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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1910)
DECLINED GAME Championship Not in Dispute-—Baylor Declined at One Time. Contrary to announcements from Waco no post-season football game between Baylor and the A. & M. team will be played. Baylor has tried for several days to get A. & M. to play a post-season game, but her requests (have been turned down. Monday the Baylor manager asked Mr. Moore by telegram to agree to a post-season game to set- Centers this season have more to do with the success of their respective teams than any other player on the eleven, declare some critics, and this | does not seem too broad a statement to make. Not only must the center be a good man on defense, but on of fense he must carry in his head com plicated signals and formations, and, in addition to the difficulty of playing a line position, must watch his own backs carefully to avoid making a poor . pass. With speed, one of the prime requisites of the game his pas ses must be quick and snappy, but withal accurate. Under the rule permitting the [di rect pass from the center to the run ner, the center, instead of passing to the quarter back directly behind him, Send Your Laundry to '.he San Antonio Steam Laundry Prompt Courteous Service Work Absolutely Guaranteed Leroy & Terry, Agents Patronize Campus Carvers Rear Gathright Hall. h irst class service with four barbers- Open 7 a. m. to 7 p. m. Saturdays: 7 a. in. to 10:30 p. m Shop closed during foot ball games from 4 p. m. to 6 p. m. Cadet Supplies EMMEL & MALONEY Phone 66. PURE DRUG DISPENSERS BRYAN, TEXAS. ball engagements for this season. tie disputed championship. The Bay lor manager received the reply that he ’ m ust be able to shoot the ball back had a chance to play A. & M. and re- |f 0 hj.g teammates at unexpected angles fused it, and that there is no dispute ' shooting it to a different man nearly regarding the championship. | every play. In addition to the diffi- Baylor declined to contract with | oulty of placing his passes accurate- Manager Moore last spring when he to standing men. he meets a fur- was making up his schedule. The , tber difficulty in passing the hall to Baylor manager kept the contract two | a man who already has started his or three weeks and returned it, j run. In one out of every three plavs saying that Baylor did not want a I the man who receives the hall from game with the Farmers. The open ; the snapper-back is already on the date was arranged with another col- | run, making it extremely difficult for lege. : the center to make accurate passes. The team has gone out of training j Fvery pass must be accurate, for and the players are getting down to , with the open game now played a hardi school work. The suits have fumble seldom fails to result in the been put away till next fall, and it Moss of the ball for the fumbling side, is not the intention of the football | With the development of kickers, the management to make any other foot- less of the ball means the loss of from forty to fifty yards and a chance to score. The center, therefore, must be careful to make every pass accu rate so there is no danger of the ball geing to the opposing side on a fum ble. In this particular the center takes the. place, in a measure, of the quarter backs cf the old game. Old time quarter backs were coached to hand the ball to the runner, or, rather, to slam it into his arms. The throw ing of the ball was abandoned sev eral years ago because it was found the time gained by the throw was more than offset by the danger of .umbling on the play. Obviously the center can not pu: the ball into the runner’s arms as the old quarter back used to do, hut he must make his passes hard and; true, so as to minimize the possibilities of mistakes in handling the ball by the CENTER GREAT FACTOR. New Rules Make Him Most Import ant Member of the Team. One man more than any other on tt e fott-ball team has been brought into the limelight by the new code of rules, the center looming up as the most prominent offensive and defen sive player on the eleven. Quickness of boidy and brain must be combined with weight and cour age for the ideal center this year, and teams which have been weak in the pivotal position have found to their cost that without a strong man at this position the defense is great ly weakened, while offensive plays lose much of their effect. Every team in the country which has done good j runner. The center, then, has to pass work this season will be found to have a veteran center andi a man whose quickness in thinking and accuracy in playing his position have proved important in the result of games. In former years coaches used to search high and low for mountains of beef and strength to play the cen ter position, but since 1906, when the first changes were made in the grid iron game, tutors have been search ing for fast, rangy men. The dif ference between the centers of now and years ago may be seen by glanc ing over the pages of any old foot ball guide of ten years back andi com paring the pictures of the center with the hall not only accurately, but fast and strong. With a different pass called for by every signal, the difficulty of accurate passes becomes greater. On nearly ■every play a different man must take the ball and on nearly every forma tion the man eligible to receive the ball takes a different station. It is seldom, therefore, that the center passes the ball to exactly the same spot twice in the same game. Most of his passes are radically different from their predecessors, and anyone who has tried passing the ball to a different spot every attempt soon realizes the difficulty of obtaining ac- to aid the success of trick plays, he can not indicate, by his movements the direction and style of play and permit the defense to meet it before ii, fail 1> was started. In order to know what pass is re quired the center must be as well, if not better, versed In the signals and formations as any other man on the team. Lie mustYgrasp the signals instantly, withoui so much as a sign of the object.and direction of the play. He must also be able to steady his back field and to pro vent any mis takes or costly fumbles through mis- intei pretation of the signal. On defense of his position is equal ly as important. Most coaches this season are playing a “loose” center. That is, on defense, the center is play ed back of the line of scrimmage, in a place usually filled by the defensive full hack, when the five-yard and mass play rules were in force. In going back to this position the center is in ao way relieved of responsibility for his own position, and must fill, it if a play is directed against it. pis duty back of the line is to “size up” the plays of the offense and assist his teammates to meet them. Much had been said regarding the player occu pying the position, and nothing need be repeated here. The center, there fore, must combine with his offen sive qualifications the ability to “size up” plays on the defense and meet them properly.—Dallas News. WE ARE HEADQUARTERS FOR those of last season and this season, curacy. In addition to this, in order Toilet Articles E. J. Jenkins FIRST-CLASS SHOE Repairing Satisfaction Guaranteed CAMPUS SHOE SHOP. Joe Holick, Prop. SMITH BROS. 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