Close Defensive Battle Expected In 82nd Harvard-Yale Game Today

Two months ago, it was obvious that The Game was going to be a pretty dull affair. Harvard's football team was going to murder Yale, and it would be a lovely way to conclude a great season.

But now, after eight weeks of frustration and surprises, Harvard is a tendons three-point favorite to win the 82nd version of the classic in New Haven. The good year never materialized for Harvard, while Yale, which had been ridded by graduation losses last June, has not held a disastrous campaign.

The two teams' statistics indicate that The Game should be a close one--something of a rarity in the Harvard Yale In eight games, Harvard's offense has gained 1941 yards, while the Elis save amassed 1964. Defensively, the Crimson has given up 1731 yards, Yale 1738.

The one cerain certainty about The Game is that it will be a low-scoring contest, almost totally dominated by the Crimson and Blue defensive units. It is inconceivable that Yale could score more than a touchdown or two; the Crimson's defense has been magnificent all season long, and gave up only 14 points to Ivy powerhouses Dartmouth and Princeton.

Yale's defense has been competent though not specacular, but Harvard's offense has been thoroughly ineffectual for most of the year. Unless John McCluskey, Bobby Leo, and Wally Grant turn in superhuman efforts, Harvard, won't score much.

Harvard goes into The Game with a 4-2-2 record; a win today would give the Crimson a respectable third-place finish in the League, but a loss would consign Harvard to fifth place, something that hasn't happened since 1958.

Yale has a 3-5 record overall, 3-3 in the Ivy League. The Elis lost their season opener to Connecticut, 13 to 6--the first time in history Yale had lost to an home-state foe. Football fans in New Haven were prepared for a bleak, bleak season. But since then the Bulldogs have defeated Brown, Cornell, and Penn. On October 30 they nearly pulled off the upset of the year, losing to Dartmouth 21-17 after outplaying the Inlians for most of the game. Last Saturday, however, Yale was clobbered by Princeton, 31-6.

The reason for Yale's resurgence since the Conncticut game, as well as for their erratic performances from week to week, has been quarterback Watts Humphrey. Against Dartmouth he passed for one touchdown and ran for another, turning a superb overall performance. He couldn't do anything against Princeton, and was benched iin the third quarter. Overall this season. Humphrey has completed 41 of 93 passes, two for touchdowns. He will have to be sharp this afternoon if Yale is to win.

Behind Humphrey is a solid backfield consisting of halfbacks Jim Groninger and Court Shevelson, and fullback Don Barrows. None is as spectacular a performer as Leo or Grant, but they are good ball-players. Shevelson, a 5-9 sophomore, has gained 273 yards on 53 carries this year, a 5.1 yard average.

Groninger has averaged 3.6 yards per carry, Barrows 3.0. Both Barrows and Shevelson were racked up pretty hard in the Princeton game last week, and both are questionable starters.

When people talk about this year's Yale team, they usually speak of it as a "typical Yale team"--which means a lot of big, mean linemen. Among the best of Yale's linemen are their tackles, 220-pound Glenn Greenberg and 235-pound Bob Greenlee. The Bulldogs also have excellent ends in Bob Kenney and Charlie Skubas.

Harvard freshmen coach Henry Lamar has been scouting Yale for most of the year. He said one of the most striking aspects of the Eli squad has been their constant improvement, week after week. And, he noted, plaintively, after spending several weeks looking for some definite weak spots on the team, he has found none.

One can take it for granted that Harvard's defense unit will hold the Elis fairly well in check; the Crimson has yielded only 62 points in eight games. But how the offense will function is difficult to predict. Leo and Grant are brilliant runners, but their talent wasn't enough for the Crimson to make headway against the tough defenseive lines of Cornell, Dartmouth and Princeton.

The major share of the Crimson's burden will fall on the shoulders of John McCluskey. Last week the senior quarterback completed seven of thirteen passes against Brown; for other teams, that would not be a particularly startling fact, but it was a superhuman effort in the eyes of Crimson fans. If McCluskey has a moderately successful day, and can complete a couple of long passes, Harvard will have the edge.

This 82nd renewal of The Game is inscrutable. We have had an ugly premonition that the contest will end in a 7-7 tie, but sheer blind faith in Bobby Leo, Wally Grant, and Harvard's superiority over Yale in all things leads us to predict a 10-7 Crimson victory with more hope than conviction.CrimsonMark L. Rosenberg '66BOBBY LEO (left) and WALLY GRANT (right) will lead the Crimson's offense against Yale today.