News

HMS Is Facing a Deficit. Under Trump, Some Fear It May Get Worse.

News

Cambridge Police Respond to Three Armed Robberies Over Holiday Weekend

News

What’s Next for Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery Initiative?

News

MassDOT Adds Unpopular Train Layover to Allston I-90 Project in Sudden Reversal

News

Denied Winter Campus Housing, International Students Scramble to Find Alternative Options

Mr. Camp on the FootBall Outlook for 1888.

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

Walter C. Camp, the great football authority, says that the football season of 1888 will be the most severely contested struggle since the game has been played. Mr. Camp thoroughly understands the sport; he has carefully studied the teams which are to participate this fall, and knows every man's weakness and strength. Hence his words have great weight, and those who are interested in the outlook will do well to considerattentively the following remarks of Yale's old ex-captain:-

"After their disastrous defeat at Cambridge, the Princeton team played without snap, and in an altogether discouraged way when they met Yale. All they cared for was to get through without disgrace, and then-then to set every possible wheel in motion to win in 1888. What is the result? They have brought back two of their team of 1886-two men who were noted then as their strongest players, one of whom had been elected captain of the team of 1887, but had been unable to return for that year. They have made arrangements for the most systematic management and coaching. They have a graduate committee and an executive committee, both bringing all their powers to bear in giving the team every assistance and encouragement. Indeed it has been commonly stated that if they do not succeed in recovering the lost ground this year. Princeton will drop out of athletics. With such a spirit, and with the resources at their command the Princeton football team for 1888 will not be the weak and discouraged set of men who faced Yale last year. They will have all they want of the last year's team, and the open places will be filled by veterans of former years.

Harvard will find that Princeton's line cannot be opened up as it was last year, when these men are back in it. Moreover, the aggressiveness which was so manifestly lacking in the Jersey team is being once more instilled into them. Instead of a strong defensive game, their style will be markedly offensive.

"And what has Yale with which to meet these two rivals-one desperate with defeat and the other confident of her strength. Yale takes up the contest with one element in her favor, and that is the enormous amount of material from which to draw her men and against whom to practice the ones selected. Yale's succession of victories has brought to her doors many men who, were it not for their love of football, might have strayed to other colleges. The desire to be on the Yale team has inspired them to hard work in the preparatory schools, and the opening day of practice-found enough men on the Yale field to make up two separate games. This means about 50 men from whom to choose the half dozen necessary for the university. More than this, it means a team picked from the remaining 40 to give the university practice. This has been for years a strongly-marked feature in the Yale game. Her team always show by their play in a match that they have been pitted against strong and good men in practice, whereas the other teams give evidence of having enjoyed too easy victories over the 'scrub' side.

"The probabilities are strong that, by the 1st of November, the Harvard team will be playing a game almost identical with the one they used and lost by last year. The only question is will their eyes not be opened between that time and the day on which they meet Yale?" Mr. Camp concludes with the following terse generalizations:

"Harvard will play the close, driving game, pushing and plunging ahead with no let up so long as they can make their five yards. Yale will play for more carefully planned opportunities, varying her game with an occasional kick and manipulating her men with greater rapidity and more precision. Princeton will play the most dashing forward game of them all. Her rushers will get through more quickly and sharply and will be down the field faster on a kick. She will take far greater chances than any of the rest, and while not playing much faster than Yale, will be more surprising because more reckless.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags