The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 28, 1907, Football Number, Image 4

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    h?
MS
THE DAILY NEBRA8KAN
X
-
i
L
ll
1
vt-
Sbe Bails l&ebra&ftan
THE PROPERTY OF
THE UNIVERSITY OP NEBRASKA.
Lincoln, Nebraska.
PUBLISHED EVERY DAY EXCEPT SUNDAY AND MONDAY
BY THE STUDENT PUB. BOARD.
Publication Olflcs, 126 No. 14th St.
L; :
Editor-in-Chief M. A. Mills, '08
Managlng-Edlt'or..... Clyde E. Elliott, '09
Buifneie Manager... H. C. Robertson, '09
Editorial and Business Office:
BA8EMENT, ADMINISTRATION BLDQ.
Posttifflce, Station A, Lincoln, Neb.
8UB8CRIPTION PRICE, $2.00 PER YEAR
Payable In Advance
8lnflle CopJeiiNnCent't 'Each
Telephones: Bell A 1466, Auto 1888
INDIVIDUAL, NOTICES will bo charged
for at the rate of 10 conta per insertion
for every fifteen words or fraction thereof.
Faculty notices and Unlvorslty bulletins
will gladly bo published freo.
Entered at tho postofflco at Lincoln,
Nebraska, as second-class mall matter
undor tho Act of ConproBS of March 3.
1879.
CAPTAIN WELLER.
Captain John Wollor, whoBe college
football career closes with the St.
Louis gamo Thanksgiving, has been
one of the best and most efficient lead
ers of football men that has over
fought for the Scarlet and Cream. H6
has been a member of the Nebraska
football team for four years and dur
ing that period has made an enviable
reputation as a clean, strong player.
John Woller m'ade the 'Varsity In
1904, playing halfback and tackle that
year and tho next. His work waa of
tho high order In both these seasons.
Ho did wonderful work In the' (Nebraska-Illinois
"game of 1904. Last
season ho held the halfback position
on the team and made such a good
showing that he was chosen to cap
tain tho 1907 eleven.
At the h,ead of this season's cham
pionship team, Weller has won a place
among Cornhusker football heroes
equal to Chat of Bender and Benedict.
His ability as a kicker won the AmeB
gamo and enabled Nebraska to make
a fine showing in all the contests of
tho season.
Captain Weller is a clean moral
man and a good student. Nebraska is
proud of him and is sorry that his
Cornhusker football career is "at an
end.
Wo hope that ho may close his ca
reer in a blazo of glory In the St.
Louis contest
SUCCESS OF THE SEASON.
Tho University of Nebraska, the
athletic board, the manager, the coach
and tho players are to be greatly con
gratulated on the success won this
year. I especially rejoice in the moral
successes achieved, the players' gen
tlomanllness, uprightness and clean
p,lay thruout the season. Such self
mastery la the best sort of victory,
on tho football field or anywhere.
' The season's record has Bhown the
extreme superiority of the' new gamo
over the old ,of open play over mass
ed plays. Reformed football has dem
onstrated itself to be an appropriate
"and Invaluable college sport.
Reform might go a atop further.
Support should be given to the pro
posed change advocated by Dr. Lees
in a recent newspaper item touching
the over-valuation of goals from tho
field. I agree with him that 4A field
goal is not worth four points. It is
over valued. I shall advocate scaling
a field goal down to two points. A
touchdown followed by a goal Is worth
at least twice as much ts a drop or a
place kick."
E. BENJ. ANDREWS.
THE SEASON AT1' NEBfeAfcKA.I
The season of 1907 wllPbe a memor
ablo one for the Unlvorslty of Nebras
ka In many ways. Winning from
both Ames and Kansas, after being
dofeated at their hands in 1906
brought Joy to the hearts of all loyal
Nobraskans.
Tho gamo with Ames in 1907 will
have a, permanent place in Nebarska
football history. As a spectacular
and exciting contests was tho equal
of any gamo ever played -on any grid
iron. Every one realized that a mis
play by one side or tho other meant
dpfoat or victory. Hope whs dashed
many times, only to be rovived again..
And this ocourring bo frequently, too,
that during the entire seventy minutes
of play tho spectators wore hold spell
bound. Tho; fighting spirit displayed
by the wearers of the Scarlet and
Cream was- magnlficiont. When many
a man in tho stands had given up hopo,
and some (shamo on them) express
ed themselves so they could bo heard
on the field, tho gallant lads In tho
thick of the fray fought desperately.
They came "back at their opponents
like bull dogs, forcing them under tho
shadow of their own goafl soveral
times and finally landing the field
goal that won Nebraska the game.
The KansaB game was marked by
playing somewhat less fierce and de
termined ,but by bettor team work,
both on offense and defense, than that
displayed In the Ames game. Tho men
seemed less fearful of "opening up"
when necessary, and "as a result con
sternation reigned in tho ranks of the
Jayhawkers, when plays carefully
planned to work an undoing wore
brokenup without gains or, as was
frequently tho case, tho ball was se
cured by a Nebraska man.
This article does not comprehend
a comploto rovlow of the season, but
a short account of tho work of tho
Cornhuskers and their two most im
portant contests. Thoy fought gal
lantly in every game, and it can be
truthfully said of them that there
never was a more earnest .consclen
tlous and faithful lot of workors on
Nebraska or any other field.
It Is this spirit of the-men of tho
squad that has mado posslblo the
moulding of a winning team.
The schedule has been a hard one.
The men wore required to season
themselves for a' severe contest as
as early as tho nineteenth of Octo
ber, and to remain in condition until
Thanksgiving. It is nearly always
true that a team takes one or moro
slumps during the year, and with
much less excuse for doing so than
Nebraska, had for doing so this sea
son. Under severe conditions the
dally routine becomes hard and irk
some. But in the face of obstacles,
the 1907 team has shown a willing
ness for hard work that has been an
aid and inspiration.
Ono of the pleasing and encouraging
features too, has been' tho attitudo of
tho 'Varsity substitutes, They have
shown that spirit which makes win
ning teams, that loyalty to tho inter
ests ot the University which subor
dinates tho interests of tho individual
to tho interests of all. This is tho
spirit which will always make Ne
braska a tough proposition for any
opponent. It is the spirit which should
develop and grow at this Unlvorslty,
and become part and parcel of the
cregd of each student.
"KING' COLE.
THE NEW RULES
By F. D. CORNELL
Twenty years ago the gamo of foot
ball had little resemblance to tho
gamo that it afterwards became.
Tho ball was put in play by a kick
or snapped back by tho foot and "In;
torforenco" was Illegal, as a flayer
was considered off side who was
downs, . permitting ono forward pass
to each scrimmage and .enactjnga
rule which placed all players' on side
tho instant a punt touched tho ground.
Formerly weight and tedm wdrk wero
tho. main essentials, -Now a .good
punter and drop kicker is of enormous
nttiBt be agile and speedy, tho back
fast and able to make long passes and
every player skillful in all depart
ments of tho game-; and yet" thero
aro still great possibilities in strong
lino smashing.
Tho ten-yard limit to bo mado In
three downs has rondorod it very dif
ficult for a team to gain consistently
by "straight football" so that a punt,
forward pass or trick play usually
follows two or three attompts at tho
line. Who will say that it is moro
interesting to watch several two hun
dred pound giants push each other
around than to spo a beautifully exe
cuted forward pass, a long twisting
punt or swift ond run?
In tho Colorado-Nebraska gamo tho
ball was punted moro than fifty times
and there wero at loast a dozen well
executed forward passes.
It Is anybody's gamo now, Instead
of a forogonojoncluslon. In tho East
thlB year, Cornell beat Princeton,
Princeton beat Carlisle, Carllslo beat
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania boat Penn
Stato and Penn State heat Cornoll.
With tho elimination of weight as
tho principal essential In q player,
thero remains a much larger, propor
tion of studonts who may becomo suc
cessful playors in this noblo gamo,
and If the now rules have dono noth
ings olso, they havo dono their share
towards abolishing tho unsoomly
scramble for giants among tho largor
colleges, and consequently tho tend
ency townrds professionalism.
Nebraska had an easy time with
Doano Saturday, winning by the
largest score of the season, 8 6to 0.
The Cornhusker banquet will take
place December 14th. Tho people in
charge of this annual feast aro plan
ning to make It a big success. Bo
sure to attend.
ahead of the man with tho ball. Onpjpoance; . -the ends and tackles
the other hand, tackling below tho
hips was also illegal, so that a runner
had a bettor chance to dodge and
elude a tackier than he now has.
Tho players wero drilled rijalnly In
falling on tho ball, punting, drop
kicking and passing tho ball, and tho
gamo was an open, spectacular con
test of running, kicking and much
passing of tho ball, with-o-vory small
amount of lino bucking.
About 1889 tho rules were amended
to permit a player to run ahead of
the man carrying the ball and to block
off tacklers with tho body.
From this "Interference" waB de
veloped and from that Important
change camo mass plays, tandems,
Hying wedges and other formations in
which solid masses of men carried
arourid tho field' a ball which might
as well have been an imaginary ono
as far as its actual use w,as con
cerned. It camo to tho point where
the ball was seldom punted and it was
often considered a better policy to
tako the 'ball back twenty yards and
retain it than to kick It and lose pos
session of It. Everything was sacri
ficed to retain possesion of tho ball.
Thus tho game of football whose
moBt export playors had been tho men
who woro tho speediest runners, tho
most ofllcient kickers and skillful
dodgers, and whore skill id some ono
department was .tho chlof wlomont of
success, had changed Into' a sort ot
tug of war contest in which brute
strength and weight becamo the main
element of succoss.
Tho flying and V-shapod wedges and
such playB woro seen to bo too severe
on tho playors and wero soon abol
ished, but tho other foaturos of tho
gamo woro not changed. A touch
down was tho. main object to bo at
tained and with but flvo yards to
mako in threo trials ,a. well drilled
team was pretty certain to cover .a
largo amount of territory before com
pelled to surrender tho ball, although
proceeding only two yards at a time.
As end runs often resulted In losses,
teams preferred to charge tho line
again and again, where thoy woro cor
taln of a gain, however small it
might bo.
Hence it became incumbent on tho
college which desired a winning team
to scour tho country for big men, the
bigger tho bettor, for weight had be
como tho ono element most necessary.
Open field play disappeared and tho
gamo as a rule' was a slow, cumbrous
"push" gamo.' Not only tho rosult,
but tho score of two-thirds of tho
games could bo predicted before
hand within a very few points. A
majority of tho games played by the
groat Michigan teams of 1902 and
1903 woro won by scores of GO and
70 to 0, while tho losing teams had
not a ghost of a show to oven 'score.
This was called sport.
Last'year tho rules cqmralttpo mado
tho most radical alterations in tho
rules which had yet been mado In ono'
year. The most Important of these
were- extending to ton yards the Ave
yards necessary, to be gained in three
ATHLETIC FIELD QUE8TION.
(Continued from Pago 2.)
such an act is against tho wlshos of
a largo majority of tho undergradu
ates and alumnao. It Is truo that our
campus is crowded, but then nobody
has a right to kill ono department in
order to glvo another a little more
room. Especially is this truo when
tho departments aro of equal Import
ance. It is not justice If tho Regents
aro not ablo to provide another place
for athletics, thoy should loavp all
tho departments a little crampod until
they can get another athletic field.
The athletic department has been
crowded and pinched for several
years and our field has been smaller
than regulation size for somo time.
We, realizing tho crowded condition
of our campus, havo not complained
and havo gladly put up with things.
But when thoy tako our entire field
and glvo it to another department
without saying a word or without pro
viding other grounds for ub, it is tlrao
to object.
iu u iww wuuiiB it wm uo umo ior
basoball and track woric. Whore aro
wo going to hold 'those spring sports?
Will wo havo to suspend athletics?
Something must bo done soon in or
der to get grounds ready by spring.
Will the ptudontsralse thoir voices
in protest agnlnBt tho destruction ot
our athletics or will they stand by,
without, saying a word, and -witnesB
tho death" df this important' depart
ment of tho University, of Nebraska?
--ij
!,
M
t
,t