Show Material With Plenty To Spare By GRANTLAND RICE RICE- COACH by the name of K K A Rockne figured he was lucky to have the Four Horsemen Horsemen running for him in 1924 Even four star backs were more than most coaches had around that time or have toE tor to to- 1 day Usually two r E r 1 star backs and two r 6 good backs backs' are above the average aver rge Snavely Snave- Snave 1 When Carl x F ly brought his Tarr Tar Heels to New York YorkS r f S i i he had two very able backs and a astill astill still better bet t e r back Grantland Rice c ri rip r i p p pie pled l e d on the sidelines the name being Charlie Justice one of the best backs of many years until cut down by injuries injuries injuries in in- juries after being pretty well worn ragged by L. L S. S U. U U and Tennessee It is quite evident now that I no small part of or Notre Dames Dame's 1949 1919 success was the runaway gallop of his nine horsemen That is what Notre Dame had this season Williams Spaniel Coutre Gay Gar Barrett and Landry The Notre Dame line was just fair Outside of Leon Hart it was often just ordinary But it was good goodenough goodenough goodenough enough to handle a good part of its assignments although often punctured But it was when rival teams or rival coaches had to contend contend contend con con- tend against those nine or possibly 10 brilliant backs that the tidal wave began to roll For example against North Carolina the backfield composed composed composed com com- posed of Williams Coutre Coutre Cou Cou- tre and was no better than North Carolinas Carolina's backfield backfield backfield back back- field led by Dick Bunting But Snavely especially with Justice missing had nothing to offer against the arr arrival arral al of five additional additional additional ad ad- backs just as good as the thc starters This is no rap at Notre Dame or at Frank Leahy He just happened to have over twice as many good backs as any other coach This makes it a matter of material where again Notre Dame excelled by a wide margin I. I 1 a D 1 A Rather Kather Scra Cg iY reason e son This season we saw five college games where the thc score was lop lop- sided On most occasions it was the battle of the tiger and the rab rab- bit We also saw nothing but games long drawn out by the foolish substitution sub rules and penalties Because of the nature of football football football foot foot- ball it is probably impossible for any official to work a game without without without with with- out making at least five bad decisions decisions decisions de de- de- de sins of omission or commission com com- mission At least two of these ese piled up heavily against North Carolina where Hart forward passed a lateral lateral lat lat lat- eral and where Williams bowl bowled d dover over in a desperate attempt to block a kick was vas not roughed He was not even jarred These two decisions cost the Tar Heels at least 14 points Something should be done about the dragging out that takes place You get the impression of men running on and off oU the field in platoons and companies all after after- noon Another point is that all games are started too late Even after the middle of October games should be started at 1 p p. p m. m Though starting starting starting start start- ing at p p. p m. m the Notre Dame Dame- North Carolina game needed lights to follow the play There are 1 m many nv newspapers pro pro- u r r r rooting football who have ha ve no chance to take pictures of decisive plays who plays who must go to press without without without with with- out the scores The starting time up to October 15 should be p. p m. m and after that 1 p. p m. m sho should ld be bethe bethe bethe the kickoff hour This Tl s is an important important important im im- change needed Several million spectators would be glad to get there 30 minutes sooner to see seethe seethe seethe the last quarter clearly and not look at a lot of wraiths and shadows shadows shadows shad shad- operating in semi Here are some of the details that t tho those h o s e handling football should watch for the season of 1950 1950 1 Changing the unlimited substitution substitution sub sub- rule and bringing to it some semblance of common sense 2 Starting the contests earlier to have games finish in daylight no semidarkness semi 3 Taking at least 15 or 20 minutes minutes minutes min min- utes from the time used up from the first kickoff to the final play 4 Giving the officials fewer I rules and having these rules en en- forced How Ill I'll pass that to the supermen of football But the botches are growing every year beyond human achievement Strength Around the Map At a recent gathering of football writers from all over the country with every section counted in the general opinion was that the Midwest Midwest Mid Mid- west was strongest the Southwest next and the Far West third I doubt that rating is an accurate one Notre Dame lifted lilted the Midwest Midwest Midwest Mid Mid- west above the thc others but after all Army took good care of Michi Michi- gan California ran away from Wis Wis- Southern California with five crippled regulars tied Ohio State |