OCR Text |
Show I I I OFFENSE WINS MANY GAMES ' football Tiama Wllh Strong Plsya and Men to Use Them Score Victories Vic-tories Yost stes Error. Football teauia thai ham developed a aimng i rTenie loom up an the con-tend'Ta con-tend'Ta fur i h.iinplnh-dilp honora IhmuKhniit the country Thoi" which have striven tn per feet a defenne, without payiriit I'xrraiii-illnary n'tentlon to the oftcnae ilelnanileil by I In) new rules, nre m.ikliiK only a pnr allowing nnd the coaches nre In Binning to real-lie real-lie that nn eleven without a great number of playn and men back of the line with ability to work th-in nro In no shape to claim titles. In the worda of nn old fnotbnll player, "A at rutin de-fenalve de-fenalve team may He a grent many games, but It taken nn eleven with a strong offense, to win." Michigan In line of the most prominent promi-nent schools In which tiai much attention atten-tion ban been paid to tha defenne to the neglect of tbe offenae. Conch Yoat hnn been working all yenr wltb Hire guinea In view, nnyn n writer In the I'hlcnKO llnlly Ncwa. Ilia schedule has been particularly bard Notre Dame, I'unnaylvnnla and Minnesota, Hie three strongest teams on Snn list, following ! each other on succesnlve Saturdays. Ills early gnmen huve been practice affairs and against scbooln wblcb In prevloun yearn hnd ulwtiyn been beaten beat-en by bin eleven by overwhelming ncoren. In conchlng hln team Yoat has been particular to build up a ilefenan rap- 1 able of taking rnro of bin three ntrong- j ret opponetiln while letting bin offenae j j go until Just before hln big gnmen. In thin wny be bun prevented hln oppo-iientn oppo-iientn from gaining much ground ngalnat hln team, nn In shown In tba games In which Hie Wolverine eleven ban participated. The Ann Arbor goal Hnn bun never been In danger of a touchdown nnd no tenm thun fnr baa been able to gnln ronnlatetilly ngnlnnt Mlchlgnn. Tho Bum total uf tbe gnln In the three gnmea plnyed so far tbla sennon would be considerably lenn than "0 yardn. In mil to nf Ibis, Michigan haa won only one of Ita threo gnmea, defeating the Mlchlgnn Agglea by the narrow, mnrgln of to 3, while both ('use and Ohio Htnta have secured 3 to-3 tl si i res. While thla shows Ih oppos-, Ing teama could not gnln against MlrM Ignn nnd were unable to score by running run-ning the ball. Il Is equal proof that the Wolverlno offensa wbb even weak4 er thnn thnt of Ita opponenta, for that Michigan backs vrera not obliged to, work ngalnnt ao ntrong a defense and yet were unable to score. Yoat, according lo critics, haa taken, a Blow way to develop bla team, bud that lately great Improvement may be) Been. He will be forced to teach hla) men a number of offenalv playa to cop with th Syracuse eleven Batur day and there la no doubt expressed that he will have a greatly Improved offoDilve eleven on th field when b takea on th easterner. Minnesota Is an example of a team that baa taken up tb work of strengthening tb offense to the nag lect of tha defense. Prom th start ot th aeaaon Coach Williams' men began be-gan fo reel off Intricate playa baned upon tha now rules and tha men were taught something new each week. Th Qophera have rolled up overwhelming scores agalnat their opponenta and II la on theae scores that the followers of the conference elevena base tholr hopea of a victory for Minnesota over Michigan Nov. It. Playing agalnat teama not In Ita claaa. tha Oophera' defenaa was found strong enough to prevent any acor being made against It, although conalderably mora ground haa been gnlned agalnat tha conference confer-ence eleven than agalnat Michigan, In spit of th difference In th scores. In developing a strong offens tha lln la th flrat consideration for tha coaches. In spite of th talk at th alert of tba aeaaon about fast back and trick playa It haa been found by nearly all Instructors that tba atrength of a team Ilea In tb atrength ot Ita forward. Thua th linemen have com In for mar than their ihare of coaching coach-ing on tha offenalv aide of the gam and more ureas Is being laid upon thla aa tha aeaaon prograases. It haa been proved that th grealeat back field In tb world cannot acor whan tba forward Una la weak. Th University of Chicago team baa a back field second to few In the Weat and yet on account of th weakness of th Maroons' forwarda tha Mldwaylte bar been beaten twice by teama th back fields of which were no better than their and they war lucky to get away wltb the Northwestern game, although al-though th Purpl hacka war weaker. Chicago la not an Isolated Inatanc of thla. Th same state of affair la to b found throughout th country. Much of th ground-gaining ability of teama thla year depend on trick playa and on tha forward paas. In both Inatance a strong lln Is needed In order to glv tb back field men time to work out th Intricate formations. forma-tions. Th forwards muat bold tba defensive de-fensive team back long enough for tb man carrying th ball to completa their playa and tbla muat be for a conalderably con-alderably longer Urn than waa tha case under tha old rule. Trick plays, although they wa faat and anappr to th pec t storm, tab a much longer tlma to execute than slmpl on, and tha forwarda muat be taught and muat bar tb ability to bold Juat ao much tongar. |