Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-24
NOTRE DAME ABLE
/ TO STRETCH GAINS
FIeetness Bests Power of
! Notwithstanding Ten
.. Play Below Par.
BY BOB ZUPPKE,
Foot Ball Coach, University of Illinois.

)HAMPAIGN, Ill, November
24.-The ability of the
~ Notre Dame backs to
stretch their gains was
the deciding factor in the close
game which the Irish won from
Northwestern.
When we say that back can stretch
his gains we mean that he Is not an
ordinary back who probably will go
down the first time he encounters a
tackler. Instead he keeps his feet,
squirms and twists, straight-arms tack
hers and, above all, Is fast. If your
secondary defense mods one moment, it
its goodbye to the ball game.
Such back was Schwartz in the
last quarter at Evanston when he cut
in between tackle and end, eluded the
Northwestern secondary and Travelled u
yards for the score that decided the
battle. His teammates took off the
Northwestern safety man. Players will
extend themselves to block when they
know they have back like this behind
them.
Northwestern's backs were good, no
tably Russell, but they were slower and
less agile and depended upon strength
rather than speed. This Is because
they are built that way not that Coach
Hanley prefers strength" and Coach
Rockne speed" All coaches desire
speed first Of all, but that depends upon
their material.
Purple Aerials Fail.
It was the first time Northwestern
had met a team with fast reacting
backs. NorthweStern's aerial attack
even with Rentner, the best thrower,
on the bench-was expected to threaten
the Irish, but Rockne's secondary was
ampervious and Northwestern did not
complete q pass. Even with Rentner In
the game, I do not think Northwestern
could have gone very far with passes.
expected Notre Dame to win be-
cause though the Irish had the better
personnel and better backs, but I did
give Northwestern a good chance, and
here I was one Of the few. In fact,
there were those who expected the
Irish to make 1t a runaway, only sec
ond In proportion to the routs OF Penn
and Pitt. Notre Dame did have the
greater average speed, and its backs
turned the tide, but Northwestern had
Q splendid chance to win.
The statistics showed the remarkable
evenness of the struggle. But, all in
all, Notre Dame deserved its triumph.
Chicago held Michigan to closer
score than expected, but the Wolverines
won handily enough and are tied with
Northwestern for the Big Ten cham
pionship, an honor to which they are
Justly entitled. OF course, nobody in
authority at Northwestern was re-
sponsible for the suggestion that Mich
igan should calamity resign the cham
pionship to Northwestern.
Both Have Good Records.
Both teams defeated Ohio State.
Illinois and Minnesota. Michigan also
beat Purdue and Chicago. Northwest
ern won from Wisconsin and Indiana.
Michigan has logged, rugged line
and 1t Is by no means certain that
Northwestern would win from them.
For Indiana to beat Purdue was
zeal upset. In my opinion, you can
call result an upset only when
nobody gives the underdog team the
slightest chance. Certainly nobody was
rash enough to hint at the bare pos
ability Of Indiana winning. We should
ell take on our hats to those scrap
ping Hoosiers and their coach, Pat
Page.
On November /, when Purdue ran over
Illinois, the Boilermakers were probably
one of the best teams in the country,
but their season was over then. They
had lost to Michigan by one point and
diana, which had been knocked all over
the lot. This put Coach Kizer In q
bad hole. It is hard for a coach to
make his players take lowly opponent
seriously when he can't do it himself.
I've been in the same box myself.
Lusby's passing and strong defense
by the Wisconsin line won from Min
nesota, which was as expected. The
bad break for Coach Thistlethwaite this
t1olF ~
over Penn team which turned out
to be quite ordinary. This inflated
Wisconsin hopes and the Badger ma
terial was overrated. One of the
toughest burdens of a coach at Wis
consin is absurd criticism by outsiders.
Fumbles Hurt, Illinois.
Illinois fumbles early in the game
gave Ohio State lead which we could
not quite overcome, although the Hi
noisians outplayed the Buckeyes after
the start. Sam Willaman is entitled
to a lot of praise for bringing Ohio
State along after losing two important
games. This meant hard coaching.
Fesler is a fine player, one OF the bet.
On an average I believe Big Ten
foot ball was on a lower scale this year
than has been the case for several
years. For instance, Minnesota and
Illinois were far below their usual
standard. The percentage ranking
shows the following lineup, which Is
about correct:
irst-Northwestern and Michigan.
Third-Purdue.
Fourth-Wisconsih and Ohio State.
Sixth-Indiana and Minnesota.
Eighth-Illinois.
Ninth-Chicago
Indiana and Minnesota each played one
game less than Illinois Iowa, not in
the ranking, played only one confer
ence game.
Iowa Shows Strength.
I hardly thought Iowa could beat
Nebraska, for the Valley team was re-
r,iited 10 have q strong line. but the