Football 1914

Here is what happened in 1914 in the on going series of Football History Rewind. We take a look around the game in that year and see the rules revisions and the teams and coaches innovations and brilliant play.

New innovation were allowing teams of obscurity in the football world find some success and respect form the traditional power houses of the East. Notre Dame’s victory over Army the previous year gave coaches of lesser schools hope that they could play with the big boys if they prepared well and use their minds. The season of 1914 saw a few new wrinkles become unveiled by the smaller schools as well.

Illinois starts with an “I”

Coach Bob Zuppke was only in his second year at the helm of the University of Illinois but he had a program on the rise, and a group of very good players in his system. His biggest success came from a new offensive alignment the innovated called the “I-formation.” In the I the quarterback was under center with the other three backs lined up directly behind him in a straight line that went north and south on the field. The formation caused confusion to defenders as it sent all three backs forward into the line, usually running on both sides past the quarterback. The quarterback could hand off to any one of the backs or keep the ball himself. A defender had to take a second to figure out who had the ball and sometimes by that time it was too late for him to make the tackle as the runner may be beyond him at that point.

In later years of Zuppke’s 29 year stint as the coach of the Illini, he innovated many new concepts. He used the backwards pitch in his plays to cause confusion to defenses, his most famous play of this type was the hook and lateral pass play. Zuppke is also credited with being a pioneer in offensive line play. He taught his guards to drop back at the snap and move in new ways. This was something totally new because the basic premise of football in those days was that you never gave up ground on the line. The most famous play of Zuppke for this concept was the screen pass play.

One of Zuppke’s other strong contributions to the game was to charge his teams up emotionally before the games. Knute Rockne, who would later coach the same Notre Dame team he once played for, is also given credit for propelling this same strategy of firing up the troops before they take the field.

Meanwhile back at the Bend

Jesse Harper’s Notre Dame squad were still feeling good about their 1913 victory over Army, that is until they played Yale at New Haven. The Irish were crushed 28-0 in the game but the long train ride back to Indiana was not a time for depression for Harper and his new assistant Knute Rockne, it was a time for revamping their offensive system. Harper overhauled the ND offense by first implementing the back field shift he learned from Alonzo Stagg at Chicago. Rockne helped by implementing a concept of having the ends spaced out away from the tackles a step or two. He also had these same ends shift in or out with the backs.

The southern mid-west  makes its presence known

Teams in the southern mid-west of the country were starting to make names for themselves at this time in history. Schools like Auburn and Texas were rattling off impressive seasons. Texas went undefeated in 1914 scoring 358 points in an eight game season. This rise of the south would continue in 1915 when powerhouses such as Nebraska and Oklahoma would come of age. The Huskers would post a remarkable record over a short span boasting 35 wins and two losses in three seasons from 1911 to 1914 under the guidance of Coach Ewald “Jumbo” Stiehm. The game that really put them on the map was a one point victory over Notre Dame in 1915.

Oklahoma in 1915 did something that no one had done before. They made the forward pass their main offensive weapon. Coach Benny Owen recognized that his running game was very poor. Even with opponents preparing for an aerial assault by the Sooners, they still rattled off 25 touchdowns via the pass that year. Oklahoma won all ten of its games and racked up over 1700 yards through the air that season averaging about 30 passes per game.

Teams in the south-central area enjoyed the success and rivalries so much that they decided to form a league of their own named the Southwest Conference. The eight original members were Oklahoma, Arkansas, Oklahoma A & M, Texas, Baylor, Texas A & M, Louisiana State, and Southwestern. At the end of the season Southern Methodist and Rice replaced Oklahoma and LSU in the Conference and the year after that Southwestern dropped out.

Stadiums were being built with construction that had not been seen in American Athletics before. Princeton followed Harvard's lead in 1914 by completing Palmer Stadium with enough seating to have over 45,000 in attendance. Not to be outsonce, the Yale Bowl with its 64,000 seats was next to finish in November of 1914.

Things were changing in the game and fast. According to authour Timothy P. Brown in his book How Football Became Football; The Kick-out following a touchback was eliminated by the Rule Committee, The Big Ten recommended its teams to start wearing numbers and the first post game crowd to take down the goal posts occurred at Parsons High School in Kansas as they were frustrated by an 81-6 shallacking thir team took at the hands of a rival. It was all over a century ago but it sounds familiar in cases does it not?

There was a three way tie considered as the National Champions according to many experts as Illinois, Texas and Army all received consideration. In the Pro game it was Akron Indian repeating as the Champs of Ohio defeating Canton 21-0.

Football was indeed becoming a national phenomenon with competitive teams across the land. Things were just starting to get interesting. 
 

The banner photo is of 1914 Model of the Yale Bowl, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com