Harvard Has Won 24 Out of 30 Games in Battles With Indians Since 1884

Thirty games are on the record of football relations between Harvard and Dartmouth since the scoring system was first used. The first time touchdowns were given a numerical value in a game against the Hanover team was in 1884, when the Crimson returned from the New Hampshire field with a 29 to 0 verdict. It was the first of 24 such victories the Crimson was to claim, while losing four and tieing two.

Such a record against the Wah-Hoo-Wah's is only shadowed by the totals of the points secured during this thirty-game rivalry. Against 97 for Dartmouth the University amassed 634, a total the size of which can only be explained by the immense scores that were made possible by the earlier system of rules. In 1886, the Crimson blanked the Green to the tune of 70 points, while in the next encounter of the two teams, the Crimson set the high mark of 74 points.

Tinged with Crimson as such a record is, its closing chapters show a much greener hue. Two of the four Dartmouth victories have been scored in the past two years, and in the three games that have been played between the two Universities since the resumption of play after the ten year split that began in 1912, the Crimson can boast but one green scalp, that from the tomahawk of Owen in 1922. Both verdicts since then have gone to the invaders.

Rush Line Talked too Much

"The Dartmouth rush line averaged 175 pounds and have been playing strictly since they played Yale. There were no points of special interest in the game. The score stood at the end 29 points to 0 in our favor. Kimball kicked a goal from the field, our touchdowns were made, from three of which goals were kicked and Dartmouth made one safety. Our rush line tackled well and got down on the ball together. Finney and Hurd rushed finely, while Phillips played a steady, reliable game throughout. Kimball made several pretty runs and dodged very well, while Peabody tackled splendidly. The halfbacks were, however, lamentably weak in kicking, apparently using very little headwork. The centre rush should snap the ball back without wasting so much time, and the quarterback should take in the situation better and know more surely what is the correct thing to do with the ball. If the rush line had not talked so much to the referee and to their opponents, their play would have been much better than any of their previous work this year."

The comparison predicted by the CRIMSON between the 113 points scored against the Green by Yale and the 29 by the Crimson, proved justified. A fortnight later, the Crimson travelled to New Haven and lost the fourth game of its schedule of 11, to the Blue outfit, 42 to 0. The game according to the account in the CRIMSON, drew "spectators to the number of 2000. Among them were about thirty Harvard men, who went down from Cambridge, and several other graduates, who had come on with ladies from New York, Boston, and elsewhere.

The same CRIMSON that published an account of this game, which was the seventh successive win of the Blue over the Crimson, devoted its entire editorial column to a discussion of the game. That the failure of the eleven to make a creditable showing against either Princeton or Yale was due entirely to the miserable, apathetic, athletic spirit of Harvard," seemed the verdict. Part of the editorial follows:

"If the secret of our utter failure in the league series is not found to rest upon the management or the team, we must obviously seek further for a satisfactory explanation of the situation. And we are fully convinced that the shame of the record that we have made is to be laid at the door of the college as a whole. The trouble may be traced to the very beginning of the year. So little interest was felt in the sport, that only a handful of men attended the annual football meeting in Holden. The strong and heavy men of the college refused point blank to take the trouble even to try for the eleven. Under these circumstances the inferior physique of our eleven need excite but little surprise. Yet, after all, how striking a commentary on the miserable, apathic, athletic spirit of Harvard, the result of this year's work has been! While our rivals find difficulty in selecting a man to fill a vacant place owing to the large number of candidates, we are fain to be satisfied if we can get together eleven fairly strong men, without regard to their knowledge of the game."

Becoming Perhaps too Brutal

Whether it was the result of the failure of this 1884 team, or whether there was some foundation in the theory that the game had become too brutal, the following notice appeared in the CRIMSON of the next morning.

"The Committee on Athletics, having become convinced that the game of football, as at present played by college teams, is brutal, demoralizing to players and spectators, and extremely dangerous, propose to request the Faculty to prohibit the game after the close of the present season.

Students interested in the game, and wishing to show cause why such action should not be taken, will be heard at a special meeting of the Committee to be held at the Hemenway Gymnasium, on Monday, December 1, at 7.30 o'clock."

In the entire decade from 1878 to 1888 comparatively few men knew much about football. The few who did had to struggle against their opponents, Yale and Princeton, who were then at the top of their football supremacy. In 1882, Harvard had defeated Princeton by a touchdown, followed by a goal from the field, but the promise it showed in this win was belied when later it lost to Yale.

Four straight years of defeat by the Blue, however, there being no game in 1888, seems to have had an effect on the Harvard undergraduates, for in the fall of 1889, enthusiasm, ran high at a mass meeting when withdrawal from the Association was again voted and carried out. This time, however, the Yale game was continued, and the year 1890 saw the Crimson eleven finishing its season in a blaze of glory, winning 12 to 6 from one of the strongest teams of Yale history. A. J. Cumnock '91 was the Crimson leader.