The Kerrmen blasted the Leopards this weekend, defeating them on their home field 35-0. Colgate played its best game of the season, and Coach Kerr admitted he had over estimated the Lafayette defense. The first scoring drive began just 7 minutes into the first quarter. Colgate needed just 6 plays to move the ball 46 yards down the field. After both teams punted, Colgate started from their own 42. Ask and Rowe attacked the line for 9 yards, bringing Colgate one yard over midfield. And that is when it happened. Charlie Soleau had been instructed not to use the teams new play until we reached Lafayette territory. However, I am sure Coach Kerr did not have the 49 yard line in mind when he said that. However, the team was eager to try their newest play, the double spinner. The play demands perfection, and utalizes slight of hand to create confusion on the part of the defense. What happens is, the fullback recieves the snap, he then pivots 180 degrees so is back is facing the oncoming defense. The quarterback also pivots so he is facing the fullback. The fullback has the option of either handing it to the quarterback next to him, or giving it to the halfback who is now coming directly at him. He may also take it himself. The three backs then turn back foward, as they take off downfield. If the play is ran properly, the ball will be moved before the defense has time to get close enough to see who has it. It happens so fast that by the time the defense has found the correct ball carrier, he is already into the secondary. The first time it was used, the fullback made it 3 yards. Then it was used immediatly again, and it even fooled one Colgate alum in the stands, who remarked to his friend. "Pshaw, there goes Rowe again for only a small gain." His friend could only say, "Rowe nothing, there goes Soleau down the field 30 yards!" Colgate was now deep into Leopard territory, and after a small gain by Rowe, Ask ran through tackle for a touchdown. Bob Rowe converted on the kick.
Lafayette made it's strongest scoring attempt late in the first quarter. Ask was punting from our side of the field, when Yount was able to block it, and recover it at the Colgate 17. The Maroon Eleven stopped two plunge attempts, and then Miller threw a pass to Wermuth, who was standing on the goalline. Just as he was about to catch the touchdown pass, he is hit hard by Jack Fritts, and drops the ball. The first quarter ends as Colgate begins to drive from deep within their own territory. Soleau and Rowe used the double spinner several times to reach the Leopard's 15 yard line. Bob Rowe attempted a field goal, but it missed. Another Leopard drive failed, and Colgate had the ball near the middle of the field. Winnie Anderson hauled down a 20 yard pass along the sidelines. After that, the Maroon used a few running plays to move down field. From 12 yards out, Rowe took the snap, made a shot pass behind the line to Ask, who ran the ball a little, before lateralling to Fritts, who scored another touchdown. Rowe converted the point.
Lafayette tried to make something happen on the ensuing kickoff, but was pushed back 9 yards. When they punted, Fritts used a ten yard return to start another scoring drive. Soleau used a spinner play to run 30 yards. Rowe and Ask both tested the line for a total of 9 yards. On a key 4th down play, Ask ran for 13 yards, bringing Colgate to within the 10. Bob Rowe was given the opportunity to plunge up the middle, and he finally scored on his third attempt. It was now 21-0, and no further scoring was made in the first half.
The Colgate second team got to start the third quarter, and they continued to dominate the game. Lafayette did not reach our side of the field this quarter. Antolini made a few good plays, then Anderson made a nice catch off of a pass by Lyon, for a first down. Lyon then smashed right through the line and outran the secondary on a 29 yard touchdown run. Soleau converted. Right before the quarter ended, Ed Prondecki picked off a pass, and ran it back to the Leopards 41. Ask advanced the ball 10 yards with a pass reception, and then Antolini caught a pass from Lyon and scrambled down to the 6, but a penalty moved us back to the 20. However, on the next play, Lyon threw the ball 11 yards right to the middle of the defense, where Conroy made the catch, and then somehow made it into the endzone. The 4th quarter saw a lot of subbing by both teams. And Lafayette tried to end Colgate's unscored on streak by throwing long wild passes, in a desperate attempt to score. They were unable to connect however, and George Van Heusen even picked off one of these passes and rumbled over 40 yards down the field. When the smoke cleared, Colgate was once again victorious, with a 35-0 win over McCrackens team on March Field.
Andy Kerr's boys really clicked this weekend, and were executing most of the plays to perfection. "Colgate played better football against Lafayette than any team has ever played for me this early in October." Coach Kerr admitted that the team surprised even him with how well they were playing. Lafayette could not solve our running game, and we were able to make big plays all afternoon. The lateral passes were also working very well, and our big men were running very fast. At one point in the third quarter, even the Lafayette band admitted defeat, playing "I love a parade" as the Kerrmen marched the ball downfield for another score.
Colgate is now undefeated, and unscored upon. Colgate has scored 150 points so far, which is second in the nation only to Harvard. Next weeks opponent, N.Y.U., is also unscored upon. They have 93 points so far. Brown only has 39 points to their credit, but they are undefeated. Penn State and Syracuse both have lost games this year, with Syracuse outscoring Penn State 85-46. These schools will make up the tougher part of the remainder of our schedule. N.Y.U. was the lone school to beat Colgate last year. Colgate barely beat Brown last season, and they are looking even better this year. Coach Kerr acknowledeged this, "We were fortunate to beat Brown last year, and this year, with a team that is obviously a better club than last years, you can draw your own conclusion about that contest." Penn State is looking pretty good, but not great. It is still too early to make any conclusions about Syracuse this year.
This puts a lot of pressure on the game next weekend. At the end of the game, one of these teams will no longer be unbeaten and untied. In an interview with Andy Kerr, he talked about this game and the rest of the season. "In meeting NYU next Saturday, Colgate plays a team, which next to Pittsburg, is probally the strongest in the east." This does not mean that the Violets feel the same way about us. A school newspaper called Rutgers, Purdue and Fordham the toughest opponents on their schedule. NYU has the bulk of its team from last year returning. And I do mean bulk. For every player on the Colgate team, NYU has one that is at least ten pounds heavier. The Maroons were unable to score on the Violets last year at Yankee Stadium, but Kerr is confident we can give them a game. "If they play the type of heads-up football against NYU they showed against the Leopards, don't make the mistake they made last year, and get some of the breaks they failed to get last time, Colgate has a chance against Cann's outfit." While this might not sound like the best outlook, Coach Kerr was not gloomy, and is confident that with another week of practice like last weeks, his team will be prepared for the game. Working around NYU's experience and power will be the biggest challenges. NYU beat Georgetown 39-0 this weekend, a team that is on par with Lafayette. The Violets matched our score, then added another touchdown. Brown beat Yale 7-2, and Kerr said this is the best team Brown has had since 1926. But like all good things, this interview must come to an end, "With these words, Colgate's mighty Scot mentor broke the spell he had cast over your reporter and your servent went away a vastly changed and improved young student."
This Thursday night, there will be a sendoff for the NYU game. In exchange for the students staying in Hamilton this weekend, campus will be closed for the NYU game. Most students will be travelling to the game via train. The Lackawanna Railroad Company is running a special. It will leave Hamilton at 12:45 pm on friday afternoon, and departs from Hoboken sunday night at 5:15. Ticket's are 5 dollars. 525 students have already bought their tickets for the game. Almost everyone is going to be going to NYC this weekend, as Hamilton will be a ghost town as it is so many fall weekends. The following weekend, is the homecoming game against Penn State. Many people are calling it the most important homecoming game since we played Brown 13 years ago. Last year, Colgate held it's first homecoming dance as part of the weekend, and they will continue that tradition with a saturday night dance at the Colgate Inn. Because of these hard economic conditions, there will be no banquet or speakers, and the trustees meeting will be held in NYC rather than Hamilton.
On student, DL Jones '35, recently made remarks as to our All American cheering section. He feels our reputation is in danger. There is spirit, but it is unguided. We have three cheerleaders, and they are not even in sync with each other, and they make mistakes on some of the words. If they cannot drum up more support for the kickoff yell, it should be forgotten alltogether. This campus has a hello tradition, but we do not have any cheer to welcome our opponents and fans from visiting schools. Our friendliness should be extended to our adversaries as well as each other. Finally, the student body should chip in to purchase caps for our band, so that they look as nice as some of the other bands.
While Mr. Jones makes some valid points, he is not taking some issues into account. He is not considering the improvment in our cheering since this season began, the difficulty in getting 1,000 students to cheer together. And the recent attitude towards cheering at college games. Loud cheering sections have been refered to as being too "Collegiate" by many pseudo- sophisticates, and many schools have toned down their cheering to avoid this negative stigmatism. For a while, it looked as if Colgate would fall into this catergory, but that is no longer the case. Our recent spirit shows that our fans are not ashamed to cheer for their team, and to loudly show their enthusiasm. They are not afraid of critisism, and their love for the team is genuine.
But not everyone loves Colgate football. In fact, Reed Harris, the former editor of the Columbia Spectator had some pretty harsh words for the Maroons. His latest book, "King Football", was recently published, and Mr. Harris takes aim at the game of modern football. Perhaps he is still upset at the 54-0 loss his team took two years ago, but Colgate was singled out at several points in the book. "But what in heavens name has the possession of a winning football team to do with the main business of a college or university. It surely adds nothing to the business of learning, except, perhaps, at institutions specializing in psychological research, such as Colgate, where the morons and imbeciles of the football team might be needed for experimentation." At the present time, Columbia does not appear on any upcoming football schedules, as the two teams have not been in contact with each other since the game two years ago. If there was an upcoming game, the football players might regret the verbal assault by one of their journalists after Colgate spends a week practicing with this quote hanging in the locker room. Perhaps a game can be arranged for September 28th in the year 2002. The date is open on our schedule, and probally Columbia's too. The game should naturally be held at Colgate, and if the university does need to build a new football field and stadium, they should name it in honor of the Colgate mentor, Andy Kerr, who is directly responsible for the state of Colgate football. But who am I kidding? That will never happen. If we are trading insults however, I would like to point out this item from Princetons newspaper, they are reporting that 15% of its last graduating class are currently working as bond salesmen, and another 22% aren't doing anything either. When one of our opponents players passed in front of a crowd, someone was rumored to remark, "There goes that tempermental Yell, All American halfback, 98% temper, 2% mental."
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