The Washington times., 1922-12-11

iOVtpdAl.
Many coaches have traded on
their much advertised systems of
play. For a time 1t was thought
that unless a team had a special
system of play 1t was impossi-
BILE for It's members to( succeed in
their endeavors.
was supreme in football. Because
Of this many instructors that were
not included in the scope Of some
time finding a job.
What the college authorities want,
I'd was some lad who had been
well trained under one of the big
systems that covered the. country.
II man was unfortunate. enough
to come from school that did
not have one Of these much adver-
tised instructors he found himself
out in the cold. In this way sys-
TENS became more prominent than
anything else on the gridiron.
Bill Roper has . way of Inn
parting knowledge 10 his can
didates that IL second 10 none I'm
the country. While he does not
boast Of any special system Of
play, he nevertheless turns out
winning aggregations.
Harvard has never won from a
Roper coached eleven. That, to our
way of thinking, is as fine q tribute
as any style Of coaching can have
said about IL.
To many gridiron authorities the
system of play that Percy Haugh-
ton established at Cambridge Is as
close to perfection as any In the
country. 1t has stood up in many
hard battles against the toughest
sort of opposition. In only rare
cases did 1t fail.
Princeton's triumph over the
Crimson eleven in Palmer Stadium
this fail was the most noteworthy
of these reyerses. This unexpected
win by Roper's charges set the
football world to wondering. II has
made the critics challenge the state
ment that without a special system
Of play victory is impossible.
Don't think from. the above that
we do not think a style Of instruc-
ton Is necessary. A coach cannot
take a squad OF moleskin wearers
out on the gridiron and tell them
to 90 after an opponent and hope
to win. The candidates must be
given a sound drilling In the funda-
mentals Of the game. II 10 because
of q lack of the proper knowledge
Of the latter that 30 many teams
fail.
A chIld must be taught 70 walk.
A football player must be taught
TO tackle and block. Wkh0ut
these necessary fundamentals he
cannot hope to be anything more
than . decided failure on the
griiiron.
Take Q squad Of good tacklers and
YOU have the hardest AGGREGATION
10 score upon. Take. the team COM
posed Of fine blockers and you find
the eleven hardest to keep from
scoring.
In the past too many persons
have judged proper drilling In the
fundamentals OF football to con-
stitute what they termed . foot.
bail system. To our way Of think
ing Il was nothing more than q
systematic course OF instruction In
the rudiments Of the game.
OF course. the point might be
stretched % that, critics could
justify themselves In saying such
instruction constituted q system Of
play. II such IN to be accepted ~
the case, then there are many sys-
TENS Of play In vogue each season.
Such able mentors as Pop
Warner, Hugo Bexdek, Earl Neale,
Gilmour Dobie. Bob Folweli, Johnny
Heismann, Jack Wilce. Bob rZuppke,
Howard Jones, Tad Jones. Bill
Roper and A. A. Stagg had Of.
fenses and defenses built around
their own IDEAS Of football.
1t might be said that the style
Of play of such teams as Pittsburgh.
Penn State. W. q j., Cornell. Penn.
sylvania, Navy, Army, ETC.. had
for their basic formation plays that
were more or less known to q
majority OF players and coaches. !,
It IL in the way these instructors
the word system" originated. In
deception that q. team had to its
defense that won or lost It Victories.
a II power was employed the style
OF game was termed ''old style
football" II double. delayed ana
triple passes were employed to
throw the defense off its balance
then the attack was called q "sys-
tenn" Of play. - M
Roper threw a wrench into many
a football game during cthee past
fan by. having his forwards cross
the lire Of scfimmase In Q rnini-
mum length OF time.
Such a style Of fighting defense
soon had the attack calling for time
out. Tt stopped Chicago, Harvard
and Ysls. ~
LEBANON VALLEY PLAYS
HlLLToPPERs ON OCT. s
AT least ono football game has
S-x.~ .~..r~.A ~ Tx>Ars,afov~vx, tc,-