You never know where an innovation might arise, but football's history is filled with players and coaches who identified gaps in the rules and used them to their advantage. Two innovations came at the hand of Kent "Skeet" Lambert, who played for the Wabash College Little Giants, finishing his career in 1912.
Lambert played under Jess Harper, the former Chicago player who left Wabash after the 1912 season to take over at Notre Dame. His first year in South Bend was Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais' senior year, and Rockne would take over for Harper when he left after the 1917 season.
As the coach at Wabash, Harper used the forward pass extensively, unlike most teams at the time. The Little Giants had a few tricks up their sleeves when they headed upstate to take on Notre Dame in the battle for the Indiana small college title. It is unclear whether Jess Harper or Kent Lambert conceived these tricks, but one or the other did so and Lambert executed them. Unfortunately, their tricks were not enough as the Irish scored 21 fourth-quarter points to win 41-6.
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