“A corking good passing game is our best bet, Mr. Cade,” offered Levering. “Don’t you think so, sir?”
“I’ll tell you what I think, Levering. I think whatever we build on that thing’s got to have speed underneath it. All right. Here’s speed.” He held a hand out, palm upward. “Now what? What shall we put on next for a second story?”
There was a moment’s silence. Then the quarter-back spoke eagerly. “Deception!”
“Right! Speed and deception, fellows. That’s a tough combination to beat. And it’s tougher than ever if the other fellow is slow in getting off. Kinsey’s idea of a triple-threat formation is what I’ve had in mind. That’s what we ought to have, I’m sure. Last Fall showed me one thing conclusively, and that is that having more than two formations, one for kicking and one for everything else, is a big mistake. You remember that we changed our backfield all about when we made a forward-pass. Of course, we did run from that formation now and then, but the thing was a give-away, just the same. When Kenly saw that ‘C Formation’ she knew pretty well what to expect, and after the first half she looked for a pass every time and, if I remember correctly, we made just five out of fourteen attempts. This year I propose that we find a formation for the backs that will answer every purpose of attack, even punting. When we decide on that we’ll build our plays on the formation instead of suiting the formation to the plays.”
“That sounds good,” said Gus. “Only I don’t just see how it’s to be done. If we place our backs too far behind the line we can’t get them through on quick openings. If we put Steve too close he won’t be able to get punts off before Kenly gets on top of him.”
“As for the latter,” said Coach Cade, “I don’t agree. Remember, Gus, we’re building on speed. If Steve gets his kicks off a bit quicker than he does now he can kick from nearer the line.”
“Besides,” said Pep, “how is Kenly going to know that it is a kick if Steve doesn’t go back? Seems to me that’s the beauty of it. Keep ’em guessing every minute! Hot stuff!”
“We’ll take up the matter of that formation later,” said the coach. “Just now there’s another thing I want to talk about. What kind of a passing game can we work out? I have my own idea, but I’d like to hear from you.”
“Whatever it is, it’s got to be a heap better than last year’s,” said Rolls Roice. “As you said, Coach, they were looking for our tosses every time toward the last and they didn’t go for a hang. If Kenly had had the sense to grab the ball sometimes instead of knocking it down she’d have licked us worse than she did.”
“There’s one thing about the passing game,” said the coach. “If you can’t have a good one you’re better off with none. And having a good one isn’t so easy. You can plan it out on paper so that it looks like a world-beater, but if your ends and backs can’t reach the ball and handle it perfectly, your plan’s a fizzle. You didn’t have much luck last year, Pep, and neither did Knowles or Suydman. Catches were mighty few, even when there was a fair chance. I’m not saying this in criticism of you, but just to emphasize the fact that it’s the individual player who counts in the passing game, and that if we’re to show anything in that line, anything worth while, we’ve got to go into the business in real earnest. Half the value of the forward pass is in keeping the opponent scared. If you have a passing game and he knows it, he’s looking for it more than half the time. But you’ve got to really have something. If you haven’t, he soon discovers it and pulls his backfield in. Just as long as you’ve got the goods, even if you don’t deliver them, he will play a fifth man back and weaken his line by just so much. That fifth man is almost invariably the center, and a quick plunge at the center position will usually gain. Personally, I think that no one has yet discovered nearly all the possibilities of the forward-pass as an offensive play. I believe that, unless a change in the playing rules comes that will place restrictions on the pass, another five years will see the old line-plunging game subordinated to it. But I’m getting away from the business of this gathering.