AS WE SEE OUR GREAT RIVALS

Harvard's four big football opponents--Michigan, Brown, Princeton, and Yale--have all been working out for some time, Princeton and Yale having their first games scheduled for today.

The Prospect at Michigan.

The Michigan contest is arousing much interest in the West. Michigan, which was a close rival with Chicago for the leadership of the conference before its withdrawal in 1905, ranks very near the top among the middle western teams. The outcome of the game may therefore be fairly taken as indicating the respective merits of eastern and western football. Because Michigan is a more representative institution, the clash with Harvard will be more significant in this respect than the contest between Notre Dame and the Army, or between Notre Dame and Yale.

Coach Fielding H. Yost has been drilling his squad of forty men at Ann Arbor since September 5. With an unusually exacting schedule before him, he has been facing the large task of building up an entire new line, and of filling the halfback vacancy caused by the graduation of Craig, mainstay of last season's eleven. The weakness of the line is a serious problem, none of the green material looking especially promising. The departure of veterans has left five big holes, with no valuable substitutes, even those available being a little under weight.

The quarterback position will be filled by Hughitt, a speedy player with more experience than anyone else on the team. In Lyons, the team may boast at least one good end. Splawn, from the Freshman team, is a dropkicker of more than usual accuracy, but his inexperience is militating against him in the competition for a permanent place in the backfield. Another sophomore star, Maulbetsch, has already cinched the fullback position.

Rich Material at Brown.

The authorities at Brown are optimistic over their prospects, the largest squad in history--forty-two men--having reported. Not only is the material abundant, but a large share of it is surprisingly good. A nucleus of seven veterans remains, not to mention a dozen substitutes who played in part of one or two games. These, combined with the new men are sure, the coaches believe, to produce a powerful eleven.

The backfield, in spite of the fact that it will be made up entirely of new men, promises to be the strongest Brown has had in years, having both weight and speed. The most likely candidates for the rush positions are: Huggenweig, Gordon, and Norcross. The line will be more of a problem. While there is an abundance of fairly good material, the squad does not contain enough stars for the line to be fully commensurate with the backfield.

Princeton Backfield Strong.

Princeton has been making marked progress in the last week, and the team seems to be rounding nicely into form. The present indications are that the team will rely mainly on the open game. Such was announced as the policy earlier in the season, and the daily practices have been directed largely to the same end. Scrimmages were inaugurated about ten days ago, the men being pushed to the limit to get them into condition early.

The material for the backfield is especially promising. Glick appears the most likely man for quarter, no one else having been given a serious try-out there. Law and F. Trenkmann, Baker's running mates last year, are in fast company, and will have to work hard to hold down their jobs against Driggs, Dickerman, and Tibbott. The latter is especially dangerous in an open field.

The line material, however, is green, and will take a lot of work to get it into shape. With seven tried candidates, the end positions will be adequately taken care of. But the remainder of the forward section, especially the guards, is not up to scratch. Shenk, all-American guard of two years ago, is now ineligible and will not be able to play unless he passes certain conditional examinations.

Substitute Linemen at Yale.

The Yale squad has been receiving most thorough drill in fundamentals, Coach Hinckey being determined to eradicate the major weakness of the past two seasons, and to avoid having to revert in the middle of the season to elementary points. No great amount of attention has yet been given to scrimmage formations.

The backfield is very well taken care of, two fast sets having already been formed. On the first are Wilson, Knowles, Ainsworthy, and LeGore. Captain Talbott, at tackle, is the only veteran on the line, and even he is not considered heavy enough to play efficiently through the whole of a hard struggle. The ends are being filled by substitutes from last year, one of them being Braun, who played in most of the Harvard game. Both White and Way have been lost to the squad, and Guernsey is ineligible pending the result of examinations. The material, however, is far above the average, and the new men should round into shape nicely.

Yale meets the University of Maine in her first contest. The game will be watched with interest because of the unexpected defeat which the Blue eleven met from the hands of this same team last year.