Crimson Eleven Meets Columbia Today

For the past two seasons, Harvard's football team has gone into the Columbia game concerned mainly about quarterback Archie Roberts, and come out of it dazed by a granitoid Lion defense.

Roberts has graduated, but when the Crimson meets Columbia in the Stadium at 2 p.m. today, Harvard will still have to contend with the same Columbia line which has held it to two field goals in two years.

Cold statistics make it difficult to understand why Harvard has had such problems with Columbia. The Lions' rushing defense was a dismal seventh in the Ivy League last year, but it held Harvard to 80 yards on the ground and forced the Crimson to scramble for a 3-0 victory. Either Coach Buff Donnelli has Harvard's number, or else the Lions find it easy to key on a team's running when it has no semblance of a passing attack. At any rate, Harvard will have to work hard to justify the confidence of the bookies who have made Columbia 16-point underdogs.

It is only the recent tradition of close Harvard-Columbia games which suggests that today's contest will be anything but a one-sided slaughter. Columbia has possibly the worst team in the Ivy League; they lost ther season opener to Lafayete, 14 to 10--and that was Lafayette's first victory in 15 games. Last week they were smeared by powerful Princeton, 31 to 0.

As these scores may suggest, the Columbia offense is almost non-existent. Harvard should be able to score a shutout--but the score could be anywhere from 0-0 to 5-0.

Columbia's backfield won't terrify anyone this season. Roberts' successor is junior Rick Ballantine, who played as a defensive back last year. He is a fair runner; against Lafayette he carried the ball 19 times for 98 yards. Vying with Ballantine for the starting quarterback role is sophomore John Burns. He's a passer--sort of. Against Lafayette he completed two of thirteen throws.

The Lion halfbacks are senior Roger Dennis and sophomore Rich Brown. Dennis caught 33 passes for 524 yards last season, but--alas--there's no one to throw to him this year. Brown is being touted by the Columbia PR boys as "the finest halfback prospect Columbia has had since the days of Tom Haggerty," whoever he was.

Columbia's line is something quite different from the collection of nonentities in the backfield, and Coach Buff Donnelli calls the line his most talented since the championship team of 1961.

The best of the group is tackle Ron Brookshire (225), Columbia's captain. Bill Corcoran (210) and John Nossal (205), both seniors, also have considerable experience at the tackle position. Guard Dick Flory (212) earned All-Ivy honorable mention last year. Other good Columbia linemen include guards Neill Brownstein (190) and ends Leo Makohen (205) and Gary Zawadzkas (215). Only at center do the Lions lack a solid, experienced player.

Harvard will be in fairly good physical shape for its first Ivy League game the season. Two starters on the defeat unit--end Justin Hughes and middle guard Dick Berdik--may miss the game because of injuries, but the offensive unit is in the perfect shape. Halfback Bobby Leo, who sat out last week's game against Tufts, will start this afternoon. Cornerback Buzz Baker is also coming off the injury list.

There is little one can say about Crimson eleven which has not been perfectly obvious to any spectator at either the Holy Cross or the Tufts game Harvard's running attack is spectacular: nine Crimson backs have averaged better than four yards per carry. Reserve quarterback John Shevlin has a 9.5 yard average, while Leo leads the team in rushing yardage with 145.

The Crimson leads the nation's colleges in rushing, but its passing attack, to use the term loosely, is the worst in country. Quarterback John McCluskey has had 72 per cent of his passes not intercepted. Shevlin, though he is two-for-four passing, takes an eternity to throw the ball.

The Crimson's experienced defensive line will be tough all season; it has yielded a scant 134 yards on the ground in two games. Only the pass defense looks questionable; Harvard may be vulnerable to a steady short passing game. If this weakness exists, it won't show up Columbia's non-offense.

Any loss to an also-ran in the League would almost wreck Harvard's chances to win the Ivy title, and it is highly likely that Columbia could spring an upset this afternoon. After a few anxious moments, the Crimson should win, 17 to 0.