Variety (Dec 1928)

Wednesday, December 6, 1928 SPORTS VARIETY 41 Oregon-Stanford-And How! By Sid Silverman yor » ieam that Wiis supposed ]^ P9 train weary and with a Biedlocre eeason of three defeats tteblnd it, the Oregon Aggies gave a frepty good imitation of a wha,le a football team up at the Yankee Stadium last Thursday. It ^ras one of : those days when the winning t6am had ievery thing, jlothing wad wrong and everything picked. In trimming N. T. U 25 to is the Oregon farmers reminded ftrongly of Zuppke's *25 Illinois team which reached Philadelphia to play a strong Pennsylvania «quad with just . prayer and Grange. In cage you don't recall, the well known, redhead iside- ■tepped, changed pace, cut back and twirled Perm into a 24 to 2 de- feat behind i. line which completely smothered the Penn forwards and gave Grange wliat seemed to be ^ minutes to get started. Oregon played just such a game against Meehan's highly touted out- fit. These Westerners had ho Grange but they had four or five IWMSks who coiild . grace any squad with distinction and a quarterback jn Maple, their captain, who con- tinually outguessed the N. T. U. de- fense and seemed to be two plays ahead of every mian on the field. It was a remarkable exhibition when you consider that these boyo had just hopped Qtt a train from the full cross-country Jaunt. Called Oregon "Ham Team** And this is the hunch Pete Rey- nolds called the next thing to a Joke. Reynolds, who formerly coached Syracuse, went to the Coast especially to scout State for Ueehan. He came back and told Chick, "they've got a ham football team out there," and then pro- ceeded to give the scrubs the Bieaver. plays to try against the varsity. Maybe Pete scouted the wrong team. No question that the uptown con- tingent was a bit . stale. When three and four men'on a good teani hit a runner aiid can't hold him, that team has had too much foot- baill, It's the price. N. Y. U. paid for the Carnegie Victory and only four days : of rest. Lassman, New York's highly valued tackle, being ©lit means nothing as there's . no basis to believe that h© would have been less tired thar. the rest of the Purple and White outfit. Arid. N. y. U. was tired. On the other hand, Meehan's contingent at its best would have had a very busy afternoon with Oregon as it played on Turkey Day. It came from be- hind not to win, but to romp. If anyone computed the yardage gained from scrimmage'the results must show that the Beavers out- rushed N. T. ,U. by more than two to one on a dry field, the kihd New York llke.«j. From the time N, T. U. scored its first touchdown, in the opening three or four minutes, this column doesn't recall N. T. U. be- ing in possession of the ball, inside of Oregon's 35-yard line until the last, three minutes of the game jwjien Riordani^ N. Y. U. back, in- tercepted a pass and^FaTl'^some 30 yards to the Aggies' 30-yard' stripe: This ultimately led. to New York's second touchdown. Prioi to that Oregon was forcing the play deep in N. Y. U. .territory, which it had been doing all afternoon, and spent most of the fourth quarter, pepper- ing the looalitcs . end zbne . with Pa.ssps instead of playing a de- fpn!?ivr. game on tlip strcn.i^tli. of an 18 point lead. . . . Maple Game'c Highlight '. Strong's long gallop of 4o yeu'ds in the opening minutes was his .solr rocket of the.niatine.e. Thi..s event- ually put N. Y. .U. on the visitorf-; 10-yard h'nc where tliey hold, in- tercepted a pass, took the ball and weakly kicked out. Strong stepped off a 16-yard dash on the resultant march to a touchdown from the 35- yard mark. After that he .ilmply looked like a good, hard running J'il^?.k^r_eve^nted-J"r^^ 11 i n g h i .s stuft by a line wliicli wrTs'aTlm^TiTK the dcfen.se through to blanket him or run him acrc^^s the fiold to thr sidelines. Hla was. a gamo. hui losing fight unwarranting the miit- t.ered razzing directed at him and "I-"? team by the New York-sup- nprtors throughoTU tho s-eoond half. Ouinp further into the individual l'hn.«e of the pnTne, no player sfn.od j ."•'t on the field like. Maj^lf. iri.< ' •Mdwork and .sel'-'Ction of pl'iy? was | as brilliant as his forwsgrd passing. There were times when N. Y. U. actually didn't know where the bail was as Maple mixed upi ott tackle cut backs with forwards, end sweeps, laterals, a spin play or two and a delayed buck from kick for- mation which N. Y. U, never seem.ed able to fathom.. Make no mistake about it, Oregon had a diversified offense and Maple put it on display for fuU worth. A couple of instances win show how. the Beaver captain w.as out- guessing N.. Y. U. Along in the third period Strong made as per- fect a punt as has ever been booted, hitting the boundary line one yard short of the goal strip from about Oregon's 45-yard ilne.. Oregon immediately werit Into kick formation, New York put eight men 6i7 the line to block the kick and Maple, from behind his right guard, took the pass from' center, broke through a hole as wide as a room- and flashed along the side line until when they finally caught him the ball was 34 yards up thfe field. This ptat New^York In the hole algain, for when Oregon was forced tor kick, Foilet muffed the punt and ' the Beavers recovered 18 yanJs from home. The westerner's third touch down in the second period was also typical of Maple and the way his boys were ripping things up Hughes, Oregon's pre-game shoeless kicker, ran the kickoff aft^r the sec- ond, touchdown to mldfleld, a gain- ing line play or two and then Sher- wood broke around'his right , end on a lateral to his opponent's 29-yard line. A pass puvthe ball on the 6- yard line, an offside penalty theii brought it back to the H and Sher- wood outran the New "Tork second- aries around his right wing for a touchdown. The score wasn't al- lowed, offside again, so on the next play from the 16-yard line . Maple flattened one out. to McKallp, end, who grabbed the pass with one foot over and the'pther Inside the end zone. New York was switching from a 6-2-2-1 defense . in midficld to 5-3-2-1 when Oregon had the ball inside Its oWn 30-yard line as a result of a punt. Maple raised havoc with this five-mari line. . That de- layed buck from kick formation, with the supposed.punter taking the ball after a fake to a halfback, plus the..8-yard Start his line Was giving him, was good for any where from 3 to 15 yards time after time. Ore- gon adhered to a 7-1-2-1 defense throughout the game and was con- tinuously breaking up Strong's passes. One peculiar Incident was Strong catching his own pass after it rebounded .from a charging lea- ver's arms. He gained about three yards on the play, running. ahead 13 after the . boomorang .boiinco. Those Oregon Ends On this seaboard nobody knew much about Oregon before game time. A few football men under- stood the Beavers were supposed to have the best ends on the coast. That wasn't deemed sufflciont to stop Meehan's attack, nor did It seem feasible fn lieu of State's me- diocre season.-. But these .en.ds .were good. Mighty good, "other than the routine business of getting down., the field under punts, and not per- mitting therhselves to be boxed or taken out of the play, ait which they were expert on tliis day, the way these boys tore dowji and cut in tp get under Maple's Jong heavps' was sensational. Whltlock was far enough out front to snatch his ca))- tain's 45 yard heave, whon it canK' down, late in the first period and another and later explosion cujue as McKalip reached, up with hi.s ri.trlii hand and speared another long one. This same boy was waiting for a ^5 yard to.ss. to settle whon inter- ferf-nre ruled thi.s . pass complete. Sherwood ' was r'artiynlarly. dy- namic In carrying tile .ball. II''' wasn't so much .elii.'^lye as-fast and powerful. In fact Maple, Hughfs (Jilmoie. Owen and Kerr were figlit- .Ing for every inch. Ono back was doAvn a riir'Ui^r^riroe""tlTmjs^-^^^ yard.s from tlieJ point where h" wa.'^. first flattenf'd, and that wa.s a gain itself, It gives, an id^a of how N. v. IT. was tackling. In n-vf-rs" ratio, when a Manhattan rAinn'-r vena tackled he stayed that way. Oregon denu)nstraled son;" p'ln;.' laeklinp and mov" often than | not the N\ Y. T'. hall '•arrier w.'i" | f.'Hlijiu bac-k tfpward.'i his own goal | firoc'.n fontin'if.)i-ly ii.'.<-d a v)!!!"*.- Stanford's Spelling Practically all New York dallies commented with : some surprise upon the Stanford cheering section which ."sudden- ly cropped up. betweori halves, of the Army-Stanford game. Saturday, to spell o^t S-t-a-n- 'f-o-r-d and A-r-m-y with pieces of cardboard faced in red and white. Actually, the Stanford cheer- ing section consisted of one cheer leader, who had con)e on from the coast, and ahout;.Tao seathdlders In Section 45 of the Yank Stadium who were abso- lute strangers to each other . iaind to the collegiate exhorter, but who succumbed to a win- ning personality an.pl the spirit' of the occasion. Between halves Stanford's lone active representative hopped himself on. a rail and asked the crowd whether they'd go through for himi. Meanwhile the colored cards were pas.sed along the first 26 rows. Be- tween the heels of certain scat- holders appeared painted let- ters. Those who had their fo<^t • on the letters called for turned the white side of their card to the front at signal, everybody else holding red, and that's the way it was done. It ■was a remarkable demo n - stratloh of what an amiable personality can do with a foot- ball crowd. At one point when the cheer leader wanted, to change colors in a wave, hav-- ing each row reverse its card a,s its number was called, his voice gave out, with the mob behind him taking up the count to complete the effect. It's probably the first time a cheering section was 90 per cent in favor of the other team. patterned after Noire Dame's -Well known side step. Prom the stands the backfleld on close formations looked to be. almost In a square on either the right or left side of the line. These forwards included Schell, a giant tackle, who kept un- raveling the pile by picking up the players of both sides in each hand. Oregon's No.. 1 player Is namc<3 Hokiim. That doesn't go fpr the team as it played here. It's hard to belieye that an eleven which has lost three big Coast games can come on' and make a leading East- ern squad look as bad as these boys made N. Y. U. appear. If the other Pdclfic teams are that much better, oh a ..comparative .basis, at this writing there Is no telling what Stanford will do to Army. These Oregon big boys deserve a great big hand. Give it to 'em. STANFORD 26, ARMY 0 And after watching Stanford knock the props out from under Army, the remai-kable part of thi- l two Coast demonstrations is still that two teams can travel 3,000 miles and play the brand of foot- ball these schools did. Warner'.s boys showed the basically sound and hard driving type of play for which their coach Is famous. It looked particularly cyclonic because of the Cadets' almost complete surrender. The Soldiers were prac- tically :ln" a hole for 60 minutes on Saturday and couldn't get out ex- cept by • the wliLstle. • With the punch in their-attack gone, even. Murrell'fi punting went, awry and the Army found it.self in trouble for the rest of the day after this fullback's . first boot only, carri.ed 34 yards from: his l'.3-yard line to Stanford's 43. The fnturc lieiitenant.s. looked tired after the opening three' min- iitf'S and the shape they were in was indieated when Nave wa;: forced from the'field on the sixtJi play of the game. Xo alibi.s for the Pointers. On their best day they'd have had all they wanted from lh<'-.so westerners, "fbe old, old sfory was aKain told and It didn't take lonf.'. The answer wa.s, in the f'ardinul furward.s, whir) were eon- tinuoiisly under and out. ehart-'inK the eastern repre.s'ntati ves. In- ^<'ijlalj]y they hart that advance ti nie fra (7non'SWd "zei^T^rr*^^ wliich had the Army first line of deff-nsei or offf-nse, off balance wh'''n the impaet earne. So murh so that t)i" Cjidef.s never .'••topped War- Ti'-r'.s rcvci'-e play twic- ;ri smve.'-^- shiji •wirli fiif' rfHurnliiK baek rnt- '11.L' ,v. off h'lH Ciiiii'^'-lrr \:f<]:]i for m-yjnirt}.' nji to 20 y.'-.rd"- at /t clip. | St.-iiiford's \>n'-\<- ii "kftl '■low Jti j st:'r!.'ti^', yet ih'y maj havif- bc^r: ' taking- il.eir . ::mo . lo i.;. U t!u w hoh-s. Tl;i y iuul p'.i iit\ i>;' cm li. Tho diffiMt r.i^o. i.t'twiiu tl:i- li-;i!iis is sununid' up in tliat .••^•i;iMfiM-d punt^'d bnr t:;r«i' tiin'.s i!iront;li- oi!t the . f.:iiin . TiiiU's niori' eUtijUi-nt iiK'iii l-i'.ir 12- lir.'^i dovMis. .\Vh< m vff tlu - Army <rul - tii;".'.i> n lon^ t • lo taUi'. ImI! ihi> Cardinals wi'n- <o d«-u>. iri lu.iliiary territory ili,.t tlifv w'tT*- e.itlii>ir jiial<- ing a J'uial I ash lar. a lirvr down QV shoot mj.l; . .1. to'.it hdow n.. Cagle A Koi>d ii-ani clu \\ ' U'.oUs ■ bad whi.u bi^in.u' beati-n, but i^t vn.'.oi-d li.'ul e.hou^h to mViko Arni.V look worse, tlian that. For. the Soldiers tlvero wa.-^iVt. anyhod.v. ijn .tho■.fit.:hl but Cai,'lo, and this spar'Kling hixck more tlian ciiiee seemed to lie wear- ing .i, di.'^.uii.sted^ exi3r»'s^ioii. No nuir.o darhig e.xliibitiuii tif forward pass- ing ha.s ever bevn triven tlian by this boy, His eoniiiK t<- indiffereiiei^ to the oiii'onirii.Lj Stanfiinl ejuls w.is supvrb. He soomiHl to Uii,o\y. that lie could outrun thc.m to ihe sido- lines Or'take flight in full retreat and still get off his pa.ss. Jli.s con- fidence was fully justilied. Ho did thi.«! tbro\i.u]unit the afteruooiv ;ind on one of these pl.i'iys eo.nn»'eled for. a louehdowh; Th'-' ., tly ' in the ointnunt uas that out of a group of three Ai'iny reeeivorji an ineligible lineman caught the hall. It was one of the raie ooeasions upon; which any Soldier wV^i> un- covered and smacked of irony in that there were throe loose but bunched with the outla^v .snatching the heave. Had it been- good it would have tied the score at. the time. \ ■ : : ' Thi.«). happened fromi what started put to he a legithnate. end rim. ■Cagle ran wide around left end,' saw he cotildn't make it and so tore for that side line. Seeing the defensive right half had him blocked, he simply stopped, about faced and ietraced his path to keep on running until he spotted some- one to throw to. Plenty dangeroTTs, becau-se he; was always being edged back towards his own j;oal on these jaunts of doubling back on hi.s trail. Only once did Stanford' block any of these paa.ses, and that came .when. Cagle's protecting left halfback took the Cardinal's right "tackle instead of the end. Army recovered, the ball, but it left them with a third down and 40 yards to go. Cagle got. 20 of these back around his left end On the next piay, but he was still 'way short and the Cadet-j had to kick 'again.' It was pretty much of a one-mah fight and splendid in its futility. : Cagle's passing stand?; out not so much for lt.s accuracy as beoau.se he throws \Vhen in full flight. Neither Maple or Hoffman dupli- cated this, both Coa.Tt boys being set when letting the ball go for more than 15 yard.s. The big .Stan- ford captain did some nice aerial work himself, an xiriusual feature Dfi> which wore his receivers being equally stock still, set and waiting for the pas.'j. I.c Wa.s as thougli they had sign.s on . their backs to "keep off" and the Army believed It. The Soldiers must have been employing, a zone defense and evl-^ dently were afraid to move off post. Army's High Tackling Among Army's other defensive deficiencies there quickly developed an epidemic of high t.ackling. It was seldom a Soldier ever grabbed an opponent around the wai.st, leave alone the knees. Mo.st of the day they were grabbing .«jho,ulders, neck.s and~-'.'3j7triling^-the angle at which AVarner's youths were wcarr ing their helmets. Thiii n^it only resulted In many an extra yard gained agaiijst them but was the basic ca'u.se of Krentrup's 70-yard cantor for .Sianford'n final .score.- ~ P'rentrjip shot, wide around his own left end wl.Un fir/f. tl'." Arniy riglii end foi;'-ed bl-hj b':'^.l;v. ards but rni.ssod liiiii witli a high dive; thf-n Die ('.■id'-'l lii'lit t(ui;]f. di'i- jilicaled the .'♦{iring hoard antie and also ini-.-.ed. Ariotlier Army, man foo",v a sliot at Fientrup, mis.'-'-d him ' hh had the others, and hy tlils time tlie b.'ill carrier was elose to the third ha.Sf" side- line and being forced west when he v.aiit( d to go r-ast. Had either of tliesf three nif-n nalh-d the run- ner th'-re would liave been a 10- yard l(;ss on tlie play. After thr third nian had dubbeu his ap- pro.'ieh, Freiifriir. probably llKin-ed liTt'd--gK rm'-ri o I i.gh f-^..t ho.r.^bij.y^ chariee fio d^eided to make up some lo.st f-'rotiiid by cutting in short of the .'•■ideli[;e. \Vith the paek in full flif-'bt to\\.ar.d liirn, Frentj up wlggh'd throii^'h tli" i.-.a^-."-- .tnd eame out. on t)ie f'ti..'r '•ifle with a elear field afif.'id. the rerir Vjii;:r?i t 1m Ariny';- 7-'^-2 d'f'ri.'C li.'ivinp been .drawn In by M.e t; r'-Mi:'- j.;'i'ir.;.' '.n b< - b.'nd • }.< ; ( (.'■ fl. • 'ii.'i -.'. A l>n tty l un but ine.\vus,|'i^V' •'O far .1.^; Army i." eoUi'i rned. Grandstand Guessing .•\iin.\'s difeuso w.is d( j-li : ..i^Id 1>',.'. iIm' I'Mcnt to w hii'i . li i- .do- >'l« • 1.1 ted tlU'iSt bi ;e'' '. eii'tid ' 'llO power ill. tlo' S;.i lifi'i'd- line With .\rni\"s. wealviii ss in rt irl.i) i iin iits Known lby»i<i!,'Lio;i; ;!;e ,-.e.l.-.';l. -^eiiio ■ iliie.'-tii.n llilf .loi;. s .idivlited i.>!.lM of ixuivit)!? a ci'ivsta n'l jtrcaiii of sub- .'ii it V.Hion.') iMio t bi' boilir.'t; i-ot. Ili,i\\ever, tliMl's - e.'i,!i,I .'!..,• '4S t;ralui.'-!,ii;d .'i.tiil'i" aud (Un ui't in.e.i.h niU" ll Joties prob.li'iy kill \v befuVe iTiiint^ ..lime tli.it Tiis boys ■ >Mniiirt. stand the KalT ovf^r the' I'uH route. ■Witnci'sers re;iU/.ed . the s.niie tiling not long afterward. More■ gi'tiudst'and. .siiifp \\.'t'< .tluit- iho AV;irner forward par^s plays didn't .appear to have the dece']ition to mystify a defense Ti) the /'x^ent- Army wa.s. being fooled. Ye[, .ih«.re must have been many a decoy run- ning around down there to further befuddle a foggcKl Army .mind; Other than the reverse slant.'» and pa.sses, the .V;uh'ts ctiiildii't fathom ,';i)i.n plays. Tiino and agahi lloff- rnan and Fleishai'ker pUiii.u:ed thr.ougli with knees hip;h for nea,t iard.iKo on these iiidivldii.il whirls, alter faking to a eo^^worke.r. . The' i.miy iiejilibb- r;i( t'(n' aboiu llie .^lan- ford attack wan its weak lateral pa!^>=es, and they only tried live' or six of tlie.so, Arniy looked as if it coiild have used such a play to turn on Cagle's burning speed. The Cadets wore lucky to get oft at half time only si.x point.'.* to the •bad. ' Following the .start of the thirds quarter, .when Army made an initial flash and reached' the Stan- ford 15-yard mark, it waV. all Stan- ford again. From here the Cardi- nals, without lo.slng th*'' ball, rushed it ,to the defenders' 7-yard line where Army flnally held .and kicked to his own 44-yard stfipe, a terrific effort as the' Cadets were puntlrifif thia day. Aboiit the best indica«< tion of the westerners' superiority came right here when in just three plays they .were again but 1:2 yards from the Cadets' goal, find withotit a pas.s h.tvlng been thrown. On this march the third touchdown was. bOrn. Big Weekend, for Coast . It was a, big football weekend for the Coast. Both Stanford and ^Oregor) had great daj's and de- served every yard and point they gained. Oregon put on the most spectacular display; Stanford played the more orthodox football, and In defeat N. Y. U. looked better than Army. That three. Pacific team.s,. includ- ing Southern California, can each score four touchdowns against two fir.»rt line eastern teams and a good middle western outfit (Notre Dame) Is ii bitter pill to swallow for fans east of tli.e Mls.sissrppir That it may be easier for a team to come fi'om a warm climate into moder- ately .sn.appy weather is about the only con.'jolatlon. Both Oregon State and Stanford got great weather breaks and perfectly con-, ditionod field.s .in the Yank .Stadium. It's al.so true thjat the Soldiers and Moehan wanted this firm footing. The argument of succes.sive tough games may go In the case of N. Y. U.—but what about Stan- ford's 13—13 tic with California and then a 3,000-mile train ride? Sock! "VVhat a aeason. TOLEDO'S NEW DEAL Toledo, Doc. 4, Addisojii^ Thacher, veteran fight prornoter, rc-c^iIcTrTiTg tl'n?'gam'.-; here after a long absence,, rang the box office, bell on his first vfthture. Ad is introducing now ideas in his armory fights. First was having three 10-rbund battle's instead of 'one ni.'iin bout and a lot of prelims. N'<'Xt wan for-. bidding .'imoking. ■ Par. Champ Out fli;(/ige llomnK'l lost his Par- amount .studio golf clia.nipion'-hip when in the senii-rmal lie sue-., cu.nibed to Art Smith's bandir'ap- rating. Smith won at the j;ith Jiole. Smith will play the winner of the fJoi-don Jennings and hr. 11, J. .Strathearn matejj for the handicap ehanipionslilij. QUARTER'S FATHER'S SPREAD. ^ Father ' of J'ferb I-te]ker, .S t am iti^' P w''altlTy'"^^^ tfrb.M-k, tiir(w .a dirin(-r p.iity for Die I'.-irdinal team after ilie Army t:am- ,'< i turdiiy in the. Crysi:il Koom {if the KitZ. Four houi's laf-r the .M,'i.\'fair Ci'ib was enj'jjln.i? one. of its i,i!.y^i:H ni^'lits in the ^:^ i/ lOom. We.' tetn j.^rld s(ji:.id w< i.t over to "New Moon'-' a.': Uie evtt::;ig s ei>» •> 1 tnit.riif rit.