Thousands and thousands of dauntless football folk huddled on the dripping banks of the Yale Bowl, but there was "more water than people." Below them, out of a great morass, Leviathan heaved up his bulk through the rain, Leviathan Gehrke of Harvard. Once, twice, Leviathan kicked field-goals before the men of Yale found their footing and thrust him back and down. Right manfully those Elis strove in the mud, right manfully Pond, right stalwartly Bunnell and Kline. Game little Stafford of Harvard stuck to his instinct that it is better to have fought and fumbled than never to have fought at all. The child of mud, blood, rain, wind and pain: Yale 19, Harvard 6.
All the East was marshy that day. At Philadelphia, from the gumbo that was Franklin Field, Bucknell oozed out ahead of rugged Rutgers, thanks largely to the heroic hoists of Punter Goodwin. In swamp football, the laurels are to the tenacious. This was the first game that had slipped from Rutgers' grasp. Score: Bucknell 12, Rutgers 7.
Nimble Lafayette puddle-jumpers— Marsh and Chicknoski -slithered through Lehigh line for a touchdown that was sufficient to win the big game at Easton, Pa., 7 to 0.
Like a thing alive, a greasy ball that had been a greasy pig squirmed between the legs of Fullback Mehler of Colgate. Squeals, grunts—when the pile was unscrambled, there lay the ball, nestled to the bosom of big John McBride of Syracuse. John jumped up, passed and plunged, won the game 7 to 3. Colgate had pride in Halfback Tryon, who distinguished himself in defeat; and in Cheerleader Mullen, who gyrated himself into a dead faint.
Fort Benning soldiers and Atlantic Scouting Fleet sailors were picked to meet at Washington, D. C, for the first leg on President Coolidge's Interservice Cup (TIME, Oct. 27). They met. Soldier Buck smacked through. Soldiers Douthit and Swantle smacked through. Sailors smacked back, but the soldiers marched home with the leg, 12 to 6.
Westward, the games were no fumble fests. Wisconsin, irked by many a prod this season, charged out on Stagg Field, blood in eye. It was a desperate afternoon for Chicago, but she fended bravely with hard tackling, sly punting. The final whistle blew her a scoreless tie and a Conference Championship—her first since 1913.
Illinois, though Grangeless, contrived a way of killing the Ohio State cat. Instead of her swift red hunting hound, she loosed terriers—Backs Mcllwain, Green and Gallivan. These chewed into an early death, 7 to 0. Red Grange nursed his shoulder on the bench, but that evening had the satisfaction of learning that his season's touchdown total* stood unsurpassed in the Conference.
Rockwell of Michigan, whose collection of points was but one behind Red's, found the Iowa Hawkeyes in an ungenerous mood. They yielded two points, but these constituted an unprofitable safety. Also, they outkicked Rockwell, outplunged, outpassed his friends; won 9 to 2.
Purdue dedicated her new Rossade Bowl at Lafayette, Ind., serving up Indiana University as the charred oblation. Score: Purdue 26, Indiana 7.