JIMMIE KNOX PREDICTS UNEXPECTEDLY CLOSE CONTEST WITH CENTRE

"The Centre College game Saturday is almost sure to be a far closer contest than any but the closest students of football expect," said Coach Jimmie Knox of the Second Team recently in an interview with a CRIMSON reporter. "Although much has been said about the strength and weakness of the Centre College team, it undoubtedly possesses the essential assets of a successful team in that it has an ample amount of very excellent material, an experienced and thoroughly qualified coach, and the advantage of playing together for more than one season. In many respects the game is apt to be a duplicate of last Saturday's contest between Yale and Boston College. In addition to the three essential factors above mentioned, Centre, like Boston College, will present a sufficient number of star players to carry the team at its highest efficiency throughout the game. In the matter of material, the Centre College eleven will weigh practically as much as the University team. Harvard's opponents will come to Cambridge Saturday with two ends, a center, and two backs who would be able to gain positions on any big college team in the country. Supplementing these men will be a powerful quartet of linesmen and an unusually effective backfield. Besides this, Coach Moran can play his first team to the limit from the beginning of the game because he has an ample number of substitutes to call upon in case of necessity.

"Charlie Moran, the coach, has been a player, official, coach and ardent student of the game for more than 20 years, and is working along sound and rational lines. He is bringing into play all of the better football that he has seen over a long number of years.

Many Veterans on Team

"The majority of the men on the team have played together for two seasons, and the few men that graduated last year have been replaced by others of equal, if not greater ability. While it is true that Centre College has not met serious opposition this season, these same men were able to beat West Virginia on the Saturday after the latter beat Princeton by a wide margin. Besides this, they were able to beat Indiana by practically the same score as Notre Dame beat this team. They also defeated the University of Virginia by the score of 49 to 6, while Harvard playing the same team two weeks later (and consequently that much further along in its development) was only able to win 47 to 0. Centre College will come to Cambridge with its entire team available as they have had no losses from injury.

"Through a mistaken idea, football followers, who are not acquainted with inside football, have the impression that anything except the play of the big eastern teams must be erratic. While this is not true in general, especially is it not true of Centre College, which owes its success to date of cleverly executed plays which are absolutely sound in principle. Defensively the Centre College eleven plays up to the standards and ideals of the bigger eastern colleges. It would be the worst possible folly to conclude that Centre College would not prove a worthy adversary to the University team, and far harder to beat than any opponent on the Harvard schedule except Yale and Princeton. With the game coming as it does before the University team has reached the full efficiency of its development, it is very apt indeed to be a struggle in which even a narrow margin victory will be distinctly welcome.