Dorais completed 14 of 17 passes for 243 yards in the victory that put Notre Dame on the football map. Notre Dame opened the scoring when Dorais threw a 40-yard touchdown pass that Rockne caught in stride, and the throws kept coming as the Irish scored five passing touchdowns. Warner designed the “Carlisle formation,” forerunner of the single-wing offense, which gave players options to run, pass or kick. Glenn “Pop” Warner also embraced the forward pass as a way for his 1907 Carlisle Indian Industrial School squad to compete against collegiate powers with stronger, deeper rosters. Thanks in part to the forward pass, undefeated Saint Louis outscored its 1906 opponents, 407-11. But Robinson later connected on a 20-yard touchdown pass. The toss hit the ground untouched, resulting in a turnover. In the opener for Saint Louis against Carroll College on September 5, 1906, Bradbury Robinson threw football’s first legal forward pass. Before the start of the 1906 season, he cloistered his team in a Jesuit retreat in Wisconsin, as he later wrote, for “the sole purpose of studying and developing the pass.” Unlike the Eastern elites, Saint Louis University coach Eddie Cochems gave the new rule the old college try. “Well executed they are undoubtedly highly spectacular, but the risk of dropping the ball is so great as to make the practice extremely hazardous and its desirability doubtful,” the New York Times editorialized. Yale tried only three passes in its season opener. Those who feared the forward pass would immediately ruin football needn’t have worried because old-school coaches of the East’s top colleges viewed it as a risky gimmick. READ MORE: The Heisman Trophy Is Named After This Coach and Innovator Restrictions Deter Use of the Forward Pass “Many predict the ruination of the game through the drastic reformation,” reported the New York Times of the sport’s rule changes heading into the 1906 season. But opponents such as Camp believed it emasculated the sport’s brute nature. Pass proponents such as Georgia Tech coach John Heisman believed the forward pass would inject speed and skill into football and open up the game by compelling defenders to spread out in coverage. “The forward pass has been so well hedged about with restrictions as to make it a play that must be thoroughly practiced and well executed to be of use,” wrote rules committee member Walter Camp, a staunch foe of the play. Passes that hit the ground without being touched by any player resulted in turnovers. Passes couldn’t be thrown or caught within five yards of each side of the line of scrimmage, and only the two ends on the line of scrimmage were eligible to make catches.Īdditionally, passes that crossed the goal line resulted in touchbacks to defenses, and out-of-bounds throws were given to defenses at the spots where they left the field. Although any player behind the line of scrimmage was permitted to pass, the rules committee imposed severe restraints that hampered offenses.
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