The Football Situation at Pennsylvania

In a letter to "The Pennsylvanian," Mr. J. William White, commenting on the Pennsylvania team, explains the present situation there as follows:

The prevalent view that the team this year has not been in condition to play football is correct, and, for the present, it is useless to look further for an explanation of its lack of success. A system of play intended for a team of eleven men cannot be tested unless there are eleven men able to play it. The team has not had the same make-up in any two games of the season. The men were in better physical condition in the Harvard game than at any previous time this season, but owing to long absences from practice, caused by injuries, they had had no adequate preparatory training.

The action of the athletic committee in doing away with preliminary practice was a mistake. Beginning a season with so-called "minor games" does not answer the same purpose. the average knowledge of the game and the average strength and efficiency of players the country over have increased with such rapidity that any game, even the first, may be a hard one. The men are both safer physically and better students, as well as better football players for a preliminary period of training and practice. The minor faults may be summed up as follows: 1. Failure to provide for the individual conditioning of the men before they reported for practice. 2. Allowing one coach to have all the work of developing the team in a short time. 3. Coincident limitation of preliminary work and arrangement of a too severe schedule. 4. The uncertainty regarding the interpretation of faculty rules on eligibility.