Brown's Passing Tests Harvard Today

Ever heard of a guy named Bob Hall? If you follow Harvard football, you'll see plenty of him this afternoon in Providence. He's the Brown quarterback, another good Ivy League back, but a little different from the rest. He's the best.

"If I had one player around which to build a team, Hall would be the man," Cornell coach Tom Harp said last week after Hall had completed 21 of 32 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns against his Big Red defense.

Hall's 92 pass completions in five League games this season has already erased Archie Roberts' Ivy record of 82, and he needs only 24 yards today to break the great Columbia star's passing yardage record of 934 yards in a season.

Hall the Versatile

In seven games this season, Hall has completed 116 of 210 passes for 1117 yards and seven touchdowns. He is Brown's leading rusher with 360 yards, ranks as the team's second leading punt returner, and has returned 13 kickoffs for 303 yards. But for shame, he doesn't handle the punting. Instead, the Bears have one of the nation's top punters in Joe Randall, who is averaging 41.6 yards per boot.

Hall's favorite targets are halfbacks John Hutchinson and Bill Carr, who have together snared 72 passes this year. Hall will also roll out and hit his big ends, Rich O'Toole and John Olson, over the middle. Fullback Pete Thorbain and guards Neill Anderson and Bob O'Day effectively clear the way for Hall on his sweeps.

Brown's weak spot on the offense is at tackle, and so Harvard will once again depend heavily on left tackle Dave Davis for the big rush.

No Pass Defense

What's so scary about the Brown passing attack is to think about the Harvard pass defense at the same time. Last Saturday, Princeton's Ron Lundeck had no trouble riddling the middle of the Crimson secondary, completing 15 of 23 passes.

Harvard's linebackers, especially Jim Driscoll, had difficulty dropping back to cover their zones in the center of the secondary. Driscoll's play has been one of the pleasant surprises of the year but the Princeton game was certainly a let down for him. Though he should see plenty of action today. Coach John Yovicsin may start sophomore Don Chiofaro instead.

When a team like Brown can score 27 points against Princeton and 21 points against Cornell and still have a 1-6 record for the season, there must be something amiss. It's the defense.

Brown's defensive line was hit hard by graduations last year, and the guard positions are the only ones which can be considered solid. If Harvard is ever going to demonstrate any consistency on offense, it should be today.

Against Princeton, Harvard's offense managed to sustain several drives entirely on the ground, even though the Tigets knew exactly what was coming. The Crimson starting backfield of John McCluskey, Wally Grant, Bobby Leo, and Tom Choquette has recovered from early-in-the-week ailments and should be going at full strength today.

A Day for Passing

Yovusin has insisted all season that Harvard will win games on its passing, and maybe today's the day. Somehow the varsity is going to have to score three touchdowns, for it's unlikely that Hall will settle for less than two even against the best defense in the Ivy League.

Currently in fifth place in Ivy standings, the Crimson must stop Hall or outscore him to maintain its string of six consecutive seasons in the Ivy first division. If the weather man's forecast of mains holds true. Harvard will definitely have the advantage.