Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-23
NV Is Years on the CridirOn
XXVI-Strategy of the 1907 Yale Game.
BY WILLIAM H. ROPER
HEAD COACH PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Fall of 1907 teemed with thrills and
sensational play.
Yale had a remarkable team. Their
line was composed of veterans and
was much more powerful than ours.
Ted Coy and Tad Jones were the
mainstays In the backfield
] decided to go up to New Hagen
the week before our game and see
Yale play Brown. They performed
with lot of spirit and dash, and inn
pressed me as very strong aggrega-
ton. l was astonished at the Yale
defense. Between the two 25-yard
lines they kept only four men on the
line of scrimmage. The two ends, the
center and the four backs played be-
hind the line. When Brown got to
Yales 25-yard line the ends and the
center came up in the line With a
stven-man line their defense was
about =: stout and strong as any I
had seen and Brown had great diff
Guilty gaining at all.
1t was evident. with seven men in
the backfeld, open play was impos-
sible. as the Yale defensive men COW
cred every possible position on the
field. In playing this defense it was
easy to see the Yale coaches were
fearful of our open play and did not
consider our close running attack
Changed Defensive Plans.
Before seeing Yale play l felt our
strategy should be a wide-open game.
But the Yale defense against Brown
changed our plans. 1t was evident
we could not depend on the forward
pass and onside kick in midfleld But
I was not convinced we could not gain
through the Yale line If they played
four-man line defense against us.
l felt sure two tackles and two guards
could not stop our II men.
That week we changed our style of
game entirely. We concentrated on
our close attack, working very hard
on four or five line plays. We planned
to hit the center and inside and out
side of tackle. We were fortunate in
having a very accurate dropkicker in
Harlan. / felt certain the Yale line
would close in inside of their 25-yard
line. so l instructed our quarterback
to be on lookout for a change of
defensive tactics and not to be afraid
to try a dropkick as soon as we got
within kicking distance. We thus
hoped our play would be just the op-
posite from what Yale expected 1t to
be. The element of surprise plays a
L
felt If we crossed the Yale defense we
might get the jump on them and pos
sibly get commanding lead Finally
l gave the quarterback positive in
structions to hold the ball and not
kick until fourth down.
Yale Heavy Favorite.
On the day of the game Yale was
heavy favorite, not even our own
most sanguine supporters expecting
us to win. / was very anxious to
have the game start, as I wanted to
see If had guessed right about the
Yale defense. They kicked off to us,
and the whole Yale team was down
the field like a flash. And, surely
enough, when they lined up for the
first play they filled the backfield and
only left the two guards and tackles
in the line.
On the first play Jim Mccormick
went through right tackle for IL
yards; and In a comparatively few
plays we had the ball out of our terri
tory and well up the field. We managed
to take the ball without much diff.
Guilty up to Yale's 25.yard line. Here
the situation changed very quickly.
The Yale center came up in the line
and the two ends took their regular
positions on the wings. We then
tried a play and the man with the
ball bounced back. The Yale defense
was now adalnant and we could not
gain an inch.
After a play or two Dillon called
Harlan's signal for a drop kick and
he sent a neat one over from the
35-yard line. So far our plans had
worked perfectly. Yale then elected
to receive the kick-off and on the seq
ond play some one in their backfield
made tumble. Bill Booth, our left
tackle, picked up the ball and ran so
yards for a touchdown. We now had
a 10-point lead.
Harlan Misses Two Goals.
Yale kicked off to us and we again
started at their line. We had little
difficulty in gaining ground all the
rest of the half, except when we got
within striking distance of the Yale
goal and their defense closed UP.
Then we could not gain a yard. Har-
Ian missed two more goal attempts
from the field by inches and the first
half ended 10 to 0 in our favor.
l was by no means sure of the
game even at the end of the first half.
I knew Yale had a stronger team and
felt confident they would change their
open defense in the second half. If
we could only get another score / felt
we would have the game in, hand.
Late in the season an old Princeton
man had written me about a short
kickoff he had seen worked very sue
cessfully in a high school game early