The Yale Team and Season.

Following is a review of the football season at Yale and a criticism of the team, published by courtesy of the Yale News:

Today the work of the Yale football team will close for the season with the annual game with Harvard. Actual training for the team started on September 19, when about twenty men reported for preliminary practice. Before the opening of college this number had increased to forty-five. Of these Hogan, Kinney, Roraback, Bloomer, Shevlin, Rockwell, Bowman, Owsley and Hare were former members of the team.

The principle problem that confronted the coaches was the development of a new set of backs, for Owsley was the only running back left on the squad who had played in a championship game. In the early part of the season Shevlin was tried at fullback but it was soon evident that he was not the man for the position and he was again put at end. Instead of having so much weight behind the line, it became the plan of the coaches to develop a somewhat lighter but faster set of backs. The number of this kind of backs was large and it was a considerable problem to select the best men, but the judgment of the coaches in their choice for the Princeton game was clearly shown to be good, as the work of the backfield was little short of marvelous.

Another problem of a very serious nature was the developing of a punter, for Bowman had to leave the squad early in the season because of injuries. Many men were tried but none seemed of more than average ability. At last Hoyt began to show up, and his kicking in the Columbia and Brown games was excellent. In the Princeton game he out-kicked Roulon-Miller. The end position, left vacant by Captain Rafferty, was for a long time a source of considerable worry, but finally Neal, who was not at first expected to be able to play, recovered completely from his injuries and took the position.

The problem in the line was not difficult. Four men were back from last year's team and Tripp was soon found to be a fixture. Some changes have been made in positions, however, Kinney going to guard and Bloomer to tackle. From the first games of her schedule Yale seemed to have about an average team. The main fault was fumbling and it was a long time before this was overcome. In other ways the improvement has been steady throughout the season. The defeat at the hands of West Point seemed to give the team a great brace and in the next game Columbia was beaten by the large score of 34 to 0, the team playing a hard, consistent and, at times, a brilliant game. The play in the Princeton game was all that could possibly be asked for and, with the week of comparative rest, broken only by light practice, Yale should put a stronger team in the field today than went against Princeton.

To the efforts of Head-coach Rafferty together with E. T. Glass '04S., and W. L. Mitchell '04, both of whom assisted daily at practice, the present condition of the team is largely due. While these men were the main factors in coaching, the work of the following graduates, who have returned at different times to coach, has been invaluable: R. Townsend '00S., S. O. Vanderpoel '03, F. A. Hinkey '95, F. S. Butterworth '95, G. Adee '95, H. P. Olcott '01, G. Goss '03, P. T. Stillman '95, H. Metcalf '04, S. B. Thorne '96, C. Gould '02, C. T. Weymouth '02 L. S., W. H. Corbin '89, A. H. Sharpe '02 M. S., B. Chamberlain '97S., F. T. Murphy '97, W. T. Bull '88S., V. C. McCormick '93S., and W. Camp '80.