UPHILL VICTORY OVER TUFTS

The University football team won an uphill game from Tufts on Saturday by the score of 13 to 6. The line was seriously weakened by the absence of Pennock; and in the backfield Bradlee was the only regular. Tufts, on the other hand, showed unexpected strength at straight football, and presented stubborn oposition to Harvard's attack.

The victory was not encouraging from the University's standpoint. The team had less fight and less punch than a week ago; the line gave way when it should have held, and was unable to make holes for the backs at critical moments. The team was pushed to the limit during the entire contest, and staved off a tie score only a few minutes before the end of the last quarter.

It is a long time since any team has been able to rush a Harvard eleven off its feet. On Saturday, a shift of rakish appearance but one presenting nothing brand new continued to puzzle the University all through the game. Even after it had been sized up, even when the players must have had an accurate idea of what was going to happen, they were unable to stop it consistently. This is the most disheartening feature that the team has yet displayed. It means basic defects, and indicates that most of the men who played Saturday are below standard.

For the past two years, at least, no Harvard team has presented such weak resistance to straight rushing. In 1912, Crowther of Brown got away on a slippery field for a run of 45 yards across the Harvard goal; Princeton also scored a touchdown, but on a forward pass. In 1913, a Holy Cross player picked up a fumbled punt with no one between him and the goal. In the Cornell game, the opponents were able to make a touchdown by straight rushes from the 40-yard line, but this was against a substitute line-up, and the only time during the contest that Cornell outrushed the University. These were the only touch downs made against Harvard in 1912 and 1913.

Rush Ball 52 Yards.

On Saturday, Tufts began on their own 48-yard line, and in 9 straight rushes had the ball across the Harvard goal, an accomplishment which has seldom been seen in the Stadium. In all, Tufts rushed 52 times for a total of 266 yards, an average of 5 yards on each play; the University rushed 45 times for 187 yards, an average of four. Tufts made 17 first downs the University 12. Had not Tufts been penalized at critical moments, and if better judgment had been shown in the use of the forward pass, it is not unlikely that the eleven would have done more scoring.

While it was not, strictly speaking, against the Harvard team that Tufts made such remarkable progress, the game was nevertheless discouraging. It means that unless the absent regulars get back into shape and stay there, the University prospects in the big games are dark. With Mahan, Hardwick, Logan, and Pennock in the line-up, Tufts would have found the University a far different proposition, and with all of these men in condition the team can be ranked with the first in the country. What Saturday's contest proved was that Harvard cannot spare a single one of them in the final games.

Forward Passes Fall.

The forward pass as a reliable means of gaining ground received a severe jolt on Saturday. Tufts started 20, only two of which were successful. Moreover six of the 20 went into the arms of Harvard players, and two of these put the University in a position to score. While Tufts did not display the finish of Washington and Jefferson in this department, yet the eleven is reputed far above the average in open play. When it is considered that a more or less skilled team gained only about 27 yards by means of passes, wasted 12 downs with no gain, and six times surrendered the ball without the distance which would have been gained by a punt, the pass hardly looks worth the trouble taken in its development. Harvard started four passes, one of which was completed for a gain of seven yards.

The playing of Trumbull, Bradlee, Rollins, and Wallace stood out noticeably for the University. After Trumbull was taken out with a cut over his eye, the team weakened perceptably; and Bradlee was invaluable in the backfield. Both Rollins and Wallace played remarkable defensive games.

Bradlee Scores Touchdown.

The first quarter passed without a score, Tufts missing a good chance by fumbling on Harvard's 20-yard line. In the second quarter, the game went entirely the University's way. While Tufts did some good rushing, making four first downs, it was never able to force the ball across the centre. Harvard drew first blood when Coolidge intercepted a pass on the 41-yard line. After a 12-yard gain, and a 15-yard penalty, which placed the ball on the 44-yard line, a series of nine rushes, most of them by Bradlee, carried the ball across. Soucy missed the goal.

It was in the third period that Tufts made the remarkable march of 52 yards before mentioned, tieing the score. Near the end of this quarter, Harvard lost the ball on downs on Tufts seven-yard line, because Swigert was unable to think of anything unexpected.

In the last period, another Tufts pass was intercepted, this time on the 34-yard line. Eight rushes resulted in victory for Harvard. During the remainder of the contest, Tufts was at the end of its rope, throwing pass after pass in desperate attempts to score.

The line-up:

HARVARD.  TUFTS.T. J. Coolidge, Greene, C. C. Coolidge, l.e.  r.e., Bennett, SanbornR. C. Curtis, l.t.,  r.t., Turner, MurphyWithington, Underwood, l.g.  r.g., ThorndikeSoucy, Wallace, c.  c.; RichardsonWeston, r.g.  l.g., Tobin, SchlotterbachTrumbull, Bigelow, r.t.  l.t., O'DonnellWeatherhead, L. Curtis, r.e.  l.e., StankardSwigert, Watson, q.b.  q.b., Parks, BrattBradlee, Harris, l.h.b.  r.h.b., WescottWhitney, Rollins, r.h.b.  l.h.b. HadleyMcKinlock, f.b.  f.b., Angell, Sanbor