Cornell Counting on Harmon

For the third straight Saturday, the Harvard football team must face an opponent whose offense revolves around a prodigious running back.

After sufficiently holding UMass tailback Garry Pearson in check two weeks ago and then seeing Army carry on without injured halfback Gerald Walker, the Crimson will contend with Cornell's Derrick Harmon this afternoon at the Stadium.

Only a junior, the Big red tailback was named the Ivy League's Sophomore of the Year last season after he rushed for 893 yards in only nine games.

So far this fall, a hip pointer has limited Harmon to less than two full contests. He sat out the Colgate game altogether after injuring himself in the opener with Princeton, and exited from last week's 17-7 loss to B.U. when the hip began troubling him at halftime.

But Harvard cannot expect a rerun of the Gerald Walker no-show today. Harmon has made every practice this week and intends to help his 0-3 team assert itself and reverse a 27-10 setback Harvard administered last year in Ithaca.

In the little time he has spent on the field, Harmon has already rushed for 218 yards on 41 carries, has caught three passes for a gain of 19, and on one occasion even threw the ball for a 23-yard completion.

For the most part, quarterback Jeff Hammond has only been expected to supplement Cornell's 159.3 yards-per-game running attack. Although he has played nearly every second of every Cornell possession, Hammond has thrown the ball only 72 times for 30 completions, 377 yards and one TD.

But, as the stats and the overall record indicate, the Cornell offense has stalled, convincing Coach Bob Blackman to make a few alterations in today's lineup. Senior split end Dean Barr will relinquish his starting position to junior Mike Huyghue, and junior fullback Mark Miller will be running out Cornell's "I" formation in place of senior Dave Menapace, the team's No. 2 rusher with 139 yards on 33 carries.

While Blackman has stressed the ground game offensively, his defense has encouraged opposing quarterbacks to go for the big serial plays. In 86 attempts against Cornell, signalcallers have hit 46 passes for 584 yards and six TDs.

The stalwarts of the Cornell defense are inside linebackers Mike Scully and Mike Prospero, a pair nearly as impressive as Harvard's Joe Azelby and Andy Nolan.

Game time is 1:30 p.m. Larry Kahn and Frank Mungeam of WHRB (95.3 FM) will broadcast live.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard punter Jim Villanueva is the East's Division I-AA leader in punting, averaging 43.9 yards per kick...Quarterback Don Allard ranks second in total offense with 234.3 yards per game.