New-York tribune., 1922-11-02


This has been soft autumn day
soft with the touch of Indian summer,
PASTORAL and dreamy. Stretches of
grass and lawn and fields such as these
aad the green of summer not yet sub
merged into the brown of fall, and
sun of almost August warmth, quiet
and idyllic, are not the generally ac-
cepted idea of setting for the rip
and snarl and crunch of football prac-
tice, but, be the setting what it may,
the Tiger Is now up TO his neck in
preparation for the Harvard game and
is making the most of every moment.
For the moment Princeton in partic-
alar, and the pigskin world in general,
isn't so much interested in the Area
dian phase Of the situation as III what
Bill Rope, will do with his football
squad. and the Tiger Campaign to-day
entered into a new turn in It's road
when hard, actual fighting, practice
Tigers are in the stretch Their big
bjectives-Harvard and Yalc-are jus:
ahead.
Last Weeks Triumph Helpful!
There is no doubt that victory over
L
and their admirlng train more hopeful
of beating Harvard than they were be-
fore. The embryonic stage has passed
for Nassau; the Jersey men are an
established unit now. That victory
Welded them into an entity from col
lection which was just trying to shape
tself, and from now on the Tigers will
move along as an eleven which has the
aith in itself which comes from hav-
ng survived one hard test.
"We think we have chance TO beat
Harvard" is the strongest language
they use here, and there is no sign
hat the Chicago success has started
any overconfidence. Teams don't usual
ly develop an overconfdent mood when
going against Harvard. The Tigers
have chance, of course--the chance
hat thoroughness in preparation
would give to any crowd of robust
Youngsters sound in wind and limb and
mind.
Fundamentals and more fundamen-
tals are being hammered into the
PLAYERS by the coaches-Bill Roper,
Don Lourie, Nat Poe, Puffy Bigler,
Maury Trimble, Keene Fitzpatrick,
Ralph Gilroy, Al Wittmer, Tom Wilson,
Shad Davis, Ed Stinson-and you never
saw head coach have his eye on as
many different parts Of a field as Roper
did this afternoon. One squad was
practicing blocking, another taking out
a defensive tackle, others were punt
ing, and in due time the varsity and
scrubs were gathered together Tor
scrimmage.
The hardest pounding was at those
spots in the line which were weakest
last Saturday, and if ability to remedy
weaknesses can be pounded out OF men,
or ability to do the right thing be
pounded into them, assures the
Maroons found in the Princeton line
will contract considerably by the time
they are put to another violent ham
mering by a hostile team.
Thoroughness Is keynote
The keynote Of the preparation, it
seems to me. is thoroughness. Such
players as Johnny German and Howard
Cray. who helped throw painful har-
poon into the Midway Maroons, were
too bunged up TO play and didn't, put
on uniforms, but they were out there
listening and watching when certain
fnaneuvers were explained and IL
lustrated, and every man OF the regu-
lars and lot Of others stood there
in rapt attention as Messrs. Brasher
and Roper, Of the coaching staff, eX-
nlained and showed how what was
The Tiger football squad reported
here in September very receptive and
with yery much to learn. But they
have learned good deal, for every
move, every action, now tells OF I'M
provement. That was bound to be the
case. but what more than anything
else strikes visitor who. saw then
three weeks ago and saw them to-day
is the way all the men, or practicaii9
Inx,. ;,,nprnyoI in uNiaOn.
The improvements extends to all
therein lies one Of the Tigers bes'
chances of making good on the placars
stuck up in the dining room: "We arr
peinq to win every game in the sched
uIe." In football way the team
has expanded materially In q month
It has grown Roper has plastic ma
terial here, and often more can b'
accomplished with eleven pretty goot
men than with four or five real goot
ones and the rest just football play
ers. / don't know that there is sta
ON the team, but with eleven prett.
rood men, and those getting better
working together, absorbing knowl
edge and strength evenly distributed
YOU have a prospect which will bea
watching.
The Tiger Outfits Assets
Team play, spirit and making th'
] best use of the we'll distributed
\ strength of the collective crowd ar
present assets of the Tiger outfit.
The strong finishes and at times
inspired playing of the team shows i
will be hard one to beat. So far j
has risen to occasions. Even whel
weak defensively it made UP for it b.
unexpected flashes of offense.
In addition to making it a hare
crowd for Harvard to beat it mus
have something with which it can hop,
TO beat Harvard, and that is an Of
fense.
The defensive fences are beini
nsended just now: the work of i'm
parting drive and polish to the offens,
will come shortly. There is no Over
TO do it with, but there is the viii
so do it somehow.
Right new the Harvard backfielt
: looks 25 per cent stronger than Prince
TONS, Princeton every hit as stron,
in the kicking game and Harvard
little stronger in the line. With tn,
Tigers it depends a good deal on how
much Improvement can be made in tn,
ten days to come. Thus far they hay,
taken rather readily to the business
oil improving.