Football

(Channel 2).

Meanwhile, back in New York City, the capacity crowd will welcome home a Columbia team that hasn't played a home game in two years.

And never that they'll do so in a brand-new, multi-million dollar stadium that's only half complete.

Because the same's true for the Harvard starting lineup.

A series of late injuries and personnel problems has left gaping holes in the Crimson's depth chart and many of the squad's hopes now lie in the hands of inexperience.

So the debut of the 1964 Harvard squad and two-time defending Ivy champion is clouded in question marks, and the guaranteed season-opening win many had expected from the Crimson could be in jeopardy.

Even if the opponent is a Columbia squad that hasn't beaten Harvard since 1978, is 1-7 against Harvard in season openers, was 1-7-2 a year ago and has won just four games in 40 tries under Coach Bob Naso.

Harvard Coach Joe Restic, gunning with his squad for a third straight piece of a league crown and the first Crimson outright Ivy title since 1975, even admits he's slightly worried.

"Columbia has to be excited," says Restic, now entering his 14th year. "With the dedication of the new stadium, this will be a big game for them."

Certainly, there's little doubt that a Columbia victor over Harvard today would make the Lion's season.

On paper, the squad is anybody's season opener dream. Graduation appears to have made a bad team worse, and what to expect from last year's Ivy League traveling circus is anyone's guess.

Gone are receivers Don Lewis and Bill Reggio and current Detroit Lion quarterback John Witkowski, one of the finest trios in Columbia football history, and in their place are a bevy of underclassmen.

With the lack of any semblance of a running game, the Lions will probably remain just where they've been for the past few years--in the air.

The key for Harvard will be to pressure junior quarterback Henry Santos, making his first collegiate start, and to keep All-Ivy tight end Dan Upperco out of the Crimson defensive secondary.

The strength of this year's Lion team is in the defense, particularly at linebacker and specifically in juniors Winslow Cervantes and Dave Nickerson.

The big story today, however, could come from a makeshift Harvard offense and a Harvard defense that's still not set.

After a quarterback derby that began with the graduation of 1983's signal-caller, Greg Gizzi, and ended yesterday with the announcement of junior Brian White as Harvard's starting general, more problems than just who would start at quarterback immediately surfaced.

There are problems all over the Harvard backfield, with two of the Crimson's top three running backs highly doubtful for today.

Starting fullback Brian Cooke is suffering from a bruised shoulder and will definitely not play. Complicating matters, Coke's backup, Chris Ridout, is bothered with a sore leg and extremely questionable.

As a result, starting wingback Robert Santiago will shift to fullback, even though he's also been slightly hampered with an injury this week.

"He'll team up with the Crimson top runner of a year ago, Mark Vignali, who many feel will have to carry the team if it is to win today.

Meanwhile, as of Thursday, Restic and his coaches were reportedly still shifting people around on the defense. That doesn't bode well for a Harvard team that returns just seven starters from last year' entire squad.

The biggest question mark is at linebacker, where Brent Wilkinson and Dan Bennett have earned the starting roles.

THE NOTEBOOK: This is the first Harvard trip to Columbia in three years...Next year's game will also be played in New York...Restic has taken five sophomore running backs to New York because of the recent rash of injuries to the offensive backfield.