Page Eighteen
FOOTBALL SAGAS:
Yost, Steger And
Grd History
(Continued from Page 16) A. Stagg's arch-rival Chicago Ma-
roons, was called "The Victors."
Distant Journey, made by the Michigan is also the saga of the
Czechoslovakian State Film Com- Little Brown Jug, a worthless
pany shortly after World War II, piece of crockery that Yost brought
by its captain Herb Steger - the up to Minneapolis for his team's
Wolverines fought grimly back, water on a gray Halloween day
but the game was lost. Over- in 1903.
shadowed by the feats of Grange, After struggling to a bitter 6-6
Steger continued to plow away tie in the mud, Michigan left its
at the Illini. jug on the bench, and the Minne-
sota groundskeeper confiscated it.
A photographer on the sidelines Years later, they wrote to Yost,
caught a lucky shot of Steger try- "Come up and win your Jug back."
ing to do the impossible. It later Yost did, and kept on winning it
appeared in the 1925 Michigan- for many years to follow.
ensian-and is reproduced fir the
first time in the Michigan Daily MICHIGAN is many other things!
today-with its original caption -a tradition that is also ex-
"Fight Like Steger." explifed by shoutis of "Roll 'em
Steger is shown with four Illini Up," those backward band hats,
clinging to him-yet bareheaded, the writing of "Varsity" on a De-
he is still clawing his way for- troit streetcar by J. Fred Lawton,
ward. Determination like this and even the historic carved
gave Michigan a warcry and a tables at the Union, which once
legend, served customers at Joe Parker's
dispensary.
BUT Michigan is even more than This tradition, the fabric of
"Fight Like steger." It is names, events, and legend, has
Louis Elbel, who scrawled a march- provided a rich backdrop for the
ing song on the back of an envel- drama that is currently being
ope as he marched up Chicago's written by Michigan's 1955 grid-
Midway in November, 1895. iron ensemble. Without it, foot-
This song commemorating a ball would be merely 22 men and
12-0 Michigan triumph over A. a bag of wind.
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Off ens
(Continued from Page 16)
ing executed. The fullback receives
the ball from center and starts
towards the line at a point im-
mediately on the inside of his own
quarterback, who in turn pivots
to face the runner. The fullback
may or may not hand the ball to
the quarterback-if he does the
quarterback can hand the ball
either to the right half, to the
left end or lateral to the left half
sweeping the right end. 0
Another series wnch is begun
upon the receipt of the ball by the
fullback is called the spinner se-
ries. Instead of moving directly
toward the line of scrimmage, the
fullback as he receives the ball
takes a step forward and makes a
complete spin in the backfield.
The fullback can pivot in either
direction and may hand the ball
to either halfback or to the quar-
terback to start a buck lateral se-
ries in motion. He can, of course,
keep the ball after faking a hand-
off to one or more of these men
and plunge into the line himself.
The maneuvers required to per-
form a play from the spinning se-
ries require a great amount of
skill and a high degree of timing
and is one of the reasons the full-
back in the Michigan single wing
is an extremely important mem-
ber of the backfield.
give Man
The Play .. .
The formations and series are
the vehicles of the various plays
run from scrimmage. It would be
a hopeless task to enumerate the
hundreds of plays which proceed
from each of the formations and
series, but it may be of some ben-
efit to explain in a general way
the logic of their use.
During the execution of every
play from a series or formation
the members of the backfield car-
ry out, as far as possible, their
own individual maneuver, regard-
less of whether they receive the
ball or not. The purpose of this
of course is to add deception to
the execution,
The plays are planned to make
it possible to run the ball through
as many possible points in the line
as each series will permit, making
it possible to penetrate the same
defensive position in many dif-
ferent ways. Not only is it pos-
sible to hit the same point with
various backfield combinations,
aiding deception, but different
blocking combinations can be used
on the same defensive personnel.
One may well wonder what is
the purpose for such a complicat-
ed offensive system, and why one
set of plays would not be suffi-
cient. One reason for variety in
offense, as has been said, is to
provide for attack at every posi-
tion in as many ways as possible,
Defensive men may be strong in
the face of one type of block but
weak in another, or able to stop
one backfield series only to be
completely fooled by another. And
when the opposition is aware of
the diversity of the offense it must
attempt to protect itself through-
out-allowing the offensive team
to strike at the weaker points of
the line with its stronger plays.
The strategy of the offensive
team is based on finding the
weaknesses in the defense. When
and if this weakness is found the
offense will concentrate upon it
Su November 6, 1955
euvers
carrier passes the ball to a re-
ceiver who has slipped into the
area vacated by the defensive
man.
The Punt ...
An essential element of the of..
fensive game is involved in the
return of a punt or kickoff. In a,
sense the yardage gained on such
a return is "profit" because all
of it is gained without being
charged to an offensive down, and
further, can be made while the
defensive team is in loosely form-
ed alignment. -
Because of the nature of both
the punt and kickoff, it may app'
pear that the distance achieved
in the return is left entirely to the
devices of the ball carrier and the
chance that blocks may be applied
by the rest of the team. The back'
field man does have considerably
more freedom here and greater
reliance is placed upon his open'
field running ability. However, it
is not true that he is entirely;
without an offensive pattern. Ev-
ery punt or kickoff which can be
retrieved at sufficient depth is re-'
turned according to an organized
play, either down the sidelines or
through the middle. Every mem-
ber of the team other than the
ball carrier has assigned to him a=
blocking object in the same man-
ner as a play from scrimmage.
In the case of a punt there is a
second method of negating punt
yardage: simply blocking the ball
before it gets past the line of
scrimmage. Not only has the team
gained forty yards the easy way'
but it has dealt a most serious
psychological blow to the opposi-
tion. Again a blocked punt is not
left entirely to chance. When it
appears that there is a possibility
to block a punt - perhaps the
kicker is slow in punting the ball
or there is a weakness somewhere
in his protection-it is possible to
apply pressure to various points
of the line in an organized man-
euver,
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in as many ways as possible un-
til the opposition is forced to ~ *U~ef.fCOt *. *
compensate, usually weakening it- It would not be fair to conclude
self at some other point, this article without a word of
If no specific weakness can be clarification to the reader. What
found the offensive team may at- we have attempted to do is to
tempt to develop a weakness outline in the space available
through use of counter plays. By those aspects of the offensive
striking directly at certain points game which can .be formalized by
in the defense, using specific the coaches previous to the game.
backfield maneuvers, the offense We do not wish to leave the im-
will attempt to make the defense pression that these formal as-
overly aware of certain plays. pects are the only variables in de-
When the defense becomes famil- termining the outcome of the
iar with the pattern and begins to game. Formations, series, plays,
unconsciously adjust towards the and all the rest are merely at-
attack, the offense can then exe- tempts by coaches to find the best
cute what are known as counter- possible means through which
plays-taking all due advantage each player can express his la-
of the elements of deception and ent athletic ability, and to offset
surprise, as far as possible the contingen-
cies that may develop sponta-
neously throughout the game.
h Many variables arise in every
Up to this point, offenisive run- game which tend to defeat or aid
ning play has en our chief top- the offensive plan. Fumble.b
ic of discussion. However, any suc- bounces, slippery field, outn~ii
cessful football team must include ing defensive play, missed blocks
a strong passing attack in its rep- or tackles, and enumeration could
ertoire. Once again the plays go on and on. The individual bril-
which result in passes are far too liance of several team members
numerous to go over in detail but and the overall ability of the team
certain general aspects of a pass- cannot always be compensated for
ing attack are important. Any or guarded against. Nor can we
pass play under most offensive neglect the psychological factor,
systems will fall into two very Team spirit along with individual
general categories, mental preparedness and confi-
The first type of pass play dence play a tremendously impdr-
comes out of a special passing tant role in every game, certainly
formation or series with no great a much greater part than the fan
attempt to conceal the intention can appreciate from the stands.
to pass, relying solely on the ends Yet the elements that make up
and the ingenuity of the pass pat- this group psychology are so in-
tern to send the receiver into the tangible and individualized as to
open. Under the single wing at be beyond effective control by the
Michigan the left half is respon- coach.
sible for nearly all passes from All of these elements blend to*
such passing series. The quarter- gether in each game to make
back has a similar job in the "T" football the exciting sport that'it
formation. is. It would be an impossible task
The second type of pass play is to determine to what extent t
more intimately associated with offensive system contributes to th
the running attack. Each play be- success of each team, but exper
gins as if it were to be a run of ence seems to bear out the f
some type and at the last mo- that a well prepared offensive
ment, when the defensive backs system is a necessary element in
have moved out of position to the development, over the years,
protect against the run, the ball of successful teams.
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CAMPUS
619 E. Liberty
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