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Show Football Season 1907-08OW that the football season of 1907 has come and gone perhaps many University students and supporters have forgotten, or perhaps have never realized, that the past season has been the greatest in the history of the University. Many schools have seasons when they are compelled to play more games than is advantageous to the school and to the team, but few have had as full and hard a one as that passed through by the University during 1907, and come out with as clean a record. When the call was issued at the beginning of the season for "U" football candidates to report for practice at the Lagoon, the response was so small that the hopes for a successful year were rather discouraging. Utaii had lost her Ben-nion, her Pitt, Varley, Peterson, Scranton, and, in fact, the backbone of the team was gone. With the beginning of the school term prospects were equally discouraging. Conville had been found, but that was all. After a few weeks Richardson and then Seeley enrolled at the 'Varsity, so that by this time a ray of hope began to creep into the Utah ranks. The first game of the season ¦was with the Ogden High School. Utah went to the Junction City with the hope of wiping the Ogden High School from the map, but she was weaker than she had supposed, and the final score stood 19 to 0. This was the first time Utah realized how weak she was, and then the real gruelling process began. A week later, when she tore into the weaklings of the Salt Lake High School and emerged with a score of only 39 to 0, the wise ones on the hill trembled with fear.The first real game of the season was with the Denver "U," on October 12. Utah had practiced hard, but as yet confidence had not been instilled into the team, and the prospects for a victory looked small. With anxious expectations the Utah rooters watched the progress of the game, and when the final half ended with the score of 24 to 4, in favor of Utah, a sigh of relief went up that told more than all the victories that followed. Utah had won from a real adversary by a neat score, and her chances for a good season had been increased a hundred fold.The next game was with the "All Stars." During the first half the old-timers held the Utah team for downs, but the "Old Boys" were not in condition for a game, and the result was that the "U" squad won the day by the small score of 11 to 7. But the All Star game had another effect. It prepared Utah for the hardest and most fiercely contested fight of the season.A game had been scheduled with the Colorado School of Mines. Utah had several men injured in the All Star game, and Maddock did not feel like risking the results of the season with a crippled team. He telegraphed to call off the game, but Golden "wanted a practice game," so Coach Shorty Ellsworth refused to cancel the contract. This refusal to grant Maddock's request, however, had a very desirable effect. It stirred the Utah rooters and the Utah team |