It's Now or Never for a Floundering Crimson Offense

Enough is enough is enough.

Following three consecutive shutout defeats, the Harvard football team (1-3, 1-1 Ivy) faces a must-win situation when it travels to Hanover, N.H., this afternoon to take on the winless Big Green of Dartmouth (0-4, 0-1 Ivy).

If the gridders--who notched a 17-7 victory in last year's Dartmouth match-up and are currently fourth in the Ivy running--do not bring a victory back to Cambridge tonight, they can all but forget about their already distant hopes of an Ancient Eight championship in 1986, with unbeaten Penn still remaining on the schedule.

Everyone knows, by now, of the legal settlement between Dartmouth Coach Joe Yukica and his superiors, allowing the ninth-year mentor to remain at the helm through the conclusion of the '86 campaign.

With each Dartmouth blow-out (the Green has dropped its last three contests by scores of 66-12, 45-0 and 48-7), the muttering in Hanover gets louder and louder.

And aside from the continuing quarterback dilemma faced by Harvard Coach Joe Restic (the choice this week is between first-stringer David Landau, who returns from a shoulder injury, and sophomore reserve Tom Yohe, who debuted in style last Saturday against Cornell), the Crimson should have little trouble keeping the people grumbling in Green-land.

The Harvard defense, once considered to be one of the Crimson's biggest question marks because of its youth and inexperience, has now surrendered only three points in the last six quarters--and seems to be getting better and better.

Linebackers Scott Collins and Bob Joyce (who returned last week from a hand injury) led the Crimson in tackles last weekend with 12 apiece. Cornerback Don Heberle still holds the team lead with 25 (plus seven assists) with Collins (22, 10) close behind.

Defensive back Glen Philpott paces the Crimson in interceptions with two, while Tom Richerson, Bryan Gescuk, Kevin Dulsky and Joyce have registered one each.

Their biggest job this afternoon will be to stop Dartmouth's David Gabianelli-to-Craig Morton passing commbination which has resulted in 503 yards and three touchdowns this year. Morton, who is averaging a whopping 25.2 yards per reception, has a team-leading 20 catches.

Dartmouth's running game relies almost exclusively on tailback Ernie Torain, who has carried the ball 66 times for 178 yards.

The Big Green defense, which has spotted opponents 180 points in its four games to date, is in a state of near-collapse. After Dartmouth jumped out to a 7-0 advantage over Holy Cross a week ago, the defense gave away 48 unanswered points en route to yet another Crusader romp against Ivy League competition.

Although Harvard has not been tremendously successful with the run so far in '86 (185 rushes for 615 yards), look for the Crimson to run the ball a lot against a defense which has surrendered 1212 rushing yards in just four outings (an average of 303 per game).

Halfback Joe Pusateri leads Harvard's ground attack with 107 yards in 25 carries, while teammates Landau (16-for-96), George Sorbara (34-for-88), David Bunning (16-for-82) and Brian O'Neil (19-for-79) are all close behind.

But if Yukica and Co. are somehow able to stop the run, the gridders will not hesitate to go to the air, as the Green has been victimized for an average of 200 passing yards per game. The Crimson, meanwhile, is still looking for its first passing touchdown of the fall.

Senior wide receiver Joe Connolly turned in the best effort of his Harvard career last Saturday against the Big Red when he hauled in seven passes for 115 yards--including a 41-yd. reception from Yohe late in the game.