Crimson Fears Strong Passing Attack From Powerful Columbia Eleven Today

Let's face it, the football team's pass defense hasn't' really been tied this year.

Lehigh scored on a long 69-yard pass play in the first game, but beyond that, Harvard hasn't been hurt very much by an air attack. Dave McKelvey and Co, of Cornell completed only three passes for 29 yards, and Colgate, led by highly touted Dan Keating, connected on only two passes against the Crimson last week.

Today, weather permitting, it will be a different story. At 2 p.m. in the Stadium Harvard meets Columbia in what should be its first real test against a passing attack.

Why? Because coach Buff Donelli's Lions have a 175-pound senior by the name of Tom Vasell quarterbacking their wing T offense. He's the guy who completed 16 passes for 219 yards against Harvard last year to set the Ivy League record for completions in a single game. This year, he's been throwing at a near.600 clip with 21 completions out of 25 attempts for 263 yards and a touchdown.

And he's not all hat the Lions, who snapped Yale's 11-game winning streak last week, will fire at coach John Yoviosin's eleven.

Running Attack

Providing running threats in Columbia's well-balanced attack will be fullback Tom O'Connor and halfbacks Russ Warren and Tom Haggerty. All three men average about five yards per carry against three Ivy teams, O'Connor leading with 5.9. Warren leads the team with four touchdowns and has been instrumental in the Lions' impressive average of 27 points per game for three outings.

Not starting, but certain to play, is the Ivy League's present Back of the Week, Al Butts, sophomore fullback who came off the bench and rushed for 66 yards, intercepted two passes, snared a Vasell aerial, and added a two-point conversion to his winning TD in the 11-0 victory over Yale last week.

Strong Line

Up front, where Harvard lost the Colgate game last week, according to Yovio- sin, Columbia is no pushover. All-Ivy tackle Bob Asack and his partnet on the other side, Ed Little, both weigh over 230 pounds. they team with guards Tony Day and Captain Bill Campbell to anchor a bulky and vicious defensive wall. Starting ends will be Walter Congram and Dick Hassan. The Columbia line averages about 21 pounds per man--six pounds more than Harvard's.

That's what the men from New York present as they go after their first victory over Harvard since 1956 (Yovicsin has never lost to Donelli) and a 3-1 Ivy record. (The Lions trounced Brown in the opener, 50-0, and got upset by Princeton in the second game, 30-20.)

Halaby Won't Play

For obvious reasons, it doesn't look good for the Crimson, without the services of first-string quarterback Ted Halaby, who is sidelined for two weeks with a serious charley horse injury. One of the three remaining undefeated Ivy teams, along with Dartmouth and Princeton, Harvard will have to continue its habit of fooling the bookies, which it had acquired in the last three games, if it hopes to keep a clean slate.

In short, Harvard is a one-touchdown underdog (at least). But anybody who insists that "Harvard's gonna get clobbered" must be ready and willing to eat his words if the Crimson performs in its usual manner.

Humenuk and Bassett

Sharing the quarterback duties for Harvard will be sophomores Bill Humenuk and Mike Bassett. In general, Humenuk is the passer, and Bassett is the runner, and although Bassett will start today, "The one who moves us best will play most of the game," Yovicsin says. Bill Grana will start at fullback, and Tom Boone will share the halfback attack with Chuck Reed, who missed last week's game because of a leg injury.

In the line, Harvard will start ends Bob Boyda and Captain Pete Hart; tackles Darwin wile and Dick Diehl; guards Bill Swinford and Tom Gaston; and center Dave Nyhan.

Donelli rates Harvard "faster as a unit than either Princeton or Yale," the Lions' last two opponents.

But it will take more than quickness for Harvard to win today--more than anything, the Crimson needs a great big pot of luck.CAPTAIN PETE HART