The New York herald., 1921-11-02
Coaches Are Reviving Plays
That We're Evolved Many
Years Ago.
BY DANIEL.

In so far as inventive genius is con-
cerned this football season thus far is
elmost barren one. A lot of flashy
stuff has been uncovered. but none of
it was new. Some of the coaches have
taken old plays out of the football attic,
busted them off and vanished them to
look like new. But they are old never
theless.
Centre has dug up the old Colgate
spread formation, Johns Hopkins has
resurrected the running kick. Dartmouth
has come to bat again with shift which
is nothing more than the old Minnesota
with a little gilt, Pittsburgh has revived
the pass when tackled and Penn State
has developed the old Harvard deception
. which comes with milling backs and
hidden ball and declared selection of the
point at which the force is to be ap-
piled. AS for the Crimson, 1t seems to
be experimenting with it's old wheel
shift, but getting nothing out Of it,
Centre used a modified Colgate spread
three times In succession against HaT
ward and did mighty well with it. Just
why this formation is not used more.
particularly by teams which really pos
sess the triple threat, we cannot fathom.
Colgate sprang 1t few years back to
beat both the Army and Yale in one
season-and even then it was nothing
new. The spread is first cousin of the
IQditO 6Hllt anu ScCOHQ COuSlH OIL the
Carlisle fan shift. Out of 1t may come
kick. forward pass or run at any
point.
Must Loosen Defence.
To meet this shift the defence must be
1oosened, and against fast carriers
particularly men like McMillin, Aldrich,
Jordan. L,ourie or Owen-this necessity
of sprea ding to meet the spread entails
great danger for the defenders. When
Colgate worked the spread so we'll it
had wonder in the person OF Oscar
Anderson. who, 1t will be recollected.
could do about anything which could be
done with the ball.
The running kick was seen in these
parts only once last year and then 1t
took a Western team to spring IT, The
great Gipp of Notre Dame used it
! against the Army, and let us say that
the lamented star made the Cadets look
foolish. Dartmouths modified Mime
y sofa seems to have brought only lot
. of trouble to, 1t this season. Like all
shifts of that nature it can be stopped
with disastrous effect to the attacking
/ side IL the opposition can time its de.
fence and diagnoze the play fast
While on the subject of shifts let us
say a word about the famous play with
: which Georgia Tech expected to trounce
Penn State. Down in Atlanta the
I Golden Tornado never once drew a PEN
atty when using the shift Last week
Foster Sanford, who had seen the shift
beat his Rutgers eleven, announced that
IL th~ officials let Tech get away with
its running start on the shift nothing
could stop it.
AS result the officials kept a close
watch on the shift, and when Tech tried
TO get that running start early in the
I first period there came a penalty. Then
: and there the Golden Tornado was
( licked
How Pitt Worked 1t.
Pittsburgh's short forward pass from
o man about to be tackled was orig
mated. we believe by Glenn Warner
= some years back but was discarded for
4 many seasons. The Panthers worked II
wei, against Syracuse--worked 1t for
theii first touchdown and on five other
3 occasions. Anderson usually got the
ball. with Davies in front, ostensibly to
make the interference. Davies was neg
lected and ali the defence massed on
Anderson. who then ,ossed the ball to
Dawes and fooled Syracuse unmerci-
fully.
The lateral PISS has been thrown into
the discard this year Yale dug up the
Rugby play some years ago during the
regime OF Frank Hinkey, and kept ex-
perimentins with 1t even after Hinkey
went a game vas lost to Princeton in
1919-whef Scheerer ran for a touch
, down witt. a loose ball-because Kemp
ton dared to try the lateral pass deep
/; in his own territory. We believe that
Tad Jones did a bit of fooling with the
pass last year, but this season 1t has
not made it appearance at New Haven.
And we have not heard any mourning
thereover.
Centre last Saturday developed for |
ward pass out of a sort of lateral pass
and the play looked good. But it was |
not tried often: Centre attempted only |
four passes In ALL There has been a |
lot of finging the bail, but notl.ing new
has been shown in that department.