Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-10-30
TIE GAMES SOURCE
MUCH ARGUMENT IN
FOOTBALL CIRCLES

New York, Oct. ZS.-(6y Inc Ae-
ISOLATED Press. )-When the football
rules committee holds its next an
nual session two major issues deal
ing with the scoring system In foot
ball will be up for renovation. one
deals with the indecisive tie game
and the other with the extra point
after touchdown.
-4ritation for both issues was de-
veioped in all sections of the coun-
try, as the result of a large number
of tie games and the great number
of contests decided by the point aft
err touchdown which, it is claimed
by many critics, puts too great a
penalty upon a team matching one
touchdown with another.
Footballs scoring rules are unique
in that they provide no relief Tor
the tie game. No other major col
lege sport outside of track and field,
fails to apply a means to break a
deadlock. Basketball provides an
extra time period: baseball runs into
extra innings il the count is knotted
at the end of the ninth; tennis
matches must be played until a de-
cisive result is reached; hockey, SOC
Ger, golf and polo all furnish
means for breaking ties.
Football rule-makerS have wres-
tied with these problems time and
again without arriving at a lasting
solution. 1t wasn't so long ago that
John Heisman, now coach at Rice
Institute, Texas, put forward a plan
to. break ties by giving each team
a number of plays in an extra pc
riod. awarding an additional point
to7the eleven gaining the most
ground by any method it desired.
This scheme was turned down, how
ever, by the coaches themselves.
1.-THE extra point after touchdown,
as q matter of fact, was Incorporate
edrdn the play with the idea OF
breaking many deadlocks but it does
not. appear to be generally effective.
At first this additional point could
be- gained only by kick. The rules
NOW provide that the attacking team
may try a rush or a pass to go over
the goal line but these alternatives
are rarely used because of the
greater percentage of success at
Kicking. This, opponents of the ex-
ira now contend, puts too great "A
premium on possession of a good
Kicker and acts as a hardship to the
ELEVEN whose rushing attack is
equally as effective as it's rivals.
The statistics of the matter are a
bit, illuminating. In the East, for
instance, this year. no less than Ia
games have resulted in tie scores,
while seven have been decided by
the extra point after touchdown. Ex-
amples of the tie game can be cited
in the Navy-Princeton 1910 result
the Lafayette Colgate IT tie; the
Iehigh- Gettysburg TT game and the
Williams-Bowdoin &c contest.
Harvard and Lafayette has both
felt defeat by the extra point route.
Holy Cross defeated the Crimson z
fo6. when Harvard failed to kick
goal after touchdown, while. Wash
1ngton & Jefferson gained its Z to 6
verdict over Lafayette by the same
method.
gSSt Stephens College of Pough-
kteps.e. N. Y. has just cause for
caaip.aint over the present scoring
system. st. Stephens has been de-
feated twice by the &c score while
en- another occasion it was held to a
snoreless tie.
awhile even opponents of the extra
point after touchdown feel that
there is little likelihood of. any
change in this ruling next year they
contend the rule-makers will endeav-
or to bring about a satisfactory So
luton of the tie game problem.
Among the changes effected in the
rules this year, the most noticeable
results have been obtained by re-
turning the kickoff from mid-field
ta the kickers' 40 yard line. This
lras accomplished the purpose for
which 1t was aimed by furnishing
more run-backs, one of the most
spectacular plays on the gridiron,
and avoiding the frequency with
which the ball sailed over the goal
lines when booted from the middle
of the field.
Red Grange of Illinois and Eddie
Tryon of Colgate are among the stars
who have raced to touchdowns from
kickoff this year, while nearly every
game has supplied features in long
Funs backs.
Last year there was considerable
agitation to curb the forward pass
but rule-makers voted against "tink-
ering'' with the aerial game and are
likely to maintain the same attitude
next winter If any fresh proposals
are put forward They point out
that 1t has been the passing game
which has been chiefly instrumental
in levelling old barriers and provid-
ing wider equality of play, results
which have led to keener compete
ton as well as greater public inter-
est in the game.