JV Football Stumbles Through Confusing 5-Game Schedule

Contrary to popular opinion there is really no such thing as a J.V. football team at Harvard. There is a J.V. schedule; sometimes the games on the schedule are actually played. But no one knows from one week to the next what players will represent the Crimson junior varsity.

Why? Because all men who play J.V. ball are members of and practice with the varsity. Each week two teams are picked to prepare for Saturday's Varsity game. The rest of the players form two more squads which scrimmage against the first two teams, employing the plays and formations which the varsity's opposition is expected to use. When time comes for a J.V. contest, the coaches pick the most expendable players and send them out on the field.

Most other college J.V. teams are formed in the same way. As a result. Junior Varsity games are usually chaotic and confusing. Often the games are not played. Four colleges on the Crimson schedule this fall postponed their games at the last minute because they were unable to field a team.

Of the games that have been played, Harvard won one, tied one, and lost two. The lone victory was over a weak Tufts team. The Crimson tied Brown and was out-splashed by Princeton and Dartmouth, on two of the season's rainier weekends.