Football: Midseason

(See front cover)

Points this Team Coach opponent Score season Army Davison Coe 34-0 164--6 Southern California Jones None 161-- 10 Princeton Crisler Brown 33-0 144-0 Georgia Mehre Florida 14-0 128-35 Michigan Kipke Illinois 7-6 108-12 Purdue Kizer Carnegii 17-7 65-20 Out of 164 starters, the six college teams listed above, unbeaten through last week, remained at midseason the chief Humpty Dumpties of 1933's football wall. Some of them would have a great fall by Thanksgiving Day. All might be tumbled, even Southern California which had kept a solid perch from early 1931 until last month when little Oregon State jostled it with a scoreless tie. Michigan came perilously close to slipping from the top of the Big Ten, where it has been for three years. That it did not slip was largely due to a crack halfback named Herman Everhardus and to Willis Ward, a rangy Negro end. It was Ward who, after hard-fighting Illinois had marched to a touchdown in the first period, shot through and blocked the place kick which would have given Illinois a seventh point. In the next period Everhardus raced around end to tie the score, then booted the goal. Following an unimpressive 6-to-0 performance fortnight ago against Washington & Lee, Princeton--only Humpty of the six not yet even scored on--snapped back last week into its earlier whippet-tank style. Brown was butterfingered, Princeton on its toes, taking advantage of three fumbles and one blocked kick to pile up four touchdowns and driving 63 yd. without the help of breaks for another. As usual, one touchdown and a heavy share of the kicking, passing and line-plunging were credited to wiry halfback Garry le Van who weighs little more than 150 Ib. and whose elusive hips remind Princeton oldtimers of Don Lourie (1919-21).

Army did not bother to use any first string men for more than one period against Coe, hence the crowd saw nothing of Jack Buckler. Of the incredible team which Coach Gar Davison has built from football wreckage in his first season, Halfback Buckler is the most dangerous player because of his ability to pass unerringly while running at top speed. Fortnight ago Yale rarely could guess what Buckler was up to, could do little about it when they guessed right.

Georgia has two racing halfbacks named Homer Key, who weighs only 145 Ib., and Cy Grant, who is high-scorer for the season in the Southeastern Conference. Last week both men slithered and sprinted through Florida, Grant making two touchdowns which boosted his average to better than one per game.

Carnegie Tech's goal line had been uncrossed all season until the opening of the second half against Purdue. Then Purdue's speedy Halfback Jim Carter received the kickoff on his own lo-ycl. line, ran it 90 yd. to a touchdown. His running-mate Duane Purvis cut loose on a "hidden ball" play for 52 yd., put the ball in position for a second touchdown. Paul Pardonner, stocky little drop-kick expert, booted an extra three points.

Southern California enjoyed a rest last week in preparation for this week's game with Stanford. Despite the astounding tie game with Oregon State, U. S. C. remained by most methods of reasoning the strongest team in the Far West. Its backfield includes not only Homer Griffith, the Coast's high-scoring man of last year, but also his runner-up, cotton-topped little Quarterback Irvine ("Rabbit") Warburton. With them runs Bill Howard, high man this year with six touchdowns.

That one Humpty could surely flatten all the others is not the clear-cut conclusion this year that it has been sometimes in the past. Michigan 30 years ago was the great Humpty Dumpty of all time. Under Coach "Hurry Up" Yost. Michigan played 54 games in five years without a defeat and with only one tie. Then Chicago toppled it from the wall with a meagre safety. California had its "Wonder Team" of 1920-23 when ham-handed "Brick" Muller was throwing 60 and 70 yd. forward passes: then U. S. C. came along. But the greatest Humpty of recent years was Notre Dame; and it made the loudest crash when, in 1931, Southern California pushed it from the wall where it had sat for 26 games. Having won only one game this season and tied one. Notre Dame lost its third last week to a Navy team playing the so-called Notre Dame system.

The Notre Dame style was played on many another field last week because no less than 35 ex-Notre Dame footballers are employed on coaching staffs, among them three of the late Knute Rockne's famed Four Horsemen. Horseman Harry Stuhldreher's Villanova team won last week. So did Horseman Elmer Layden's Duquesne team, for the eighth time this season. But Horseman "Sleepy Jim" Crowley lost and another Notre Dame team won the supreme game of the week: Fordham v. St. Mary's.

Long before St. Mary's journeyed from California to New York's Polo Grounds, fabulous tales of its enormous stature flashed ahead of it. Everyone in the East knew that St. Mary's linemen averaged 214 Ib., that the backfield weighed nearly 200 Ib. per man, that the "midget" of the regulars, George ("Ice House") Wilson, ablest triple-threat man on the Pacific Coast and perhaps in the country, scaled 188. Other features of St. Mary's team to capture the fancy of sport followers: Quarterback Sid Ahern, the only bona fide Irishman of the so-called "Galloping Gaels" (despite the enterprise of the college pressagent in rechristening a substitute from Clarence to O'Kelly Kellogg); Tackle John Yezerski who stands 6 ft. 4 in. and weighs 242 Ib.; the two pairs of brothers Carl & Wagner Jorgenson who play in the line and Fred & George Canrinus, ends. When all these four hit a runner, the dead weight is nearly half a ton.

Fordham, which had yielded no game and only one touchdown this season, fought furiously against St. Mary's, but fury was not enough. Toward the end of the first period St. Mary's whirlwind Wilson, helped by George Canrinus, rammed the ball 65 yd. down the field to Fordham's 2-yd. line where the gun stopped it. On the first play of the second period Wilson broke off tackle for a touchdown. Fordham stiffened and in the second half passed and charged to St. Mary's 9-yd. line for a first down. But not even "Big Ed" Danowski could budge the Gaels' line. In the final period St. Mary's recovered a Fordham fumble on Fordham's 10 yd. line. But on the very next play. St. Mary's fumbled and the ball bounded across the goalline. Fred Canrinus catapulted his big frame head first between two Fordham defenders, fell on the ball for the second touchdown. After that Fordham fought harder than ever and Danowski, alternately carrying and passing the ball, crossed the line standing up. St. Mary's 13, Fordham 6. Systems, If Knute Rockne could return to earth, he might not recognize all the local variations which his system has acquired. His basic idea was to give a smart backfield, big or little, the advantage over a heavier team. (Average weight of the Horsemen was only 164-lb.). Most conspicuous features of his system are a hop-shifting backfield; deft, sidewise blocking in the line; the box forma tion of the backfield; the seven-man line on defense. On offense, almost every line man has the job of blocking one assigned opposing lineman, leaving the entire backfield free to run interference for the ball carrier, "power ahead of the ball." On defense the man-for-man assignment is worked against potential receivers of for ward passes. Other systems use a zone defense. The other most talked of style of play is the Warner system, evolved by Glenn ("Pop") Warner at Stanford. The Rockne system is based on deception and speed, the Warner system on deception and power. It requires a practically immovable line, to hold indefinitely while the backfield shuttles the ball back & forth in mystifying maneuvers. Essential feature of the Warner offense is the "double wing-back." A wingback is simply a halfback who takes position about a yard and a half behind the line of scrimmage and about the same distance outside his own end. When both halfbacks are in such position, it is a double wingback pattern. Some times one wingback helps his end to smash in on the tackle, boxing him and piling up his side of the line, while a play dashes through. Or a wingback may turn and run behind the line of scrimmage, taking the ball -- or pretending to -- from one of the three other backs as they sweep past him. The spread of the Notre Dame and Warner "systems" has tended to erase an oldtime distinction between Eastern (conservative) and Western (radical) brands of football. That fact, combined with the high efficiency of scouting, robs even intersectional games of much surprise play. Also it has led to a general perfection of football defense (which can be taught more simply than offense) to a degree beyond offense.

Offense & Rules. The tightening of defense has produced two conspicuous results this season: increased use of the forward pass, and a protest against technical rulings which hamper the offense. Teams like Carnegie Tech, U. S. C.. Pitt and Army have been rolling through every sort of defense with shrewd, expert passes. Even before this season, Michigan decided it was much less profitable to hammer away at a beefy line than to "punt, pass and pray."

The offensive game was helped materially this season by the new rule providing that if a ball goes out of bounds, or is downed within 10 yd. of the sidelines, it shall be brought 10 yd. in for the next play. That eliminated the wasted play formerly made to work the ball back into free position. About one-fifth of the plays in a game were wasted in that manner. As the season progressed new demands arose from coaches to eliminate fussy rules which not only hobbled the game but produced aggravating hairline decisions by well meaning but muddled officials. One of these decisions occurred in the Army-Illinois game. A field judge disallowed a place kick goal by Army because the player holding the ball had let both knees touch the ground. The referee was sure that the rules exempted the ball-holder, but the field judge, Massachusetts Boxing Commissioner Dan Kelly, convinced him the rules had been changed. The judge was wrong. That same afternoon a Pennsylvania kick bounced off a Dartmouth player's back. A Pennsylvania man picked up the ball, ran it over the line. On Dartmouth's protest the officials canceled the touchdown because of a rule that the kicking side can not run with the ball. Penn lost by a touchdown. Also that day, a Brown tackle blocked a Yale kick at Yale's goal line. Instead of giving the ball to Brown the referee let a Yale man recover and run the ball out of danger. Brown lost.

Polled by the Press, numerous coaches voiced the wish to see the return of the "free ball" to the rules. Said Columbia's Coach Lou Little: "Let the boys run with a loose ball. That's the instinctive, the natural thing to do. ... There was a lot of argument that inferior teams used to grab fumbles and score winning touchdowns for lucky victories. I think that's silly. . . . The game is 60 minutes long. If you're winning for 55 minutes, get careless, fumble, lose in the last five, that's your tough luck. . . ."

Professionals, One place where rules which slow up the game will not be tolerated, is in professional football, which is one reason (but not the prime one) why it is vastly more entertaining than the collegiate game. In the National Professional League the ball is not down until the carrier has been stopped dead by an opponent. Goalposts are not 10 yd. behind the goalline, as in college football, but this year were placed on the line where kickers may reach them with field goals. Many of the college football rules were intended to prevent injuries, but professional players, with longer experience, are hurt less frequently.

Colgate had not been defeated in its last 17 games, had yielded no touchdown in 13 games when it took the field against Tulane. Tulane's captain, halfback Floyd ("Preacher") Roberts ran 75 yd. for a touchdown in the first period, kicked the extra point. In the last seconds of play he tackled a Colgate ballcarrier on Tulane's 2 yd. line, saved the game he had won 7-0.

Dartmouth had failed in every one of 16 attempts to beat Yale since 1884. Last week it was beaten again, by Clare Cur-tin's toe. Curtin, Yale's 230-lb. tackle, kicked his eighth consecutive conversion. 14-10-13.

Duke kept its season's slate clean with timely forward passes against Auburn, 13-10-7.

Fattest cumulative score of the season: Davis-Elkins 319, Opponents 31.

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