The New York herald., 1921-11-21
NARROW SCOPE TO
BIG THREE OFFENCE
Harvard Yale Game Nothing
Great in Attack, but a
Fiery Battle.
Nv WILLIAM d. HANNA.

by WILLIAM b. HANNA.
"YaIe," said Keene Fitzpatrick. the
Princeton trainer, coming from Cam
bridge yesterday, didn't have as much
dash and drive against Harvard yester-
day as against Princeton the week be-
fore-not nearly as much. Yale was In
the position we were In against her.
That position was, having had a big
game just the previous Saturday.
There Is no question that this hav-
ing to play two big games-your most
important games--a week apart takes
something out of team. Princeton
has to do it and Yale has to do it. A
team loses some thing, and Is bound to.
1t isn't a question of physical loss. but
of mental loss. That's where the strain
comes in and counts 1t Is impossible
for a team to be In the. keen mental
condition for the second game as for
the first
"The most spectacular football game
l ever saw" added the Nassau trainer
with reference to the Harvard-Yale con-
test-the contest of Harvard's splendid
spirit and fourth period rally and con-
test producing much that Yale has cause
to regret, but one entirely to the Blues
credit and over which Yale has cause to
be cheerful and hopeful.
The game was peculiarly different In
Its two halves. The wind was the whole
thing In the first half. Whichever side
had the gale at its back took full ad-
vantage thereof and had the other side
hard pressed to keep its goal line in
violate.
In the second half came the fireworks.
1t was crammed with the spectacular.
and for hard and fiery playing. unremit-.
ting and clear down to the whistle, few
L.. l1.1
excellent football-nothing has real
merit nowadays unless 1t has q super"
to it-but II was hard to the last ounce
and red blooded.
Not many persons have seen cleaner
and fiercer tackling than Brown of
Harvard did when he'd break through
the line and grab an ELI for q loss He
and Clark were fine defensive players
and Brown ranks with the seasons best
guards. He was the best guard in the
stadium. He and another Harvard
player hit Jordan simultaneously on one
play when the Yale back had cleared
the first line OF defence, and the only
reason the hardy ELS bones weren't
broken to bits is because football play
ers are tough.
Men were laid out from hard tackles
In this game, but much oftener they
jumped up fresh and ready. The spirit
Of Capt. Aldrich Of Yale was uncon-
querable. The hardest tackles couldn't
quelI it. Some laid him out, but he
went back into the fray with all his
original abandon and speed. His run
ming was superb. but no better than his
defensive play.
He did everything, and kept it up as
long as he was In the game, and when
at the solicitation of the coaches he left
the field he did so with no show what
ever of heroics or theatrics. He was a
brilliant dynamic figure, not ,bust, but
all heart and wires His all around
playing and the keen diagnostic faculty
of Mallory were to me outstanding
features, and when the Yale captain did
withdraw college football saw the last
as an active participant-of a ricteor
and man. He was rea. football
player.
Yale played the run from kick for
nation better than almost anybody else
has played it this season, certainly bet
ter than Harvard or Princeton. Aldrich
and O'Hearn were good equipment for
that sort Of game OHearn didn't come
up to his Princeton form. though he
came nearer to 1t in the second half.
faulty judgment, and he came near bur-
dening Yale with a safety by trying to
run. kick out from behind the goal
line instead Of playing it for touch
back. He's nervy lad. however. and
the sort to profit good deal from his
first years varsity experience.
There isn't anything much In the
scheme Of offence of any of the H-Y-P
alliance to enthuse over. Yale is COM
ing along and regaining her football
status. That's as true as gospel, but In
the cold light of things as they were It
must strike good many people-look-
ing at it in that light-that the attack
of none of them had any claim to ver-
satility. Yale had a good run from
kick formation and the threat which
goes with 1t. and a thrust through the
line, sometimes fairly well masked by
a delayed pass or threat to kick or for
ward pass. and oftener not well masked.
Harvard's offence. at least In the Yale
game. wasn't much Of anything but
OWENS unusual ability to go hard and
find openings. Where was all that de-
ception business. where those little
strategems and tricky mannuvres SO
much had been heard about?
Attack of Little Variety.
Princeton's running game offence was
not as well done as either Harvard's or
Yales and still more narrow In scope
They were so deficient In complexity,
these three schemes of defence, and the
writer confesses to a distinct feeling Of
disappointment regarding each. Not In
execution OF what they had but In lack
of variety. and lack Of involved move
ment dextrously done. to fool the
enemy.
None Of the three had forward pass
that was first class. Harvard's promise
OF expertness in that line. given in the
Princeton game. wasn't fulfilled In the
Yale game. 1t was no trick at all for
Yale to knock the play galley west.
Yale's forward pass was schoolboyish.
Football never will be as interesting
as II now is IL the forward pass becomes
principal mannuvre at the expense of
the running game, but expertness In its
use obviously is an advantage. Penn
State seems to have acquired II without
consuming time at the expense OF the
running game. and there is no convinc-
ing reason why the young men at Har-
ward. Yale and Princeton cannot learn
II equally well if their coaches think 1t
worth acquiring to q really proficient de-
gree. The only really skillful forwaro
pass the writer remembers to have seen.
except by Notre Dame and Penn State,
was by the Army when Prichard and
Merrilat were playing
The break In the Harvard-Yale
game came when Buell. caught punt In
the third period and ran II back to Yale's
11-ynrd line II waa tho Only time Yale