Yale vs. Dartmouth

TIME OUT made his annual pilgrimage to New Haven on Saturday to see the Elis and the Big Green mix it up in the Bowl. The game, as may well be imagined from the scoreless result, was a rough and tough one with both teams letting out just about all they had in an effort to come through. Dartmouth came closer to succeeding, but even at that Yale, with Booth in action, cannot be said to be very far from a score no matter where the ball is. The little Elis' dancing dervish is never safe until after the whistle has blown.

Despite the display of manpower and hard football the game was marred by a neglect of that more subtle force, brain power. Each team made one outstanding error. In the first period Booth got his team rolling rather nicely, and the ball was advanced on straight rushing from somewhere around midfield to the Green 20-yard line or thereabouts. Fourth down, about a yard to go, Booth elected to throw a very sorry looking pass over the goal line. Now Crowley had been making at least three (and usually more) yards at a clip throughout the advance, and there is very little reason to think that he would have failed this time. It might have turned out a little differently had the Elis made this first down while they were really rolling. As it was Dartmouth took the ball and soon found its bearings; Yale's only really good opportunity was gone.

But Dartmouth made its big mistake too. In the second half several times the Big Green team had failed to penetrate the Yale defense when the latter was getting within hailing distance of the last white stripe. But towards the middle of the last period, another drive got under way and it looked pretty bad for Mr. Yale. Right down to the seven yard line went Morton and his pals and then they stopped. Three downs netted two yards. McCall appeared on the scene with the ball directly in front of the goal posts, and, apparently with directions from the bench, ordered a fancy triple pass which never had a chance. A field goal would have been little harder to kick than is the point after touchdown, and how big three points would have looked then! But instead the opportunity was wasted and the attempt to garner the precious trio of points had to be made five minutes later under far greater pressure and from a bad angle some ten yards or so farther back.

Yale's Offense

The Yale team as it played Saturday is far superior to any eleven that Harvard has shown so far this year both offensively and defensively. On the attack Yale has the edge merely because of Booth, who is spark, guiding hand, and the executor of the Eli offensive--in fact, he is the offense. Without him it is hard to determine just how the Blue would stack up, since most of the other backs, with the possible exception of Crowley, would rank no higher individually than any that Harvard can offer. But with Booth playing the whole game, as he did Saturday, the Yale attack is swift and powerful, moving behind a better than average line. Booth has inherent football sense combined with a running ability rarely seen on any gridiron. It is practically impossible for one tackler to bring him down, and it is not until he has been boxed in successfully by several men that he is effectively stopped. It is not because of any desire to injure him that opposing teams assign two or three to go after him but rather because of necessity, since Booth's runs have to be stopped in the making, otherwise they will be disastrous to the opposing team.

Yale, like Harvard, does not use the huddle, but lines up in a curious four-five-two formation for calling signals and then shifts into an unbalanced line, usually one man on one side of the center and five on the other side. On regular formations Booth crouches behind the center and takes the ball from him; on kick formations he is back. The Eli offensive centers around reverse and fake reverse plays, most of which go around the long end of the line, with an occasional reverse play around the short end, usually unsuccessful. Most effective of the plays is the one that sends Booth around the right side on a long end sweep with practically the whole Eli team interfering for him. Although the Blue line does not click with the precision characteristic of Dartmouth's forward wall it is strong enough to allow Booth to get away successfully more often than is comfortable for the opposition. TIME OUT