.fM.,V-
THE DAILY NEBEAflKAN
THE TRIUMPH OF THE "NEW GAME"
When in 1905, following an unprecedented list of casualties re
sulting from collegiate football, the outcry went up from the throats
of those who had for years opposed the game, demanding that it bo
cither abolished or, as it were, "denaturized," there was no friend
of the game so strong of heart or so hopeful of the future, that he
could forsee anything but oblivion and chaos in the football that
might be played thereafter, if indeed the game were not to die out
entirely.
The game, as it was then played, had been developed to a fin
ished point. It was a game of, and for strong and powerfully built
men, mighty of leg and arm,' who were trained to move like batter
ing rams, in huge masses upon the opposing players, and drag them
selves through, over, or around them for a few feet or yards at a
time.
The end run was a play used only as a strategic measure to open
up the defense, and' the principal reliance of every coach of every
big college team, was upon what is known now as "straight foot
ball." It was a foregone conclusion that the team that could stand up
under the heaviest "line bucking" that its opponents might hurl upon
it, would bo the victor in the long run. The five men inside the
ends on the line were the mainstay on defense, the ends mrely play
ing wide to turn in such attempts as might be made at the wings.
Tho.only trick plays were delayed single passes, a double pass or
two, and occasionally a "criss-cross." ,
Passing the ball for great distances eithor forward or back was
a thing unheard and undreamt of. Muss plays on tackle; guard and
tackle-back formations, and tandem plays from the backficld were
relied upon as the greatest ground gainers, and these plays, when
pulled of! properly by well coached and heavy men, were xcccdingly
difficult to stop without a gain of from one to throe yards.
It was in these gruelling, grinding, steam-roller plays that most
of the injuries seemed to occur, and the first step taken by the Rules
Committee at its meeting in 1905 was an attempt to eliminate this
style of football, which meant that the whole system of piay, as then
used, was to be abolished at a blow.
The method first adopted was simple. It was embodied in a
rule, adopted after much discussion pro and con, that the distance
to be gained in three attempts or downs, should thereafter be ten
yards instead of five.
"When news of this spread over the country, a feeling of disgust
swept through the entire college world. No coach could hope to
develop a team so huge and powerful that it could consistently gain
such distances against opponents of anything like big team calibre.
To many it seemed the death of football.
To remedy the loss of this style of play the Rules Committee then
added the "Forward pass rule," but a far different rule than the
one now in effect.
Like the ten yard rule, it was met with ridicule and disapproval,
but it stuck, and, on April 18th, 1906, the revised rules were .tried
for the first time in a game between Nebraska and Doane college,
which resulted in a score of 5-0 in favor of Nebraska. Dr. J. T. Lees,
who was a member of the rules committee, reported favorably on the
possibilities as evidenced by that game, and the New Football had
come to stay.
Since that time there has been much change even in the new
game. The ten yard rule has remained unchanged, but the forward
pdss rule has been changed three times ; eacli chango being directed
toward, furnishing protection for men receiving these passes, who, it
was discovered, were often badly injured when hit while in strained
or awkward positions. The penalty for fumbled passes has now been
done away with on tho first two downs ,and no one is permitted to
interfere in any way save by catching the ball, with anyone attempt
ing to receive a forward pass fro mono of his own team.
Tho ten yard rule did not at once, however, do away with tho
hated mass-play. Tacklo-back and wedge formations were still used
a great deal n?ar the goal line, and the stream of injuries showed
littlo diminution, Tho coaches shrank from a stylo of play which
kept the ball in the air, and increased tho chances of fumbling when
-in-dangorous-tcrntoryrand-still-clung-to-the-smashing-systemT
A final stop was put to this system' of play, however, when the
rule forbidding pushing or pulling of tho man with the ball was
adopted, and it would seem, too, that this has marked the last step
in the early development of the "New Game," and that from now
on, but little change in the rules will bo necessary.
The game has been. re-organized. Tho massive football has dis
appeared, and in its stead has como a game which, contrary to the
predictions of tho followers of tho old sport, calls for oven more
perfect tea-mwork and collaboration on the part of the, players than
before.
Tho man with tho ball can no longer bo pushed, dragged or car
ried bodily down the -field. Instead ho must have holes opened for
him by his line men, or perfect interference on the part of his
fellow backs. Ho must run with his eyes owen alert for tho
smallest opening, and he must fight furiously for every inch on a play
through the line, for ho is but ono against many, and there are' no
rules against pushing or pulling against him by tho other team.
Consequently quick dashes into tho lino, havo replaced tho old
slow masses on tackle; brilliant shifts and forward passes have
done away with tho tirao honored criss-cross, and punting, far from
being the defensive measuro of the old days, s now used as a full
brother to tho forward pass, as a ground gaining possibility.
The present year has, to all appearances, vindicated tho fathers
of the new game in their original contentions. Play has been more
open and spectacular than ever before, and tho injuries so nruoiitly
charged to football by tho many opponents of the game, havo been
chiefly noticeable by their absence from the pages of the yellow press.
It seems at present as if tho new game had passed 'through the
period of experimentation, and that from now on, real development
will be possible without hindrance from changing rules. The game
has lived through the period of disfavor, and the voices of tho
calamity howlers are hushed, for tho time, at least. Let us hope thoy
are dead forever,. and that football may continue to develop in itself
and grow in popular favor. p
It is, and always has been, the King of collegiate sports:
FORMfR NEBRASKA WITH MICHIGAN
LbbbbbbbbV
Stanley Wells, who is prob
ably the most luminous of all of
Coach Yost's aggregation of
stars, is a former Lincoln boy,,
and is said to havo played - his
first game of football whilo a stu
dent at Lincoln high school some'
years ago.
He left Lincoln before gradua
tion but did not forget to keep
up with his football, and last
year was chosen by a majority
of the football authorities as an
end on the envied 'all-America"
football team.
Wells has been playing with
Michigan three years and the
game today will be his last, so
that he has the unique distinction
of playing both his first and last
games in Lincoln. Wolls was in
jured in the game with Pennsyl
vania last Saturday, but it is
thought that he will be able to
get in for a portion of tho game,
at least.
FOOTBALL MEN GOOD SCHOLARS
That Nebraska's pignkin chasers arc not only football players
of championship calibre, but as a rule, more than- mediocre scholars
as well, is revealed by a glance at the grades turned in on the
men making up the first squad at the. close of the first quarter"
which this year is ( simultaneous with the closing of tho football
season. ,
Of the 22 men who made up tho squad this year, but two- hove
been delinquent at any time during the entiro season. One of these
left school early in the spring, and had but to take his examinations
in order to bo eligible, and the other, through bad luck in, a math
test was below grade for but a fetf days.
All' the rest of tho men earaetjirough scathless, and some of
them with very high grades. Owen Frank, tho peerless half-bacl
is probably tho man with the best all around record, although his
brother Ernest, Qus" Lofgren, Walter Chauner and Captain Shonka,
the 'greatest of, Western tackles, are not far in the rear.
Both cases of delinquency were among the second string men,
and not a versity man was touched.
