Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-25
FOOT BALL THRILLS
PLENTIFUL ENOUGH
New Regulation to Prevent
Unfair Publicity for
MisCuing Player.
BY w. w. ROPER,
: Princeton Foot Ball Coach.

WV 1890
w WHILE the changes in the foot
a ball rules for this year, all
wv ready discussed here by
Howard Jones. Dan NC
Gugin and Bob zuppke, are
few In number, believe the rule max
ing all loose balls dead at the point OF
recovery will have a tremendous erect
on the game.
favor the rule, though in the past
Princeton teams have been very sue
cessful in winning games by recovering
loose balls. Back in '95 Herman Suter
ran 95 yards against Harvard after re-
covering a fumbled ball. In '9S Arthur
Poe recovered a tumble and ran for a
touchdown against Yale. John De WITT
did the same thing in 1903 and Eddie
Booth in 1907, while Sam White won
both Harvard and Yale games in 1911
by swooping up a loose ball. In 1919
Joe Sheerer recovered a tumble for the
winning score against Yale. In 1922
Howard Gray made a touchdown
against Chicago in the same way.
Sees Worth of Rule.
Yet believe the new rule is good
for the game. Foot ball Is distinctly
team game, and there are plenty OF
thrills as it Is. The recovery of a loose
ball is distinctly an individual play, and
on many occasions permits a weaker
team to win. There has been instance
after instance In the last few years
where the stronger team, after rushing
Ats opponent all over the field, has been
deprived of touchdown by a tumble
inside of the 10-yard line, a tumble
Scooped up by some alert defensive
man. who ran 80 yards for touch
down.
The man who makes the tumble is
marked the rest of the season. He
gets lot of unfortunate and unde-
served publicity. Certainly 1t is enough
of an advantage to the team recover
ing a loose ball to have possession OF
1t at the point of recovery.
I believe the present rule means that
the better team will win in almost every
case. This was not so under the old
rules.
Last Fall New York University made
Il first downs against Georgetown. The
Southerners put up a plucky defensive
game, but were outclassed completely in
attack. New York University on one
occasion had the ball on its oppo-
nent's 5-yard line and touchdown
seemed certain. A N. Y. u. back
fumbled and the ball bounded into the
hands of a Georgetown end, who ran
95 yards for the only touchdown Of
the game.
Surely the mere recovery of the ball
would have been sufficient penalty for
N. Y. us mistake. Georgetown could
have kicked the ball down the field and
saved its goal line from danger. It
seems to me this is a perfect example
of the unfairneSs of the old rule. The
new rule for tumble will help the
offense greatly. I look to see the at
tack more open and varied than ever
before.
Still Plenty TO Thrill.
While at. first blush the public appar-
entity may have lost thrill, believe
in reality that new offensive tactics
which I am sure will follow will more
than repay them.
The try for point can now be made
from the 2-yard line. This rule has
never quite worked out the way 1t was
intended, in that virtually every team
has used a drop or place kick and
seldom tried to run or pass.
BY decreasing the distance hope 1t
will be possible, to vary the attack on
this play, and IL this is done spectac-
ular play will result. Just now the try
for point has been pretty dull and
monotonous. but with the change the
pass and the rule should be tried much
more frequently.
Copyright, 1929. by North American News
paper Alliance.)