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Show Excessive Fumbles Cause I No Enu of Argument With I Collegiate GtM Elevens I BY WAITER CAMP Special Cor respondent ii Xlv Standard-Examiner. (Copyright. 1922, by The Standard-I Standard-I Ixaintntr.) NEW YORK. Xo; 25. Critics and spectators alike are Inquiring, "What; i is the reason for the excessive number num-ber of tumbles or muffa Id big games this season '" About the only satisfactory explanation explana-tion thai iiw been given is that both, players and coaches have had so much j else to think about that the mere I . lean handling of the ball has been ' lost sight of. Too many games have been won or ; lost, or a: any rate had the conditions I precedent to victory altered by tries.-i tries.-i errors. It 13 greatly to be hoped that' in th-.- big games following, before the .ml of the s.-ason. we shall see the ; contention refuted that all teams have deteriorated in this respect. It Is possible aico we may see some improvement in the distance and : placing of punts; In other words, tne utilization of th kicking game as a real weapon. There ar some teams' upon Which there arc men who can1 do this but tin- g.-nera! ide-.i seem-i j to be to get the kickoff ia any old way and anywhere. MARKED 1 IMPROVEMENT. The defense to forward passes has, bowever, improved quite markedly this year. It Is becoming more and more dangerous to throw a pass without with-out properly covering it and Interceptions Intercep-tions or passes aro becoming more frequent The difficulty of getting a ball safely to the recipient also has been largely Increased. It is going to require- more skill and planning than ever to make the pass :S j connect. This has one very good feature, fea-ture, in that It is going to mako It necessary to practice deception Instead ; of throwing the ball wildly al o'er, the field. The middle of the line work, that is, defence to ordinary innmi mio tu line, has Improved so that it is extremely ex-tremely difficult for any team to plow I Its way through with simple play I, I striking into tho line from inside-tackle inside-tackle positions. Such plays, to bc successful, must havo another outlot and threaten at some other point an 1 then cut back into the middle There has been some improvement in the attack of the forward pass In that the receivers do not take a dlr- i t route to. the place, whoro the ball is coming, but deceive the opponents by running out of direction and then turning and eomliik' sharply This shows a considerable development of skill and Initiative In the Individual player an well ns in tho coach Previously the writer has commented com-mented upon the apparent decline in kicking, notably in the placing of kicks and in the delaying ot the.., to let tho ends and linesmen get down the field. Thi- general distance covered cov-ered by punts has not ncreased, although al-though there were notable exceptions toward the end of tho ceason. Nlsbet. out in California, Is punting as far or even B little farth.-r than last year, and he gets good distance even with a wet ball. In the University Univer-sity of Southorn California game, with the wind behind him, ho got eighty I rds, in the Washington State game he made a dropklck from his 4 C -yard line, and while commenting upon tho .field oi' California, a word should bo said for Morrison, whom th,y call tho "Iron Duke." He is certainly one of the groat plunging backs of the year. INTEREST INCREASES. The easiest way to get a picture of what football meant' to this country' today is to visualize the fact that lown in Waca. Texas, recently, five I Thousand mow paopls witnessed the game between iyor -aaid thT, - LHbbLHbbbbbbbbbbbb A V; M than were present at the big fale-Harvard games when they wer played at Springfield! And Die game was high class, Bay-loi Bay-loi defeatng the Texas A. & M.. ths an which last year beat Centr after Centre had Peaton Harvard. The or m 18 to 7 and the final min-bi min-bi i R eree Lamp blew the last shrill whistle were as full of thrills as any game of tho year. The score stood l". to 7 In favor of l.:yior. but the Texas A. & M- had thi ball down Inside Baylor's eight- i line, with two minutes to play. Poth, the fat A & M. back. wn (.r'.Mn th.- ball for a run on Baylor's j ft tackle, but he was stopped. The Aggies took out time to consult and ere penalized two yards as it was their fourth tlnu durlmr the half. .Ml'ikr then gained 3 yards. Inco more a consultation coat the. Aggies another two yard penalty, and once more they tried the running at-tack at-tack without success, making Its fourth down and the ball ton yard? away from tho goul. Again the Aggies were willing to take a two-yard two-yard penalty for consultation Here then was the dramatic moment with 12 yards to go the fourth down, and a drop luck would mean nothing to thorn. They must get a touchdown and the only route wa.i by a forward Miller, who last year made the winning score of the game, was so-lected so-lected to make the pass. The baN reached him and he sent a beautiful line pass which would surely have reached its destination had not Pit-man Pit-man leaped high into the air and saved the game by batting the ball down Manifestly, the thrills down Texas-way un- as great as they are upon Yale. Harvard or Princeton grid- |