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COACH HEISMAN
Tech’s Famous Football Leader Goes
Over New Code Carefully and Ex
plains Just What Can Be Expected
of the Gridiron Warriors This Fall.
r-r-M» the casual spectator football
looks the same year in and year
■* out—a jumbled-up mass of
m). . k-down and drag-outs, with no
semblance of order or system. He
i , t know the difference, anyway,
b, >< en a twenty-yard zone and a
fiee kick; so why concern himself as
■ aether either or neither of them
been changed into a fozzle-dill or
... i ffenpoof. so iong as he is assured
-ia- thrilling lightning dash through
br «en field, that mad charging and
stampeding of the buffalo herd, and
. lull boom which means another
skyrocketing punt the same as it al
ways did?
We’!, so far as he is concerned, foot
ill look just about the same this
, ( . a as it always looked; but it will
he < hanged a-plenty for the coaches
~; 1d the field generals. Not ao much,
perhaps, in the matter of fundamentals,
r ,,. even in the formations or plays,
but in the system of handling those
pars, ih the strategy of the game, in
t . policy of play. 1 will illustrate fur
ther on. ♦
The first change comes in - --ule 1,
whc ’b defines tire field. Heretofore the
fiehl has always been 330 feet long and
lfi ,i feet wide. This year the width re
mains the same, but the length be
tween goal lines is reduced by 30 feet,
leaving the distance from goal post to
goal post an even 300 feet. This is now
a.l the distance that the ball must be
carried by a team in order to get
a.-oss the opponents' goal line and
score a touchdown.
But suppose a team gets real close
(■own to that opposing goal line and
ei < ePS that it is going to be almost
impossible for them to shove the ball
».toss by either running or bucking.
Many a time in the past that has been
the case, and they have wished so
hard that they might be permitted to
throw the ball across the line by use
of a forward pass and trust to one of
their eligible players getting it on the
fix as the rule requires. But hereto
fore it would have done no good what
ever to attempt such a maneuver for
the reason that the instant the ball was
r .-sed forward across opponents' goal
'lnc it was declared a touchback and
th. ball was dead, and in the posses
sion of the team defending that goal,
no matter who caught it or where.*
As a touchback entitles the defend
lt g team to the possession of the ball,
and t<> bring it out to the twenty-yard
.ne and put it in play, it was mani
f- H y suicide to make a forward pass
across the goal line. But when a team
- pushed right down to its own goal
ine it is forced to bring its second and
et n its third line of defense right up
on Ine heels of the rush line in order
io be . n hand and do something be
the offensive team can advance
» ball the slight distance yet remain
ing.
Tj s made tTie defensive formation so
mi act that it was exceedingly diffi
cult for the attacking eleven to con-
• r ;e to gnake the required ten yards
in the three downs permitted them.
Ti’.i result was too frequent failure to
.-oro. and altogether too many tie and
s i.rele-s» games.
So. in order to keep that secondary
line of defense of the goal-crowded
h i hack the usual distance behind
its rus.i line, it has this year been
• ■I red that the attacking team shall
; c tight to make a forward pass
s» the goal line, and to capture it
c . n if they can provided it does not
note than ten yards beyond that
g".r line and is. of course, caught with
'■ 11 it ten-y ard zone. As the other
irt'.'n must have the same right at the
■•'itf'i end of the field, it results that
every field mutt have a playing zone
ten yards marked off and added be
■nd each goal line, thus making the
field this year in reality 360 feet long,
>r.st..'?,rl of 330 feet, as last year.
But these added playing zones are
fcr forward pass use only and cut no
' 'c figure with the bucking or end
running game than thev ever did; so
' if a team once gets the ball across
; "nents’ goal line either by running
bucking, they will have scored a
■ '• . w n without further reference to
■idditional ten-yard forward pass
zone.
i this change result in compelling
' defending a goal to keep its sec-
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Bv -J. W. Heisman.
Coach Tech Football Team.
ondary defense back as in the open
field to look out for the possible for
ward pass, or will they let the forward
pass take care of itself and bring up
their reinforcements as in the past in
order to make sure of stopping a run
or a kick? That is something each
team will have to decide for itself.
Most teams will try to straddle the
question and place themselves so as
to stop either play if they can. For
the attacking general it will be a nice
point each time he gets hjs team down
there, whether to try a forward pass
over the line or to continue his running
or smashing tactics.
a. • •
Kick Off From Your
Own 40-Yard Line.
t N my opinion it was always unfair
* for the team that had to receive
the kick-off to permit the kicking team
to perform their stunt from the mid
dle of the field, for the kick, even if
caught, yet placed' the ball away down
in the receiving team's territory the
first rattle out of the box. Now that
the length of the field has been short
ened tgn yards for all but forward pass
purposes, it would be worse still, for
it would mean that most any decent
kick-off would go clear to the other
team's goal line, and an unfortunate
fumble right at the outset, when every
body is a bit nervous, might give the
ball at that spot to the kicker’s side
and result in the loss of the game then
and there.
As the field is now 100 yards long, the
middle point would be the 50-yard line;
but the committee has wisely ordered
that the kick-off shall be made from
ten yards back of the middle, or from
the kicker’s 40-yard line. A good kick
from here will take it about to the
opponents’ 20-yard line, and if they'
gain 10 yards with it before being
downed the real game will start with
the ball in possession of the receiv
ing team on their own 30-yard line,
which is about where it ought, in fair
ness, to be.
• • •
Kick Out To Be
From 20-Yard Line.
FORMERLY when a touchback had
been made by a team defending its
goal, or a safety scored by the team
attacking that goal, the ball was brought
out by the defenders of the goal to
their own 25-yard line, and put in play'
from that line. This distance has been
shortened by 5 yards, so that now after
a touchback or safety the ball will be
brought out by the defenders to the 20-
y a.d line only and put in play from
there.
This is also a more equitable decree
than formerly, for if a team in trying
for goal from the field were so unfor
tunate as to miss the bar the result
was invariably a touchback and they
lost not only the sco;e and the bah.
but 25 ya ds from their opponents' goal
line as well. It was practically a heavy
penalty for missing the difficult play,
and operated similarly whenever the
kicker of the attacking side made an
extra good punt which went so far
that it crossed the ,other team's goal
line.
In otho- words, he was penalized for
being a very good punter. Os course
the ball has to be brought out some
distance to be put in play, but 25
yards was too great a distance. The
result of the change will be that more
goals from the field will be tried, as
the penalty for failure will not be so
great. Also the defending players wilt
not let a punt roll across their line so
often.
Sometimes they will figure that they
van gobble up the ball and make more
than a distance of 20 yards out from
their ow n goal line with it before being
downed, and by whatever distance
greater than 20 yards they prove their
Between Straw Hat Days '
And Derby-dom Conies the 0P i |!ll|fa
Cloth Hat 'XIW
filling to perfection the interim which calls for neither w /
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PARKSCHAMBERSHARDWICK
37-39 Peachtree Street COMPANY Atlanta, Georgia
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. W EDNESDAY, SEPTEMhtR 4. 1912
EXPLAINS CHANGES IN
Heisman toWrite Football for The Georgian
The Georgian has added Coach Heisman, of Tech, to its start’ of experts on sports, and he
will write many interesting stories on football this season. His story today deals with the
changes in the rules. He takes up each change, picks it to pieces, and tells why. in his opin
ion. it is for better or worse. Coach Heisman is undoubtedly the best football expert in the
South, and. besides knowing the game from A to Z, he has the happy faculty of writing a cork
ing article.
judgment to have been correct, to just
that extent will they be playing bet
ter ball to take the chance and tnaka
the try’ rather than to play safe for
a 20 yard recovery, as allowed by the
rule of touchback
• ♦ •
Lowering the Time of
Intermission Between Quarters.
tNSTEAD of having two minutes in
* termission betwen the first and
second quarters, and between the third
and fourth quarters, the rule this year
win be to allow but one minute's rest.
I can not but fee! that the rules com
mittee is making a mistake here. In
the first place, what reason is there,
anyway, for reducing this short inter
mission? The spectators will not mind
the lengthening of their afternoon's
outing by so trifling an amount as two
minutes, and, indeed, they would be
glad of an opportunity to chat a bit
and exchange views as to the games,
plays, players, etc., which they can not
do when there is little or no cessation
to the play. *
It may well be that most of the play
ers would not need more than a min
ute's rest, but some of them may, and
that was the very thing that brought
about the big trouble that beclouded
the game a few years ago. Players were
getting hurt without anyone knowing
it—not even the player himself, and
there was no way of stopping the game
to take inventory of the condition of
all the players on both sides.
At my suggestion, if the reader will
pardon the reference, these automatic
stops were put in the game, though I
recommended a three-minute halt. The
committee thought the suggestion a
good one. but decided that two minutes
would be sufficient allowance. Now
they cut it to one minute, and next
year we may’ be back to no intermis
sion at all again. And then we will
have a few more startling accidents
and everybody’ will wonder what can
be done to avoid them. It's a great
pity that the committee could not have
left this two-minute rest period un
changed.
Will Be No On-Side
Kick This Year.
year an on-side kick was made
by’ kicking the ball to some for
ward pan of the field that seemed to
be uncovered by any of the opponents,
but which could be covered by some
man of your own by the time the ball
struck the ground. After so striking,
the kicker's own man was entitled to
take it on the spot without first wait
ing till opponents had touched it.
This year this is all done away with
and. in facts there is no such a thing as
an on-side kick this year under any
conditions. This change will hurt us
at Tech a bit as the team was particu
larly good on these things. However.
I favor the change, as the game was
too complicated anyway for the short
season that the game runs, and by
eliminating a whole department of play
and practice ft simplifies the whole
thing.
• • •
No Limit to Length
Os the Forward Pass.
AS the 20-yard zone back of the de-
A fending rush line has also ben
done away with there is no limit to
the allowable length of a forward pass
and we shall once more, perhaps, see
them going down the field almost- as
far as a good kicker can punt a ball.
These long passes, however, while easy
enough to make are apt to fall of suc
cessful completion for the reason that
it's hard to gee one of your men down
that far and have him catch it with
out hitch or miss. /
Nevertheless, and paradoxical as it
may sound', this greater latitude still
further simplifies the game, for by re
moving the 20-yard zone and the on
side kick from the game we are also
enabled to dispense with the services
of a field judge, who in the past has
seemed to do little but get in the way
of the players, and ball the other offi
cials up with his butfings-in.
* • »
Touchdown Stock Still
Above Par and Going Higher.
When I first began to play football
a quarter of a century- ago (more
or less), the value of a touchdown was
four points, and that of a field goal
five points. So that one field goal could
win a game even as against a touch
down, provided the try after touch
down was missed, for the try at goal
after touchdown counted two points, if
successful". At that time, .though, goals
from the field were of very rare oc
currence, for the reason that the play
was practiced hardly at all. As time
went by teams and kickers gradually
became more and more expert with
the play and the result has been a
steady diminution in the value assign
ed to field goals and, in the meantime,
the price of a touerdown has twice
the price of a touchdown has twice
This is as it should be. for the spirit
of our American game is rushing (not
kicking.) the ball. The goal from field
is a one-man stunt, not a team play,
and should by- no means be credited
with the merit which attaches to such
team work as is required to shove the
ball across the goal line.
Under the new' assignment of values,
the team which kicks even two goals
from the field will not beat a team
which makes even one touchdown, but
will merely tie it; and if the latter
team is successful in its try for goal
after the touchdown, it will beat the
former team by a score of 7 to 6.
The effect of this will probably be
that not so many field goals will be
attempted this year and more practice
will be put upon the rushing game.
* * ♦
One Official For Each
Team Allowed to Patrol.
COME years ago there was no limit
to the number of coaches, mana
gers. substitutes, etc., who could march
up and down the side lines as the two
teams moved back and forth. To say
the least, this was an unmitigated nui
sance to spectators, as well as to offi
cials; so they' ruled, first, that five men
for each team were plenty to move up
and down. This was later cut to three
men, and now it has been still further
reduced til! but one man for each team
has the right to patrol the side lines,
all the rest being required to be and
to remain seated. This will make it
much pleasanter and enjoyable for the
spectators.
The Big Change
For the Season.
HE changes already’ discussed are
1 for the most part wholesome and
will tend to make the game fairer to
both teams by still further eliminating
the element of luck; but for the most
part they are but minor changes after
all.
Now. however, we have to discuss
a change that will be of first impor
tance in its effect on the game. I re
fer to the allowance of four downs to
make a first down.
For over 30 years the rule had been
that a team could have three trials In
which to advance the ball a distance of
five yards. Finally this resulted in
such continual massing on the defen
sive tackle —first, through the medium
of such plays as Pennsylvania’s
"guards back” play, and then by Yale's
"tackle over’’ play—that It was seen
something positively had to be done to
lessen the hammering on the one man.
This was accomplished by the intro-‘
duction of the forward pass and by
lengthening the distance to be gained
in three trials to ten yards. So far
as the defensive tackle is concerned,
his life has indeed been rendered more
endurable by the operation of these
changes, but another bad feature has
cropped out instead. I will explain
End running, while not so apt as
bucking to result in a positive gain of
some sort, is yet (when it does pull
off successfully) much more apt than
bucking to result in a long gain. This
being the case, end running came back
into favor when it was required to gain
ten yards in three trials instead of
only five; and this, to a considerable
extent, was what eased the tension on
the defensive tackle.
Still, it has been found In the last
couple of years that neither end run
ning nor anything else was able con
sistently to keep up the task of acquir
ing the required ten yards of addition
al territory after a team had once
worked its way to. say, within 25 or 80
yards of its opponents’ goal. And this
for the reason that I have already men
tioned, viz, that when the defensive
team begins to find itself so closely
pressed as this, it brings its secondary
defense up closer to the rush line to
give it quicker support.
The reason they stayed back a con
siderable distance up to this time was
that they had constantly to be on the
lookout for forward passes and on
side kicks, but when they- have been
forced back so close to their own goal
line, they need not so greatly fear
either the forward pass or the on
side kick, for, as the rules stood last
year and as we have already noted, a
kick or a pass that went beyond that
goal line gave the ball to the defensive
team. and. "presto changeo!” they we.re
at once out of danger
Now, operating so near the defend
ing team’s goal, the attacking team was
very apt indeed to see its forward pass
or its kick go , right across the goal
line that very way, hence it was a
dangerous thing to attempt either play-.
Such being the case, the defending team
could and dared with impunity to bring
its secondary defense up to where it
so helped out the rush line that the
attackers now found it next to impos
sible to continue making the required
10 yards in only three trials. Hence so
many tie and scoreless games.
To remedy this state of affairs the
committee has struck a compromise.
It has decided to help out the attacking
team to the extent of saying that it
shall have not three but four rials in
which to gain the same required dis
tance of 10 yards. Coupled with the
new rule which allows them to make a
forward pass across the goal line, it is
expected that the effect will be to keep
the defensive second line back for a
longer time, and at the same time the
team hammering for admission will
have, in the extra trial, one-third more
time in which to batter down the de
fending team’s loosened barricades. And
will this result in more scoring? No
doubt of it. But as to the particular
way?
Well, everybody is saying that the
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9
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Such history, compiled and edited by Elbert Hubbard, in
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Geo. Muse Clothing Co.
GRIDIRON GAME
Is in Favor of Some of Changes Made
by Rules Committee; Against Others.
Believes, However, They Should
Not Be Criticised Until Tried Out.
change will operate in favor of the
heavier team. Why? Because, it is
figured, by' reducing the average to be
gained in each down from 3 1-3 yards
to 2 1-2 yards a heavy- rush line with
heavy plunging back.? can negotiate
that lower average .by steady line
smashing Then, too, it is argued that
continued line bucking of this char
acter will tend to wear out the lighter
line until it succumbs altogether, w-hen
the heavy team will rush on and over
like a Johnstown flood sweeping
through the broken Conemaugh dam.
No doubt this reasoning is largely cor
rect; and the worst of it is that these
bucking attacks will once more be di
rected in the main at the poor tackle,
whose troubles, I fear, will be almost
as great as ever they’ were.
Some will not assent to this, on the
strength of the argument that tho
bucket can no longer be pulled or push
ed by his teammates. This is correct
as far as it goes; but ft should be
remembered that neither will the tackle
himself get the help and support of
the half back as formerly, for the rea
son that the introduction of the for
ward pass to help out the offensive
team compels that defensive half to
stay back and further out so as to ioqk
out« for those forward passes. Thus
it is made clear that the heavy team
will again have a big advantage.
To a problematical extent, though,
the lighter team, provided it has speed,
will have something In its favor by
reason of the fact that out of four per
mitted trials they can afford to try
a greater percentage of end runs than
when they bad only three trials. For
merly few teams would attempt two
end runs out of their next three trials
after making a first down; for the very
last trial had always to be saved for
a punt, and that meant that they would
have to make their two end runs in
succession out of the first two trials
if they made them at all.
Now, however, they will figure that
as they- are too light to buck the other
team's line, they will take advantage
of their right to four trials by attempt
ing more end runs. While these, as
we have seen, are more apt to fail
than do bucks, yet when they do suc
ceed they are apt to be "juicy.” Such
being the case, the light, fast team will
argue that the more end runs they
attempt the more likely they are to ge
away with one or more, sooner or
later, that will have all the "ear
marks" of a touchdown. .
But while this will be apt to be the
process of reasoning of the light, fast
team, it must be borne in mid that the
f
flllwQy.s
Good/
\> I
incessant pounding of the heavier op
ponent may’ so wear it down and out
that it will not be capable of the flashy
end running stunt when its chance
comes, so that ‘the rule undoubtedly
favors the heavy pounding t£am.
After a year of trial it may be
changed again bet’s give it a fair
trial, so that we will know for a cer
tainty at the end of the season just
what we are talking about.
HILTO nTeESTo NQU EROR
BATTLE FOR MORE HONORS
CHICAGO, Sept. 4.—With Harold H.
Hilton, former title holder, out of th*
running and a. member of the gallery
that watched the play, the second
match round of the national amateur
golf championship tournament began
today’ <on the links of the Chicago Golf
club.
Greatest interest of the day followed
the play of C. G. Waldo, paired with
Paul Hunter. Waldo yesterday de
feated Hilton five down. Interest also
centered in the struggle between Je
rome D. Travers and Walter Travis,
who were paired, and in the match be
tween H. R. Lee and Chick Evans.
Weather conditions were ideal, and
the course was in excellent condition.
Pairings for today:
Mason Phelps vs. Harold Weber.
J. D. Travers vs. W. J. Travis.
C. G. Wgldo vs. aPul Hunter.
H. K. Kerr vs. Albert Seckel.
H. R. Lee vs. Charles Evans, Jr.
R. E. Hunter vs Heinrich Schmidt.
W. P. Smith vs. Normhn F. Hunter.
W. C. Fownes, Jr., vs. W. K. Wood.
FINAL RACeToDaFfOR
HARMSWORTH TROPHY
NEW V ORK, Sept. 4.—With honors
tied, each country having won a race,
the deciding contest in the Anglo-
American motor boat races for the
Harmsworth trophy is scheduled to be
run off this afternoon In Huntington
bay The weather was cloudy and the
surface of the bay was roughened by
a spanking breeze.
The performance of the British boat
Maple Leaf IV, in spinning over the
30-mile course in one hour, six min
utes and fifty seconds yesterday, en
couraged her driver, Tom Sopwith, the
former aviator, to believe that he would
have no trouble in leading the Yan
kees this afternoon to victory. The
supporters of the Britons were still
further encouraged today by the fact
that the Mona, another English boat,
had finished second, while the Baby
Reliance 111. an American boat, had a
battle to get third.
There was little betting, but what
wagering there was favored England
to take the trophy away from America.
7