e |
|old days of the five-yard rule and mass play, |
|schedules could be outlined with so much accuracy |
|that a coach or athletic director seldom made |
|mistakes in his schedules. |
| |
|In those days the chart was framed so that each |
|succeeding game would be harder to win.... The teams|
|were sent into the game to test the pet plays of the|
|coaches, such as the revolving mass on tackle, hard |
|concentrated attacks on and off the tackles, with |
|the runner being pushed and pulled by his |
|teammates.... |
| |
|If plays as outlined by the coaches did not make the|
|necessary distances, then the teams practically |
|settled down to a man to man contest, and football |
|history records the number of games which ended |
|either in scoreless ties or knotted counts. |
| |
|Following this old custom, the big teams select the |
|opponents who in the old days were easy to beat in |
|the first games. It is true some changes have been |
|made in schedules, but it is only reasonable to |
|assume that the coach of a large eleven would be |
|foolish to schedule an opening contest with a team |
|which he thought had a chance to beat his own |
|aggregation. |
| |
|Using Yale as an example, the authorities at New |
|Haven would never have scheduled the Virginia game |
|unless they thought in their own minds that Old Eli |
|would trot off the field an easy winner. On the last|
|Saturday in September the Blue eleven had an easy |
|time winning from Maine, 37 to 0. |
| |
|Following the changes in the rules, coaches nowadays|
|cannot afford to take a chance with any team, |
|whether they have a heavy, strong team or a well |
|balanced eleven. The players do not get accustomed |
|to the excitement of actual combat so early in the |
|season, and the least little thing which goes wrong |
|in their offensive or defens