The Washington times., 1932-11-22
Of PLANS
. STEMMED
IRISH
By FRANK (BUCK) O'NEILL

CalnS at WeSC FOALlI, lu ILlS Couu-
Gil rooms high over the gray gym
nasium, Army's coaches are de-
batting the problem Of adequate
defense against the Rollicking
Romans of Notre Dame. In the
past two seasons three styles of
defense have stopped the diversi-
fled Notre Dame attack.
Army has fought the Irish to a
gasping standstill across the line
of scrimmage for the last five
years. It Is true that Notre Dame
has won three of those games,
but it is equally true that Army
has scored az points to 26 for the
Nomads. In the last five years
Notre Dame has made four touch
downs on Army, and one of these
resulted from Jack Elders 95-
yard dash after intercepting a
forward pass thrown by Red
eagle in 1929. Army in that same
period made five touchdowns
against the Irish.
Up to Individual
Notre Dame won in the mud at
Chicago by a score of Z to 6, so
the edge for Rockne's warriors lay
in a specialized skill of an indi-
vidual rather than in the supe-
rior of the team.
University of Pitt devised a de-
fense this year that effectively
checked the spinning, weaving,
whirling attack Of the Romans,
and despite the 21-to-0 beating
handed to Northwestern by Notre
Dame, the statistics Of the game
show that the Wildcats stopped
the running game of the Romans
most effectively.
Dick Hanley, Northwestern's
brilliant young coach, devised a
defensive plan which worked ef-
fectively against Notre Dame.
Hanley was pleased to call the
maneuver his butterfly defense.
Diamond Formation
In effect, his scheme was this:
The center, guards and ends
took their accustomed places on
the line Of scrimmage, with a
diamond formation in the Sec
ondary area. The defense quarter
back-really the fullback-plays
three yards behind the center,
with the wing backs IL yards
back and in line with the defen-
Sive tackles. The safety man
ranged IS yards behind the line
of scrimmage.
The tackles, and here was the
innovation, stood up, two yards
behind the line Of scrimmage.
When Notre Dame shifted into
attacking formation, the North
western line shifted a full pace to
the strong side. At the snap of
the ball. the center trio charged
the spaces, the ends drove in
Cnree steps and turned, sending
the attack to the inside, and the
tackles then crashed into the play
with the full momentum of the
two yards to aid them
The secondaries supported the
orutlSh charge of the tackles and
so the Notre Dame ground at
tack was smashed. However, the
NomadS capitalized on the OBJ
VlouS weakness against passes de-
Veloped in this style of attack.
Army's three unit defensive
against Notre Dame as shown so
brilliantly last year embroidered
some OF Hanley'S fundamentals
without the bizarre tackle devel.
opn1ent.
Six-Man Line
The Kaydets played a six-man
line with Roy Evans at rowing
center and Ray Stecker, a great
defensive back supporting the
line. Army shifted space for
space with the Nomads. and then
the play developed, Capt. Jack
Price and his mighty mate, Eddie
Suarez drove in slanting on the
snort side, straight through on
the power side to split the inter
ference. The ends, CarImark and
Messenger, played a smashing
game and either nailed the run
ner or took the interference.
Evans, who outplayed Tommy
Yarr by mile, distinguished
himself by his great defense and
Stecker built his fame more Sc
curely by his scintillant defense.
Kilday, at one of the wings in
the 6-2-2-1 array of Army
was a terror against the spins
and deceptions Of the Irish.
BOrrows From Sasse
From all technical descriptions
of the Pitt-Notre Dame game this
year, there is little doubt that
DR.. Jock Sutherland, coach of
the PantherS, borrowed richly
from the strategy of Major Ralph
SasSe and his capable aides,
Fats" Ellinger. Chuck Born and
Earle Red" Blaik, who know
the answer to every problem Of
Notre Dame football.
The Pitt tackles charge
straight on the power side and
Slanted on the short side. The
ends did practically the same
thing, with the tackle on the
power side driving straight and
the end smashing two yards and
then obliquing over the path of
the ball. The secondaries cov-
cred threatened areas after insur.
ING themselves against sIIYrTiso