Pointers played
| like a team which didn't have It's bear
lngs. The Army hasn't found itself
yet, and has three weeks in which to
discover whether there Is anything to
find.
There was no fire in the playing
II was wooden. 1t hadn't the zest
OF the Yale game. Incidentally, after
seeing how greatly the soldiers were
outplayed by Notre Dame. Yale's II to
victory over the Army, or rather
Yales showing IN that game. doesn't
stand forth as much of feat ns 1t did
before. IL isn't much to bank on as an
indication that Yale will beat Prince
ton and Harvard. II Is nothing for
Yale to regard with complacency.
Only In punting and the work of the
ends down the field under Kicks was the
Army any better against Notre Dame
/ than against Yale. French didn't play
/ against the Hoosier3. nor Gid Davidson,
\ ana that fact made some difference.
/ The Army taci<ling Saturday was slip
/ ghod and so far baow Tho Army niand-
I sr6 thet there ls no comparison. There
\ were. OF course, exceptions these mostly
/ in covering kicks and tacSling at the
/ end of the line.
Beyond initial impetus the Army Of
/ fence was nothing The backs were out
/ chased by Notre Dame when it came TO
! quick starting and hard running. but they
/ were piled up at the line because no
avenues were created for them. In
such arts as forcing through twisting
away, an extra heave 10 get clear. fall
ing forward, they were outdone immeas-
uraby. but they didn't have anything
| like the cleaning oUt assistance which
added 20 the effectiveness OF the Notre