Only when the gates were locked tight did we practice those plays of Bixby’s and Joe’s. The rest of the time we plunged or else we kicked; and people must have thought I was crazy to stick to the plungin’ game when I didn’t have a plunger who’d go into the line frontward. But we went through the practice season without showin’ anything else; and we went through clean too. Our line smashers didn’t smash. They backed up. But they were good enough, along with Joe’s puntin’, to win from Barnes and Riverside and Hotchkiss and the Indians. Even if they hadn’t been I wouldn’t have cared. I was out to trim Pelham and Marshall, and if those little dubs had licked us I’d have just laughed.
We had some mighty close shaves and everybody who saw us thought we’d get everlastingly slaughtered in our two big games. That’s just what I wanted ’em to think and it didn’t make any difference to me how much abuse I got. The New York papers were sayin’ I was loafin’ on the job ’cause it was my last year at Leighton. They said it was a crime for a coach that had as good a man as Bixby not to build an attack round him. They said I might be holdin’ somethin’ back, but they didn’t b’lieve so, ’cause the fellas I had in my backfield, outside of Bixby, didn’t even look capable of keepin’ a secret. They said the burden of bein’ captain was takin’ some of the football out of Bixby. And they said I ought to do somethin’ with Draper’s speed or else set him on the side lines, where there was no danger of his gettin’ hurt. One of the experts said he’d be willin’ to bet that Ashton, my fullback, could plunge three times into a bathtub full of water without makin’ a ripple. He was about right too.
Well, I was glad they thought I was soldierin’ on the job and that I didn’t have anything; but don’t imagine that I was enthusiastic over what I did have. My chance was better than anybody figured, but it wasn’t much good at that.
I had the best punter and point kicker I’d ever looked at, and he was a fast man too. Then I had Bixby, who’d made All-America the year before; but his strength was in his open-field work and his defense. He couldn’t plunge a yard against the wind. And I had one guard that was alive, and a pair of ends who could smash things up, but who weren’t worth a nickel apiece to catch a pass. They couldn’t have covered an ordinary man’s punts, either; but Joe’s went so high you could have driven a hearse down there and beat ’em to the fullback.
I worked for days at a time fixin’ up protection for Joe’s kicks. He made that part of it less of a job for me by learnin’ to get ’em off in next to nothin’. And when the week of the Pelham game came round I was pretty well satisfied that nobody’d break through in time to block ’em.
I’ll tell you just what I told the boys—and I was tellin’ ’em the truth too. I said:
“Boys, we’re goin’ into this game the underdogs. You know just what we’ve got and I know what Pelham’s got. I’ll give it to you straight that Pelham’s got more than we have; but they think we’re a lot worse than we are. That’s our chance. They’re goin’ into this game overconfident and we’re goin’ into it determined. If you show all the football I’ve taught you, and if you never quit fightin’ from start to finish, you’ll beat ’em, ’cause they’ll be surprised to death. But if you ease up for a minute, or if you don’t carry out instructions, you’ll get the worst lickin’ in history. I’m not askin’ much of you. You haven’t got a complicated set of signals to think of. All you have to do is fight.
“I’m lookin’ to you linemen to see that they don’t get through on Joe’s kicks, and he’s goin’ to kick on pretty near every first down when the ball’s in our territory. I don’t have to tell you what your duty is if he gets a chance to shoot at their goal. We won’t score any touchdowns on ’em without a lot of luck; but we will score from the field if you boys hold up your end. And we’re li’ble to score more from the field than they can score against us, if Joe’s properly protected.
“You ends want to remember that Joe and Bix can’t get loose unless you knock those red sweaters galley-west. Keep your eyes open for red jerseys on those plays and drive into ’em. And when they’ve got the ball smash that interference if it breaks your necks. Remember that Winslow and Smith will run wild if you don’t bust up their interference so Bix and Ashton can get at ’em.
“You linemen can stop Eaton if you’re not afraid to get down. Pelham plays a high line, and that gives you fellers all the best of it if you keep at ’em and keep low. Eaton’s got a big reputation as a plunger, but you boys want to remember that the best plunger in the world can’t gain if he’s stopped before he gets to the line. Bix will tell you what defense to play and the minute he gives it to you, you do it, without stoppin’ to ask questions. This is his third game against those fellers and he knows what they’re up to better than you do.”
That’s what I told ’em the week of the game. I kept drivin’ it into those ends that our chance was to score from the field, and the only way we could get close enough
