Hapless Penn Team Here

Philadelphia has spawned several products of unrivaled inferiority. Fabian and the taste of the city's water come to mind. So does Frank Rizzo.

University of Pennsylvania football may join that ignoble fraternity. Winless since Oct. 7, 1978, the Quakers have given new meaning to the term City of Brotherly Love, now a welcome resting place for gridders in search of victories.

But unfortunately for Harvard and indicative of its plight this year, these teams appear fairly even on paper. The battle is for the cellar: Harvard at 1-6 (1-4 Ivy), riding a six-game losing streak against Penn at 0-7 (0-5 Ivy), losers in its last ten.

Penn will arrive at Harvard Stadium with the worst defense in the Ivies and the sixth ranked offense. The team has given up a generous 30 points a game and scored 10.8. The Quakers lost to Columbia, 12-7, at Baker Field, the site of the Crimson's only win this year.

76ers 9-73 in 1973-74?

Yet coach Joe Restic and his charges will not take the hapless Philadelphians lightly, perhaps mindful of that locale's responsibility for Breyer's Ice Cream and the U.S. Constitution. A team on its worst losing streak in 30 years cannot afford to take anyone lightly.

Squads with bigger front lines than Harvard have ground the gridders down all year both offensively and defensively, but Penn's diminutive lineman figure to give the Crimson at least and even chance.

Passifists

Restic expects the most trouble from a Quaker offense that has been sometimes wishbone and sometimes effective. Split and Nelson Johnson has been a long ball threat, with two 67-yd. TD s to his credit."Now is the time to turn it around," Restic said yesterday, and Penn rates as the most favored target for turning it around. Quarterback Burke St. John, the Ivy passing leader, proved himself something of a midder in last week's loss to Brown and he seems to be recovering steadily from his knee injury.

Running back Paul Conners remains sidelined however, and that loss should hurt Restic's plans for ball control against the Quakers. Though the rain hampered them againts the Bruins, Harvard's backs moved the ball little in the first half and not at all in the second, not auspicious sign for a team that wants to keep its defense off the field.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard's punter Duke Millard extended his lead in the Ivy League with several bombs againts Brown... The last time Penn defeated Harvard was 1972, 38-27 at Harvard Stadium.