Georgia at Alabama

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  The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, November 5, 1905, page 11

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  GEORGIA WAS EASY FOR ALABAM|ANS Light Team from the Cracker State Had No Chance FINAL SCORE 36 TO 0 Alabama’s Offensive Work Was Won derfuI-No Chance to Judge Her Play on the De- fensive. The light team defending the Red and Black of Georgia was easily crushed be- fore the onslaught of the Crimson and White of Alabama yesterday afternoon at West End. The visitors from the Cracker state were never able to hold the Ala bamians during the first half, when five touchdowns were made and as many goals were kicked, and in the second half both teams were composed largely of subs. The home team was still super for and was able to make one touchdown. The final score was 36 to 0. Alabama simply outweighed Georgia and outpayed Georgia. The Red and Black team showed comparatively little knowledge of the game, while Alabama showed a wonderful improvement over the game played against Clemson and Georgia Tech. The past weeks training at Tuscaloosa had a wholesome effect and was noticeable from the start to finish. Alabamas s offensive work was the fea- ture. The backs and tackles hit the Georgia line or went around the Georgia end with a rush that nothing short of a brick wall could have stopped. It was hardly possible to judge what Alabama will do on the defensive, for she was never called onto do much defensive work yesterday. Georgia kept the ball scarcely four minutes during the forty five minutes of play, and the remainder of the time Alabama was hammering away at the Cracker line During the first half Alabama scored at will. Five times the ball was carried over the line for a touchdown by end runs or by tackle back formations for line plunges. In the second half substi- tutes took the place of many of the regu- lar players in order to save the regulars for the Auburn game, and the team was able to score only once. Smith kicked all the goals and his aim was true every time. Alabama Was Rather Slow. The main criticism of the Alabama team was its slowness in getting away on of fensive plays. The backs were slow at times and the interference was frequent ly behind the runner with the ball. It made little difference, however, yester- Qdy, Dul ded d tSdili ol SQaaA ohA sh this slowness might prove fatal. When Georgia had the ball the Alabama team was fast, frequently breaking through the opposing line and mailing the runner before he hardly had time to move from his position. More than once Georgia lost ground when in possession of the ball, and she was able only one time to make the required five yards in three downs, and Alabama would frequently regain the distance in two or three plays. Alabama’s only way of obtaining the ball was after a kickoff. and her only gains were by bunting or by penalties. A detail of the entire game would be useless. It was a series of end runs and bucks. First Sartain. then Sims and then Neill would be brought back for line bucks on tackle or guards back plays, and each of them would easily gain the required territory. Sandwiched in between the bucks were end runs by Burks, Ward and Quarterback Smith, who made the most sensational gains of the game. This little player seem- ed have knack of getting through the opposing tacklers, and easily gained ground on quarterback runs or fake punts. Whenever Burks hit the line or went around the end he would brush the op- posing players off like so many flies, and 1t was impossible to down him until sev- eral tackled him at the same time, or one player would stop him. and two or three others would fall on him. Ward seemed to be almost as strong run ner Sturdevant replaced Burks in the first half, as Coach Leavenworth did not desire to take any chance of having Burks hurt For the same reason he took sev- eral other players out during the game and sent in substitutes Georgia sent in substitutes frequently also. but the lighter players suffered so much punishment from the onslaughts of the heavier team that the players were exhausted, and unable to play out the game. The First Half. Alabama won the toss and chose to de- fend the east goal The first touchdown was made at the end of three and one-half minutes play. After the kickoff to Alabama’s 2o-yard line the ball was carried down the field by line bucks and end runs, Sims finally carrying the ball over on buck Smith made a 20-yard quarterback run and Burks went around the end for 20 yards in carrying the ball down the field. The other gains were made by Sartain, Ward. BurSs and Sims. and varied from four to nine yards each. Alabama usually made the required gain in one down. After the first touchdown Clay kicked the ball to Alabama’s 10-yard line and Robertson brought 1t back 15 yards. The same tactics were pursued by Alabama in carrying the ball down the field. Burks making one run of 70 yards Ward and Sims did the remainder of the ground gaining and the former carried the ball over at the end of minutes play. Again Clay kicked off and Ward caught the ball on A1abama’s 5-yard line. He brought 1t back 25 yards. Burks. Sims sartain. Ward. Nell and Sims took the ball in succession and at the end of five minutes more play Sims had made the third touchdown. It required only 10 downs to score the touchdown after the kickofy and the return by Ward. That being the third down Alabama

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Alabama leads 45–⁠27–⁠3 in 75 meetings, counting the 72 since this game.