Optimism Rampant

The reasons for this undercurrent of confidence are simple: Dartmouth has apparently cast away the system which was built for one stat back, no longer is the old pass-and-buck formation going to carry a team through a whole campaign, no more will we see Dartmouth teams which we chose to call colorless. In the stead will be a new Dartmouth team, with a new Dartmouth shift, and a new crusading spirit which had its birth in the Yale game a year ago and which is being carried into 1932 with a purpose.

Now the damper on one phase of our confidence is just this: We write these words as six full teams go through their daily work-outs, but we cannot foresee those devastating and unfortunate injuries which are liable to crop up with any team in any game. Where Yudicky, Marsters and Wilkin once were counted upon to lift Dartmouth to a football supremacy over major opponents, before the season was over substitutes were carrying on in their stead, and even the Booths and the Holmers of seasons past did not finish their appointed tasks. The god of football is fickle indeed and we can only point out what Should Be rather than what Will Be.

This new Dartmouth shift is the focal point of all the pre-season enthusiasm. It marks a radical departure from the Hawley and Cannell type of football into which we were all initiated as writers, and for the first time in years the Big Green will show an unbalanced line, as well as a single wing back formation from a shift. The new system looked very much like Stanford in the line, and the backfield gyrations looked very much like Notre Dame and Yale, but Cannell assured us that this was only partly true. "I do not believe that any new system inaugurated in football is entirely new now," he said, "but I do believe that we have something that is just a little dilferent from other teams this year."

The Cannell gloom is gone, and in its place is a new coach under the same name. The Cannell of 1932 is an affable, radiant personality; he is willing to talk about his team, and he is enthusiastic over his players. In turn the players talk of the system, with a new spirit. Surely something must come of this.

We cannot add any more words to the valedictory of Bill Morton and Wild Bill McCall, the key men who have graduated from the backfield. Three years they worked side by side in the backfield and the fruits of their three years of Dartmouth football are something that cannot be erased from the records and something that sent them from Dartmouth better men. The young backs on the team this year may well take inspiration from Morton and McCall.