Following the hardest week of practice the team had had, West Point won a punting duel on the twenty-first. A field of mud and water severely handicapped both teams, though West Point suffered the less. Yale was defeated for the first time in years by a blocked kick.
The sting of this defeat was somewhat mitigated by the victory over Colgate, 23 to 0 the following Saturday. A new star, Walter Camp, Jr., appeared and played with a speed and dash that worked havoc in the Colgate team; time and again he went around end, while many of his punts were over 50 yards. The victory was the more encouraging because the team played without the services of Captain Howe, Ketcham or Philbin.
The victory over New York University, 23 to 3, made it appear that the team had found itself surely-failure to size up the forward pass, and the ubiquitous tendency to fumble seemed to be the only weakness. The example of the sensational running back of kicks which was so noticeable in the Brown game was seen here,-Captain Howe coming back time after time for 20 yards.
Keyed up for revenge for the defeat in 1910, the team crushed Brown, 15 to 0, the next week. From end to end, from centre to back there was "lift and drive" that tore Brown to pieces. Ketcham beat the ends down under kicks several times, even though Bomeisler and Avery were on Sprackling before he could have started. The only gloom over the entire exhibition was the fumbling.
Secret practice was held during the week before the Princeton game-and though a hard fight was expected, there seemed to be no reason to expect anything else than a victory. The weather conditions which proved so disastrous at West Point were not provided against, and the field was a veritable duck-pond. The keepers came in for not a little condemnation for the apparent carelessness in not using the sand, of which there was so much on hand.
Princeton played a cautious game throughout, continually trying to drive Yale back by punting. The ball was kept in Princeton territory almost continually, and a gain on almost every exchange was made only to be lost on a fumble at the critical moment. Captain Howe made try after try for a field-goal and succeeded only once in getting the ball over.