Crimson Quarterbacking Big Problem; Yovicson Uncertain About What To Do

After Saturday's game, a Boston sports writer asked coach John Yovicsin about his quarterbacks. "Well, you saw them." Yovicsin replied.

Twenty-six thousand fans saw them and were, almost without exception, unimpressed. Naturally, sports fans have a dependable tendency to exaggerate and get carried away with derrogations. Harvard's quarterbacking against Boston University wasn't atrocious, but it left some thing to be desired, and Yovicsin didn't deny it.

Looking Them Over

"We're not getting the general overall quarterbacking that we were a year ago," he pointed out. "Up until this point we thought Frank Champi and Dave Smith were our best boys," he added. Yovicsin said that he and his staff had been looking over some of the other quarterbacks, especially during a B squad game with Northeastern last week.

Yovicsin is only one of several coaches who are using two quarterbacks this fall. Columbia. B.U., and Dartmouth are all operating the same way, but Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman is probably enjoying the situation because both Bill Koenig and Jim Chasey are playing very well.

Yovicsin, however, is not enjoying his predicament. "We would like to play one, but we play two because we don't know who is better." he said Saturday. Champi has been number one so far, and played most of the game against B.U., coming out because of a nose bleed.

The Crimson first got into trouble Saturday when a pitch by Champi fell on the ground and was recovered by B.U. near midfield. The Terriers drove for their first touchdown.

Yovicsin noted after the Holy Cross game that little mistakes had prevented long drives, but had not proved disastrous. As it had done in its first two games, however, B.U. took advantage of such mistakes. So Champi already had a mark against him, but mistakes have to be expected.

The most obvious failing of Crimson quarterbacking Saturday was the inability to put passes into the hands of receivers. This was also a problem against Holy Cross. Champi, who throws the javelin for the track team, has a strong arm and can be accurate, as his long pass to Pete Varney in the opening game demonstrated. But neither he nor Smith has been consistently accurate.

But there is certainly doubt as to whether the other Crimson quarterbacks are ready to fill the void. John O'Grady came in for a few plays against Holy Cross, and though it wasn't much of an opportunity to prove himself, it did not provide great reason for encouragement.

"I don't know what we're going to do about it," Yovicsin said. B.H.B.