Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 311, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1910 — offense wins many games [ARTICLE]

offense wins many games

Football Teams With Strong Playa and Mon to Use Them Score Victories—Yost Sees Error. Football teams that have developed a strong offense loom up as the contenders for championship honors throughout the country. Those which have striven to perfect a defense, without paying extraordinary attention to the offense demanded by the pew rules, are making only a poor showing and the coaches are beginning to real- i Ize that an eleven without a great number of ..plays and men back of the line with ability to work them are in* no shape to claim titles. In the words of an old football player, “A strong defensive team may tie a great many games, but it takes an eleven with a strong offense to win.” Michigan is one of the most prominent schools in which too much attention has been paid to the defense to the neglect of the offense. Coach Yost has been working all year with three games in view, says a writer in the Chicago Daily News. His schedule has been particularly hard —Notre Dame, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, the three strongest teams on the list, following each other on successive Saturdays. His early games have been practice affairs and against schools which in previous years had always been beaten by his eleven by overwhelming scores.

In coaching his team Yost has been particular to ’build up a defense capable of taking care of his three strongest opponents while letting his offense go until just before his, big games. In this way he has prevented his opponents from gaining much ground against tpam, as is shown in the games in which the Wolverine eleven has participated. The Ann Arbor goal line has never beenin danger of a touchdown and no team thus far has been able tqs gain consistently against Michigan. The bum total of the gains in the three games played so far this season would be considerably less than 70 yards. In spite of this, Michigan has won only one of its three games, defeating the Michigan Aggies by the narrow margin of 6 to 3, while both Case and Ohio State have secured 3-to-3 tie scores. While this shows the opposing teams could not gain against Michigan and were unable to score by running the ball, it is equal proof that the Wolverine offense was even weaker than that of its opponents, for the Michigan backs were not obliged to work against so strong a defense and yet were unable to score. Yost, according to critics, has taken a slow way to develop his team, but that lately great improvement may be seen. He will be forced to teach his men a number of offensive plays to cope with the Syracuse eleven Saturday and there is no doubt expressed that he will have a greatly improved offensive eleven on the field when he takes on the easterners. Minnesota is an example of a team that has taken up the work ofstrengthenlng the offense to the neglect of the defense. From the start of the season Coach Williams’ men began to reel off intricate plays based upon the new rules and the men were taught something new each week. The Gophers have rolled up’ overwhelming scores against their opponents and it is on these scores that the followers of the conference elevens base their hopes of a victory for Minnesota over Michigan Nov. 19. Playing against teams not in its class, the Gophers* defense was found strong enough to prevent any score being made against It, although considerably more ground has been gained against the conference eleven than against Michigan, In spite of the difference in the scores. In developing a strong offense the line is the first consideration for the coaches. In spite of the talk at the start of the season about fast backs and trick plays it has been found by nearly all Instructors that the strength of a team lies In the strength of its forwards. Thus the linemen have come in for more than their share of coaching on the offensive side of the game and more stress is being laid Upon this as the season progresses.

It has been proved that the greatest back field in the world cannot score when the forward line Is weak. The University of Chicago team has a back field second to few In the West and yet on account of the weakness of the Maroons’ forwards the Midwayltes have been beaten twice by teams the back fields of which were no better than theirs and they were lucky to get away with the Northwestern game, although the Purple backs were weaker. Chicago Is not an isolated Instance of this. The same state of affairs Is to be found throughout the country. Much of the ground-gaining ability of teams this year depends on trick plays and on the forward pass. In both instances a strong line is needed In order to glv? the back-field men time to work out the intricate formations. The forwards must hold the defensive team back long enough for the men carrying the ball to complete their plays and this must be for a considerably. longer time than was the case under the old rules. Trick plays, although they seem fast and snappy to the spectators, take a much longer time to execute than simple ones, and the forwards tnust be taught and must have the ability to hold just so much longer.