Crimson-Quakers: After Brown and Before Yale

What's that you say, you're a little behind in your work, you haven't slept much lately, a big hourly's on the horizon. Well what are you worried about, you have all weekend to catch up.

Why? There's no football game this afternoon.

Well, not exactly, for Harvard is playing at Pennsylvania, but you'd never know it unless a) you work at 60 Boylston St., b) you live in Philadelphia or c) both of the above.

The reasons this game has received as much billing as the vegetarian special at the Underdog are simple--after last weekend's disaster movie at The Stadium, nobody sems to care anymore.

Besides, even had the Crimson defeated Brown, this contest would still be sandwiched between the Bruins and the Elis, and since when does it matter what kind of sandwich you're eating if the bread is from Pepperidge Farm.

Of course, should Harvard win, as expected, today, while Brown loses to Dartmouth, everyone will once again care.

Maybe they'll care anyway by next week (it's still Yale, after all), but the fact remains that here it is, the initial Saturday in November, and for the first time on this date since who knows when, no one's too excited about Harvard football.

The Crimson, plain and simply, has to win. It has to win to keep alive the hope of even sharing the Ivy championship, and it has to win for its own self-respect.

Penn, you see, despite the fact that it is the only team to have defeated Brown thus far, is not a very good football team, but then again, there aren't really many good football teams in the Ivies this year.

The Brown triumph came on the same day that Cornell splashed through Harvard, and outside of that game, the Quakers are 2-4, with losses to Columbia and Lehigh included therein.

The brightest spot for Penn is quarterback Bob Graustein, who some claim is the best quarterback in the league when Jim Kubacki plays like he did against Brown. Others claim that Graustein is the best, period.

Now speaking of Kubacki, the senior signal-caller, despite his slowdown during the last month, now needs but 128 yards to reset the oldest career record remaining in the Crimson books, the total offense mark.

He already is Harvard's all-time passing leader, a mark which he achieved a week ago, the accomplishment of which somehow got lost in the shuffle (as did most of the offense a week ago).

While Kubacki has been under the public's gaze throughout the season, the Crimson defense hasn't. But were it not for the defenders (a point which probably should have been made a while back but everyone can't get the glory), Harvard's record would hardly be 5-2.

For one thing, we're talking about Hanover in general three weeks ago, about one goal line stand in particular, and about Princeton two weeks ago, when, for the second game running, the offense took most of the afternoon off and left the defense to handle things.

We're also talking about Cambridge last Saturday, when--and this too got lost in the shuffle--the defense gave up all of one touchdown (the second Bruin score doesn't count because three-yard drives can't be blamed on the defense).

Unless Kubacki and the Crimson offense, which truly has been rather offensive of late, finally explodes today, the defense will once again have to come to the rescue against Graustein, who knows what he's doing and who runs an offense which is nearly as wide-open as Harvard's is rumored to be.

Now look. See how easy it is to overlook the defense. Why, were it not for second thoughts, linemen Bob Baggott, Charlie Kaye and Steve Kaseta, linebacker Tommy Joyce and defensive back Bill Emper (great against Brown after two so-so affairs vs. Dartmouth and Princeton), the stars of the show, would once again have been undeservedly unrecognized.

A Toast

And now that things are fair and square, how about a toast to this weekend, when everyone will catch up on both work and sleep. And how about one to .... And why not one for .... And .... Oh God, here we go again.