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Show I CONFERENCE SEASON VOID OF FEATURES Denver Writer Says 1913 Was Somewhat Disappointing Disappoint-ing in Football. ... TOO MANY GREEN MEN Practically Every Coach Confronted Con-fronted With Serious Problem; Prob-lem; Gives Utah Credit. With few exceptions, the season of 1018 in Bocky mountain conference foofchall was void of any special features, fea-tures, eaya. Pyke- Johnson in the Don-vor Don-vor News. Taken in comparison with the games of a year before, this year's contests were decidedly mediocre, and, if anything, the general methodB obtaining ob-taining showed a tendency to ultra conservatism which Tobbcd. the sport of many of its more interesting sidelights. The condition is not to' bo taken as a positive indication that the game is losing interest, but may "bo ascribed, in the main, to three sound reasons: In the first place, this year was the first of the six-year non-competitive schedule, which has been inaugurated by the conference. All the -elevens efiortenod their schedules somewhat, and Denver fans were left without contests con-tests on several dates. Ivext year there will be many more games in this city. Second, the weather was bad'in several sev-eral instances. In three games that tho writer witnessed, and in probably one or two others, tho gridironB were so slow that it was almost impossible for the elevens to use anything but straight football of the most elementary elemen-tary character. This drawback will be lessened somewhat in tho future by more frequent uao of the Union park gridiron", which lias been prepared especially espe-cially with a view to quick drainage. THird, and possibly most important of all, veteran material was greatly in the minority on all squads. Usually there are two or three elevens which go into a season with a good nucleus of experienced ex-perienced men. Greerj Men Numerous. Looking over the linoups which coni-Jiriscd coni-Jiriscd the teams this .year, the writer finds that with one exceptioti, all of 11 the coaches wero confronted with the 1 task of building lines from green men. 0 Linemen aro not developed in a week 1 or a month. Thoj must be coached graduallv and alone elementary foot-j foot-j ball lines for months before they at-I at-I tain a high standard of ability. During Jj this period, the coach is confronted I with the necessity of holding his backs gi to simple styles of attack if he desires 1 to be sure of his results. If he doeB m take a chance at open football the Toll To-ll . Bults aro frequently marred by inaccu- rate work, due to inexperience of tho 1 primary line. The backficld material preeented a I different case. Many of the backs I were men of at least one year's ex-I ex-I perience, while most of the new com-I com-I ers were veteran high school players. I This "fait tended to make the recruits I valuable from the start. There is far I less difference between kigh school and college methods of training backs than in working with tho linemen. Wo have ascribed a good share of the Conservative play to the necessity of coaching new men and to the weather but it is still true- that some part of the conservatism was due to the tactics of tho coaches. Apparently a majority 6f tho mentors men-tors did .not believe in shifts or in forward for-ward passing. Their judgment seems to have been good considering the failure of the more advanced stylo elevens in the critical games. Change Needed in Scoring. But what of the general public? I IW'hile the writer has not been in a position to judge their views, his belief is that outside the ranks of tho direct supporters of tho contending elevens there has been reason for dissatisfaction. dissatis-faction. This would seem to be more due to tho present scoring rules' than to our own particular couches. To begin with, the writer helievs that the present system of scoring football allows too many points. Take, B ior example, the 3Iines-State game; HII won by tho latter, 20 to 0. The tendency Hil of the average Teader of the sport-Hi sport-Hi ing news is t'o wonder at the trounc- M :ng given to Golden, yet the records HH show that the silver and blue, while Hfl cleanly defeated, wab not overwhelmed. Rl The fact is that 20 to 0, coming after H the low scores that rule in baseball, 9j causes a superficial reflection that "the HH game was entirely one-sided. Vhilo the point may not be hold important HH by football authorities, it is our belief H9- that a general cutting dowu of all H scores in foothall to the lowest margin IB consistent with their comparative HW worth would Teact favorably in tho HH mind of every spectator and would re- n suit in a feeling that tho game was a HH more cleanly contested one. HH Then, again, despite tho cutting down HH 2 fiehl'goal, it n(ytv seoms appar- HH en this score is too highly rated HI in football. HH -A- field goal counts just half as much as a touchdown at the present time, HH vek it gives tho eleven with a good Hfl dropkicker a 00 per cent (better chance HH lids itself could not be objection- HH &fce weTe it not that ability to drop HH field goals docs - not in itself denote HH all-round football ability. It is merely HH be ability of one specially trainod man H in one department of the game vet BI it counts naif as ranch as the ability Hi of the entire opposing eleven. . Further, it is possible for almost any eleven to get a ball down to the, forty yard line. Here the drop kick is com-paratively com-paratively easy. But bucking from the forty-yard line to the coal is a differ-ent differ-ent proposition. Then the defenao tight-en tight-en 8 almost to a stone wall and it re-1 re-1 quires physical strength, superior cun-nine, cun-nine, ana an all-round knowledge of 1 football to gain from that point, fl There should be more of a premium placed upon this kind of playing and less on the foot of 'one man, who not infrequently is called in from the slde-H slde-H lines for jhsfc one kick, and is then HH yanked out to allow a superior all' round man to take his place. The change in rules permitting a man to go back into1 the game' has fa' voted the drop kick to an extraordi-atary extraordi-atary extent, and there should be some HH restriction made of it or else a decided HH cutting down in the valne of the play, j Apparently this is a digression from our. main theme which is a r6viow of the local season, but we have an application. appli-cation. The 20 to 0 score already referred re-ferred to covers our idea of tho scoring with reference to tho local conference The other point flrids its illustration in the fact that there is a general ten-depcy ten-depcy in this conference as everywhere else to get into kicking range and let it go at that instead of developing a new style -attack of forward passes and fakes which, while more wearing on the men, are infinitely more pleasing to the spectators and give the contest more of a savor of actual conflict than of a kicking duel. The coaches cannot be reasonably criticised for this phase of their systems. sys-tems. The fault lies with the rules which put so much stress on the field goal. ' Passing along to a discussion of the elevens playing under theBe rules, there is little that can be said save that all promise & brilliant season in 1914. Colorado, champions of the season, wont into play with a green line, made up of powerful material, and with a brilliant set of backs. It took the coaches all year to whip these men into shape, but tho team came down'to its most important game in top shape and was returned victor. ' Colorado's victory vic-tory was clean cut, and it leaveB the coaches with a splendid nucleus for next year's squad, Colorado Teams. The Miners had a fine, light team, well coached. The Mines, linemen, on defense, used their hands' better than any others in the conference. They played a fast, fighting game throughout, through-out, but thev were light- and therein thev lost. The same was true of the backs. A coming set of freshmen will strengthen the Minos' line tremendously tremendous-ly next year. Colorado college had some of the finest material of the eeason. but thoy got away to a slow start and were apparently ap-parently unable to get under way until the finish. The offenso was strong in- n. 3 1.1. - i: . uiviuuauy, auu mo b turn q was true ql the line. A majority of them, however, were new men, and apparently they did not get much teamwork until the finish. fin-ish. It is not quite clear just what the trouble was with tho Aggies. The oleven was powerful physically, and played a fighting ganie to tho finish, bnt in its big games it lacked the punch necessary to victory. Perhaps lack of preliminary school "preparation had something to do with it, DUt the men did not show as well as a team as their statistics would indicate that they should. Gives Utah Praise. Both of these elevens' will be strong next year if present indications remain re-main true when tho fall term opens. Coach Bennlon of Utah had a green squad with the exception of three men. Two of these were barred for "breaking training and a third could not bear the entire burden. The team had a badly Arranged schedule to overcome, but despito this, thev showed a steady improvement which left thorn nt thefr strongest at" the season's close. Denver went into battle with the weakest? squad in some yearn; Material was scarco and much of what there was. was .green. Even then the -eleven-might have done hatter than it did had it not been handicapped by a .poor athletic system, One man was called upon to handle coaching, management and other departments and under such, a system there must bo some loser. The eleven played gamely, but there is little more that can be said save that they have a freBhman squad at the TftTsity which the regulars wero hard pressed to hold In check. |