“I don’t think it troubles me much,” he answered stiffly.
“Sounds as though it did,” said the coach dryly. “Still, you didn’t start off your conversation with the announcement, and that’s promising. What’s your opinion of the forward pass?”
Dan hesitated, rather taken aback. He wondered whether Payson was mocking him, but a glance at the coach’s face dispelled that supposition.
“I think,” answered Dan finally, “that it ought to be a good play this year under the changed rules. Last year if the pass failed you lost the ball, no matter what down it was, but this year on the first or second downs you are penalized fifteen yards and keep the ball.”
“Yes, that makes it easier going,” said Payson. “But do you think that the forward pass can be developed into a certain play?”
“No, sir, no more than any other play. It will be perfected a good deal this year, I guess, but the defense will be perfected, too.”
“Do you think it can be developed to a point where you can depend on its gaining once in two tries?”
“Yes, sir. I think it might be made to do better than that if you could keep your opponent in the dark.”
“As how?”
“Well, of course I don’t pretend to know much about it,” said Dan with a note of appeal in his voice. The coach nodded. “But it seems to me that the best thing about the forward pass is its unexpectedness. It ought to be made always from some regular formation, don’t you think so, sir?”