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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Nov. 4, 1897)
Vou. -VIL: Nos % MR. CAMP'S OPINION. Yale Making an Heroic Effort to Overcome a Bad Handicap— Players Full of Fight. Two years ago Yale defeated Prince- ton in an intensely exciting contest in New York. The two most lasting memories of this occasion were the re- markable work of Captain Thorne of Yale and the telling play, of a revolv- ing mass nature, operated by Prince- ton so successfully in the second half of the game. Probably every Prince- ton man carried away visions of Thorne speeding down the field, throwing off or eluding men as though he had a charm concealed in his jacket, and it was with a sigh of relief that they re- flected that, at any rate, it was the last time they should see that man behind Yale’s line. But the memory that Yale men bore away was different. They had won, but a play, had been used upon them which their defense had not satisfactorily met, and that play would not graduate as would Thorne. Ex- Captain Hinkey, who had coached the Yale team that year, in speaking, previ- ous to the game, of their chances against Princeton, had said that their defense was erratic and weak, but that they were a scoring team; that Prince- ton would undoubtedly score, as had several other teams, but that Yale would score too, and it would be a case of who could score fastest and most. The game carried out his prediction. — Just at this juncture in the football season of 1897 it is well to look back upon that bit of ancient history and see what was being done by both teams individually after that Yale victory. Princeton went to work to do two things: to build up a stronger defense and to perfect the play that had proven in its elementary stage so wonderfully effective. Yale retired on her laurels. There was no immediate consideration of the position and no Winter study of what should be done to continue Yale’s lead: - In : the ; past = Year --Princeton, with her play more highly developed and her defensive tactics greatly ad- vanced, simply slaughtered Yale. It would not seem to be over-difficult for Yale, having been pitted against that style of play for two years, to have put heads together and to have journeyed to Princeton, where a few days after the University match the Princeton Freshmen performed in a crude way the same type of play, and to have thus made themselves thoroughly masters of the technique of the movement. Having transferred it to paper and studied it over, Yale should have had a second eleven thoroughly able to perform it this year and give the University steady daily practice in meeting it. Yale should also have studied the develop- ments in the play of Harvard and Penn- sylvania. In addition, if it seemed ad- visable, the Yale University could have adopted such ideas as seemed prom- ising. WHAT YALE HAS LACKED. But the old question arises at this point, who should have done all this— the retiring captain? No; he could not be on hand to teach it, even had he learned it. The incoming captain, then? No, for he did not exist. So there was nobody, and the thing was not done. . This year the greatest as- sistance to Mr. Butterworth and his staff of coaches, and the most valuable possession for Yale, would have been a second eleven that could, from the -be- ginning, put forth with force and vigor a play of this order. It would aid not alone for the Princeton contest, but -hospital list at once. for the Harvard match; for Harvard will certainly be playing concentrated mass plays on tackle with a runner going out around the end, just as Princeton and Pennsylvania are doing. The very evidence needed to prove that Yale’s defense must be weak and re- quire strengthening in just such a fashion, the last week in October has generously furnished. The second eleven, with absolutely no practice but simply formed into mass plays, were able to push the University line aside, run over it, and finally actually score without marked opposition. There is no team in the country that has not mass plays in hand, and hence it fol- lows that when Yale meets them, as in the Brown game and as in the case of the second eleven, the Yale University team goes down before tnem. The fault in all this lies not with the pres- ent coach or captain, or with any for- fier coach. -or captain. I[t<lies inthe force of circumstances. Other teams and other universities, profiting by the lesson actually learned from Yale, that a continuity of system would produce good teams, have made such arrange- ments as shall insure just what Yale has ‘lacked: now for°some ‘time. -The material in the team this year is excel- lent and a great deal is being made of it. The work is heroic and the results apparent. But with such material and such work, had the defense and the material progress of the play been care- fully followed all the year instead of two months, Yale would have had a team whose chances of victory in all contests would be double what they can be made now. THE CHANCES AGAINST HARVARD. But to consider just what the chances are now. A serious attempt is being made to improve the defense. It is coming hard on the men, because none of them is familiar with stopping mass plays. The line men naturally are suf- fering the most: Cadwalader, Cutten, Brown, Allen, and others all on the ! But that very fact speaks well for the pluck of the team. As men, they refuse to let plays trample over them so long as they can resist, and in this resistance—inexperi- enced resistance—they have been hurt. The offensive work of the team is en- couraging. It is more than that, if one stops to consider just what it is likely to develop. The team has been kept upon straight football until almost every man understands the value of helping his comrade. That lesson is better learned than it has ever been be- fore in any green team. Now, if upon that foundation concentrated plays of the more modern type can be raised in the comparatively short time remain- ing, the power of execution will be there. A team that is taught mass plays before mastering ordinary straight runs will never be as able as one that takes its mass plays as a higher course, after the regulation play. Moreover, the long steady practice of mass plays throughout a season sometimes has the effect of making a team lose some of its dash. So, on this score also, Yale has.a-good ‘start... *-THE* VARIOUS: POSITIONS. If the present injuries do not prove serious, Yale is fairly well equipped in men for line positions, save.on the ends. Here there are plenty of men, but when one compares them with such men as Cabot of Harvard or Cochran of Prince- ton,- one feels -that Yale’s men aré not as expert in the tactics of the game: and physically not the equals of their opponents. _ Behind the line Yale has some bril- liant men and in McBride a most consistent worker who does wonders for his comrades. There is no substi- NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1897. GEORGE JARVIS BRUSH. PROFESSOR OF MINERALOGY. FIRST DIRECTOR OF THE SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL. A Reproduction of the Portrait Presented to the Sheffield Scientific School. ee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooaaaaaoowweam=m==*s tute for his position who can compare with him. It looks also as though Yale would be short of quarter-backs before the season is over. In half-backs the situation is better, although, as at Harvard, the brilliant men are not built to stand the banging of defense and the sturdy ones, who can do their part in helping the rush line, are not fast. But plays must be adapted to the individual in this regard, and fortu- nately such a thing is possible in the modern game, save on the defense, where, unfortunately, the opponents have the lead. Neither Harvard nor Yale would be a choice against Penn-- sylvania or Princeton at this stage, and with their late graduation into the ad- vanced plays it looks as if both would suffer defeat at the hands of the above teams. But when match of the 13th, when they meet each other, it will be—barring accidents to players—a match where Yale will have the advantage of more spirited play and Harvard the better defense; where the Harvard play will be the more strate- gic, but Yale the faster. The way in which the old coaches have rallied to the assistance of the green team here at New Haven, has been something to be remembered by the present players and emulated by them a few years from now, when they are graduates and find it harder to get a day or two than it is now. The wishes and the hopes of the University are going out with this team as they have almost never before, for the team oe them more than any other ever id. They are boys, but they are boys who will discount their disadvantages, believe in their possibilities and fight as long as they can stand. It is good tim- ber and promises well for the future. WALTER Camp. sent good numbers. it comes to the SHEFFIELD SEMI-CENTENNIAL, Large Graduate Attendance—Perfect Suceess of the Exercises. . — The semi-centennial of the Sheffield Scientific School on Oct. 28 brought back several hundred graduates of the school from all parts of the country. Classes as far back-as Forty-Eight were represented, and the more recent classes The weather dur- ing the day was fine. THE ALUMNI MEETING. The first of the series of meetings, connected with the semi-centennial, was held in North Sheffield Hall, at Io A.M. Prof. William H. Brewer, ’52, called the meeting to order, and, after a short address of welcome announced that the Governing Committee had nominated Prof. George F. Barker, ’58, of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, as Chairman and Henry B. Sargent, ’71, as Secre- tary of the meeting. Prof. Barker spoke a few words of reminiscence. He contrasted the pre- sent prosperity of the school with its condition while he was a student and lamented the fact that as anniversaries went on; he saw fewer and fewer of his classmates and instructors. He was amazed at the growth of the institution, and saw that the size of the classes kept pace with the opportunities offered by the school. He then presented Prof. George J. Brush, ’52, who showed by statistics the advances made by the school since its founding. He showed how progress had been made, step by step, from the [Continued on r1th page.|
