MICHIGAN TEAMS HAVE BEEN USERS OF "PUNT, PASS, AND PRAY" SYSTEM

Detroit News Staff

Michigan football teams, is the last dozen years or more, have been known as the leading exponents of the "Punt, Pass and Pray" school of football and this distinction has not been without justification. Michigan teams, at least the winning ones, have been touchdown and field goal teams but never first down teams. The losing teams, of which there were few, failed to make first downs with greater regularity than the winning teams. At times Michigan's inability to make first downs closely approaches genius.

Fielding Harris Yost, the man responsible for what Michigan calls her system of play, long ago subscribed to the fact that points scored and not first downs win games and he proceeded to mould his teams accordingly. The first thing Mr. Yost always did was to develop a good center. With a list headed by "Germany" Schulz he can undoubtedly point to the largest collection of first-class centers developed by any coach in football.

Develop Kickers

After the center Mr. Yost developed a good kicker. Few Michigan teams have lacked a punter of the first rank. Then, when the forward pass became established, he sought to have a capable passer each season. And a place kicker.

With a good center, passer, punter and place-kicker, the rest of it did not worry Mr. Yost much. His object was to school his team in defense, teach them football (at least as much football as he possibly could) and impress upon them the value of following the ball.

This has been the system that Michigan has followed for a long, long time. After Mr. Yost retired as active coach his successors were asked to work along the same lines and since the successors (head coach and assistants) knew only Michigan football, nearly all of them having joined Mr. Yost's coaching staff as soon as they graduated, they perpetuated his policies.

Play Alert Football

Michigan football teams have piled up winning records because they played alert football. They made fewer mistakes than their opponents. They took advantage of the opposing team's mistakes.

Michigan teams make few first downs by rushing the ball. The present Michigan team has not made more than three first downs by rushing against a major opponent this year and on two occasions they were lucky to make as many as three first downs. Still they come to Cambridge an unbeaten team.

The last time that Michigan appeared in Cambridge (it was in 1914 when Harvard won 7 to 0) Johnny Maulbetsch, a squat little back who propelled himself with his free arm and two legs, carried the ball from his own five-yard line to the Harvard 10-yard line, a march that won Maulbetsch a place on Walter Camp's all-America team. Maulbetsch was one of two backs that Michigan has had within the last 25 years who was a consistent ball carrier; the other was Jimmy Craig, brother of Ralph Craig, double winner of the Olympic sprint events. Jimmy had almost as much speed as Ralph and he was a most elusive gent when he found himself in a broken field.

Stubborn Defense

While Michigan scores few first downs it is extremely difficult to score first downs against Michigan inside her 30-yard line. Michigan teams have been noted for their defense. Harvard, at Ann Arbor last year, turned loose the most successful forward passing attack that any team has ever used against Michigan. That sort of thing never happened before, or since.

Because of the almost total absence of a running attack, Michigan teams have been called extremely lucky. But, obviously, a team must have something besides luck to go along year after year winning football games without a consistent ball carrier. Beaten opponents frequently point to the statistics of the game to show how they outplayed Michigan. What they generally mean is that they outgained Michigan. While Michigan is outgained in nearly every game she plays, she is rarely out-played. Michigan wins (when she does win) because she manages to keep her opponents clear of her own goal, keeps kicking until she manages to get possession of the ball in scoring territory and then knows what to do with it