SPORT WRITERS FAVOR DARTMOUTH'S GREAT TEAM
From the hundreds of "after the season pick-ups" which have been written about the 1925 Dartmouth football team, the following choice bits have been selected for the delight and edification of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE'S readers:
GRANTLAND RICE
(New York Herald-Tribune)
In the midst of all the noise and excitement football's main banner for the waning year goes to the peace and far-away restfulness of Dartmouth, the college on the hill. Princeton, Pittsburgh and Colgate climbed to new heights in the east as Michigan and Minnesota moved onward in the West, and Washington's powerful team tied up the conference championship of the Pacific coast.
But for a season's record the showing made by Dartmouth leaves a green flag waving above them all. Dartmouth was not only unbeaten. In its last four big games—against Harvard, Brown, Cornell and Chicago—the Green attack ran up 140 points, an average of 35 to the game. We can recall no attack in modern history that has piled up as many points in feature contests, that has shown as much ver satility and as much power and speed. Above that, no team in the history of the new game has ever put the forward pass to as brilliant use as Jess Hawley's lineup, with big Oberlander tossing the ball from 35 to SO yards down the field.
W. J. SLOCUM
(International News)
Dartmouth stands out at the head of the Eastern group and apparently is well ahead of any eleven of the Middle-west. Nor is there any reason to believe that the prestige of the Green would suffer through combat with any team of the Far-west or South.
Jesse Hawley's pupils have gone through a schedule unbeaten and have earned a rating as a great team by the high scores against Harvard, Cornell and Chicago. The decisiveness of the Chicago rout was a surprise, despite the fact that Dartmouth had performed so well in the East. The Maroon had yielded only sixteen points in four games against "Big Ten" conference elevens and had held Penn to a 7-0 score. It was on defense rather than the attack that Chicago had shown to advantage, but against Dartmouth this defense crumpled.
The pivot around which the Dartmouth attack revolved was the marvelous "Big Swede" Oberlander, who was equally effective with his forward passing, line bucking, sweeps around end and his deadly tackling.
CHARLES E. PARKER
(New York World)
The establishing of Dartmouth's right to the title of national champions for 1925 and the registering of a batch of gridiron upsets comparable to the surprising happenings of one week ago, made Saturday a red letter day in football history.
In that batch of upsets were Yale's defeat by an inspired Princeton eleven; Army's defeat by an alert Columbia team; Penn's defeat by a surprising Pittsburgh team; Brown's defeat by a spirited Harvard array; lowa's defeat by a smashing Minnesota combination, and California's defeat by a determined Washington team.
That the day would be one of consequence was known in advance. Jesse Hawley's Dartmouth eleven—high-scoring and all-conquering team of the East—went West for the purpose of establishing Eastern as well as Dartmouth football supremacy against one of the provenly powerful arrays of the Middle States; the socalled "Big Three" title was the stake in the Princeton-Yale meeting; the "Little Three" championship hinged on the Amherst-Williams game; the lead in the Western conference depended on the Minnesota-lowa clash; the Pacific Coast pennant was the stake in the Wash- ington-California battle, and other titles were at issue elsewhere. All in all, it was the most important day of the current season.
Wildest interest, of course, centered in the Dartmouth-Chicago and Princeton-Yale engagements. Eastern football prestige, repeatedly challenged by other sections, rode with the Green into the game at Stagg Field and, to the general delight of Easterners and to the mortification of the Middle West, it rode to a sensational victory.
Not in a dozen years had such a score as 33 points been chalked against a leading Western Conference eleven—in fact, the combined efforts of the seven teams, which faced the burly Chicago eleven prior to the Dartmouth game, failed to produce a grand total within ten points of the Dartmouth score.
Even the celebrated "Red" Grange had been unable to penetrate the Maroon defense, for his afternoon's efforts of one week ago not only showed no gain but he was charged with a loss of 26 yards. Hence, Westerners believed that if a Dartmouth victory was to materialize it would be a small-score triumph. Their amazement as Dartmouth rolled up five touchdowns can be imagined.
The Middle West had its opportunity to view "Swede" Oberlander and his mates in action Saturday, and even the staunchest supporters of Western football admitted at the close of the game they never had seen anything quite up to the blond Nordic and his Dartmouth team mates. With that admission, coming on the basis of Dartmouth's play against Chicago, I wonder what would have been their comment had they seen the Green in its contest with Cornell.
Dartmouth was good, very good, against the Middle West team; it had to be to roll up so great a score on the defensive specialists of the conference. But it is my opinion the Green played better football against Cornell one week ago. It had pointed for that Cornell game and was right on edge physically and mentally for . the battle. In attaining that high standard and participaing in that well-nigh perfect display of modern football it topped the peak of its form. At the close of the Cornell game "Swede" Oberlander was eleven pounds under his normal weight and several of his mates suffered similarly. Consequently, only the minimum of practice could be indulged in before the Chicago battle, and the smoothness of the team could not help but be affected.
This was most noticeable in the first half of the game at Stagg Field when passes, which had met with nothing but success against Harvard and Cornell, went uncompleted; when Dartmouth's sterling wings, Tully and Sage, were ridden out of several plays by the ponderous Maroons, and when one or two of the backs were guilty of costly fumbles.
But the traditional spirit of the Hanoverians came to bat in the emergency and when, after several stirring defensive stands, the Green attack did get going there was no stopping it.
T. A. D. JONES
(Head Coach at Yale)
With the 1925 football season at an end for many elevens and rapidly drawing to a close for others, there is only one outstanding eleven in the East which can lay claim to the mythical national championship. Dartmouth by its powerful attack maintained its position by defeating Chicago, cind the men (from. Hanover need lay no claim to superiority. Dartmouth will be granted first position without argument, and deservedly.
It is seldom that a team possesses such players as Oberlander, McPhail, Parker, Diehl, Tully and Sage, and when they all come together they spell trouble for all opponents.
BILL ROPER
(Head Coach at Princeton)
Without resorting to the records the following names quickly come to my mind as outstanding performers of the year: Oberlander, Dartmouth; Grange, Illinois; Kruez, Pennsylvania; Try on, Colgate; Friedman, Michigan; Kutsch, Iowa; Marek, Ohio State; McCarthy, Chicago; Wyckofif, Georgia Tech; Flournoy, Tulane; Nevers, Stanford; Wilson, Washington; Kline and Sturhaln, Yale; Wilson and Sprague, West Point; Tully, Dartmouth; Slagle and McMillen, Princeton.
The above names are not in ranking order, but about as they come to my mind. Oberlander is easily the outstanding backfield star of the East, if not of the entire country. He is one of the rare type of players who do everything well, running, passing and kicking. The powerful Dartmouth back almost single-handed defeated Harvard and Cornell. Against Cornell Oberlander gained a total of 428 yards and punted not less than 48 yards and got off one kick of 68 yards. In addition his handling of passes was little short of marvelous.
W. E. HANNA
(New York Herald-Tribune)
Much obliged to Dartmouth for polishing off the Maroons. Our compliments to Mr. Hanover, who, seeing all he has done and the completeness of it, is in a class by himself. Being pitted against underdogs and being the favorite and being heralded as powerful and fast and all the rest of it, doesn't seem to have affected Dartmouth much. The Green kept right on winning no matter what the conditions, and did that because they had the goods, had the best of coaching and were always ready. They laid low the Western menace, added further proof to the contention that the East is stronger than the mid-West, and, I think, can fairly claim to be the best east of the Rockies, at least, which is no meager territory.
