The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-11-01
IOWABATTLES
TO 0vERPOWER
ANCIENT JINx
Title. Several Times Within Grasp,
Has Been Lost by Breaks
of Luck.

Of Luck.
! Chicago. Nov. 1.-The University
| of Iowa, 20 years vainly striving for
the Western Conference football
| championship, and many times find
| ing its team within the shadow of
| the championship goal but kept
from crossing the line through a
within of fate, this year has turned
out a gridiron eleven which is con-
ceded to have as good a chance for
the title as any Big Ten" team.
A score of years ago the wearers
of Iowa's Old Gold battled their
way through an indicated season
to the highest honors in middle
western football. Since then, the
Hawkeyes' gridiron followers have
on three occasions blown their bub-
BILE of hope so full of championship
possibilities that they scared high
! in the clouds of expectancy only TO
drop with a thud when in 1907 a
missed goal from touchdown lost
the title to Wisconsin in 1913 when
the eleven scored more points than
/ any team in the country but failed
4
gins, and again in 1919 when two
big games were lost-one by two
points and another by three. Each
time Iowa was on the verge of vic
tory as the final whistle blew.
Coached since 1916 by Howard
Jones of Yale, brother of the fam
Gus T A. d. Jones, Iowa's eleven
has always lately'been a strong one.
But invariably when the last game
of the season had been played, Iowa
had been eliminated from titular
possibilities by a break in the luck.
The year, however, the teams fol-
lowers believe the jinx has been
shaken and that the Old Gold of the
Hawyekes will waive at the top OF
the mythical pennant flag pole next
Thanksgiving.
Back in 1900 Coach A. A. Knipe
whipped together the Hawkeye
eleven that went through the sea-
son without a defeat and won the
western championship,
Coach Howard Jones appeared on
the scene in 1916. 1t took time to
reconstruct a football squad in &C
cord with his ideas, but his efforts
1918 Jones had things running
smoothly The Iowa eleven won
from Nebraska and Minnesota for
the first time in years. Subse-
Quently Nebraska was dropped from
the Iowa schedule to make room for
another Big Ten" team.
The next year Iowa had an eleven
which, without a doubt, was the
| greatest it had since the famous
| 1900 com animation until this year
/ Two conference games were lost by
| the HawkeyeS. Illinois won a vic
tory 9 to with an on-side kick
! cleverly played when the Old Gold
| machine apparently had victory in
its grasp. Chicago defeated Iowa 20
| 6. The score does not tell, however,
that when the final whistle blew it
was Iowa'S ball, fourth down and
foot to go for the goal line.
Again in 1920 Illinois and Chi
cago were the teams to spoil IoWa's
chances. Over-confdence lost the
Illinois game by a big margin, 20
to 5, the Hawkeyes hardly making .
respectable showing. Stung by this
defeat Iowa invaded Chicago the
amends. Against the Maroons Iowa
gained three times as much ground
as its opponents, Chicago made first
down only three times during the
game. but the score closed Chicago
10, Iowa 0.
All this time the Hawkeyes were
winning half or more than half
their conference games. Each wear
Iowa was a championship possibii-
ity that somehow failed to come I'D
to expectations. So when 1921
rolled around and Iowa was rated
scarcely the equal to Illinois, Ohio
State, Michigan and Wisconsin il
is small wonder critics wanted to
see the Old Gold machine deliver
the goods.
1t took real defensive football to
stop the hard running and passing
Notre Dame attack, but the Iowa
team did ito to z. This game
marked Notre DANES first defeat in
more than two seasons. Iowa be-
came a good team over night, 1t
was scarcely a surprise to see Coach
Jones men outclass the Illinois
eleven, but a victory by the decisive
score OF ii to 2, with Illinois never
threatening the Iowa goal, was
hardly expected. Iowa's stock took
another jump.
Now the football critics are Ia
menting the fact that the remainder
of the schedule gives no opportun-
ity for Iowa to meet Michigan.
Ohio, Wisconsin or Chicago. That
is unfortunate. but Indiana, Mime
sofa and Northwestern may still
put Iowa out of the race. Mean
while, it behooves Wisconsin. Chi
cago, Michigan and Ohio State to
tear each others championship
hopes to pieces while the Hawk
eyes watch the performance if Iowa
is to have a clear title to Big Ten"
honors this season.
The Hawkeyes clash with Mime
sofa next Saturday at Minneapolis
and are regarded as strong favor
ties.