Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1913 — TEAMS ARE TOO SLOW [ARTICLE]

TEAMS ARE TOO SLOW

Football Follower Says Modem Play Lacking in Speed. Contention Is Upheld, In Bmall Way. by Recent Showing of Maroon and Hoosier—Hyde Park the First Real Fast Team. Ever and anon some old time follower cf football rises to complain of the slowness of modern teams as compared with those of a decade ago. A man who played the game in the latter ’9os and the early part of this century was among those at the IndianaChicago contest, and after the contest the chief subject of his conversation was regarding the 1 lack of speed displayed in .the teams’ lineup. “If teams were as slow as that when I played the game,” he declared, “they would have been drilled for speed to . the exclusion of everything else. Coaches in the old days would not perjnit loafing in lining up, amd onbe lined up the plays went off with a snap that I have not seen in the last five years.” His criticism was partly justified, for both Chicago and Indiana were lamentably slow getting the ball into action. This was partially explained by the failure of the Maroons to know their signals. With only two weeks of preparation, Stagg was compelled to give his men more than they could digest in the way of formations, for Indiana was so strong it was not wise to take chances with the Hoosiers. In consequence, only three or four of the plays were fixed firmly in the minds of the players and there was noticeable confusion in getting the plays under way at various stages of the game. Indiana contributed her share tow- . ard slowing up the game by lack of condition. Criticism of lack of speed, however,. is not always so just. If anything, the speed ’of teams now is better than it was In the days of “old” football. There were few teams of ten or fifteen years ago with more than ordinary speed despite every favoring factory. The first “fast” team was the famous Hyde Park High School eleven of 1902, and although the college teams on which members of thjp squad played later were fairly fast, none of them were much better than the teams of the present. With weight at a premium, it is scarcely to be expected the old teams could class in Bpeed with the ones today, where speed is the chief requisite for individual candidates. The growth of “formation” football has much to do with the seeming slow.ness. It is the exceptional team which goes on the field nowadays with less than thirty formations td remember, while it was the exceptional eleven in the old days which had more than ten or twelve to remember. The old style attack consisted of straight bucks, cross bucks and end runs, with their variations. The lineup was nearly always the same, only a few formations, like the tandem, the whoaback and a few more, having been Invented.

Series plays were the rule rather than the exception. One set of signals usually served for three or four successive plays in the old days, and often a team would traveres half the length of the field without the quar-ter-back calling numbers more than three or four times. Now the series signals have been abandoned owing to the exigencies of the game. Each play is a separate problem, and its solution depends entirely upon the position of the ball, the amount to be gained and other circumstances which could not possibly be prepared for in advance.