I'm not a fan of American Football, but I found this movie very interesting. The thing that I didn't quite understand was the move Rockne invented after he watched the dancing girls. What exactly was the significance of it?
As for the movie, sure, it was a bit apple pie and white picket fence, but it was well acted for all that, and I thought Reagan was a convincing Gipp. O'Brien was a standout though...he really clinched it!
The significance of the switch is that at the last moment, the backfield went into motion and the defense would have a hard time figuring out which of the four backfield runners had the ball.
shareAnd this was later made illegal by conferences of frustrated coaches and now you can only have one man in motion in the back field before the snap.
The rule itself is there has to be one full second before the snap and no more than one guy can be in motion. When told of this, Rockne quipped, "what if the ref stutters?"
My great grandfather gave Knute Rockne a butt massage. I'm not kidding. He was an athletic trainer there.
shareKnute was known for liking the dancing girls whenever the team had a stayover in Chicago for trains. His wife did not want him presented in a bad light at all so the movie implied that he only went to watch dancing girls to figure out new plays. Yea Right! :)
shareThe shift allowed a bit of deception as to who had the ball. As others have said, it was later made illegal to have more than one man in motion at a time prior to the snap of the ball.
When I was in high school, I played for an innovative coach who taught us a formation known as the "spinner single wing". In that formation a spinner back and tail back lined up side by side in a shotgun(a few yards behind the center), and the first move was normally a spin move by the spinner back(hence his name). The formation also allowed for a direct snap to either the tail back or either of a couple of others who could be brought into motion. In the last couple of years, the direct snap has gained popularity in college and the NFL.
Coach explained to us on the first day of practice that, when we were good enough, he should be able to stand where the middle linebacker would be and not know where the ball went. The offense was built on deception much the same as the Rockne shift. It was a lot of fun to play, and we were very successful with it. It was especially fun to draw up new plays and pitch them to coach; he was a great guy, and occasionally, he'd put one of our plays in the playbook.
Best Wishes,
Fitz