The Invisible Man No More

After the Harvard football team's season-opening 9-6 dullathon with Columbia, Coach Joe Restic made a vow--Andy Lombara would no longer be an invisible man.

"Andy Lombara is an excellent tight end," Restic said after watching starting quarterback Tom Priore complete only two passes, none to Lombara. "We've got to get him the ball."

Last Saturday, Restic surprised no one by giving Adam Lazarre-White the starting nod at QB. Lazarre-White--noted mostly for his running ability--then surprised many people by resurrecting the Crimson's nonexistent passing attack, which amassed a grand total of 15 yards against the Lions. Although Restic questioned his touch, timing and accuracy during the preseason, Lazarre-White burned the Northeastern secondary for 194 yards in the Crimson's 26-0 demolition of the Huskies. Finding seam after seam in the porous N.U. defense, Lombara earned 103 of them on six receptions.

Restic was gratified, but still not satisfied.

"Andy Lombara made us look like a good football team," Restic said. "Now we have to get him the ball quicker."

They Never Stay Home: Harvard's defense has now given up six points in two games, the Crimson's stingiest showing since back-to-back shutouts of Columbia and B.U. in 1973.

Once again, the D spent most of the afternoon in the offensive back-field despite the continued absence of injured All-Ivy tackle John Brzezinski. End Barry Littman was a monster, rolling up three sacks before leaving with an injury. John Sparks continued to play out of his mind, nearly recording a safety. And if you like the way the secondary has blanketted opposing receivers, you'll be happy to know it will be back intact next year--none of the starters are seniors.

Maybe Somebody Even Watched: Saturday's massacre marked the Crimson's first-ever victory on ESPN. Harvard's national television record is now 1-3.

Poor Paul Pawlak, Part II: Send him to bed without dessert. Send him to the Persian Gulf. Just don't send him to Harvard. He does not like this place.

Not only did his squad stink up Harvard Stadium, but he had to watch his language complaining about it.

"They just played us off our feets," Pawlak said, before realizing the cosmic import of his grammatical error. "Off our feet. I forgot where I'm at. Where I am."

Come on, you can't expect him to be a whiz with words after such a nasty experience. Actually, he wasn't really up for number-crunching, either.

"We scored 16 against Delaware State, 3 last week, none today," Pawlak recalled. "Nineteen points in three games, that's... well, you can do the math."

Give him a break. The guy had a miserable day.

Phenom Watch: Freshmen can't play Ivy League football, so highly touted recruit David Morgan is no threat to steal Lazarre-White's QB job. But they can play baseball, and sources say the Bo Jackson-esque Morgan hit a 400-foot home run at an informal Crimson practice last week.

Deja Vu: In the second game of the 1971 season, Rod Foster came off the bench to lead Harvard past North-eastern, 17-7, for Restic's first win at Harvard. Until Lazarre-White took the helm yesterday against the Huskies, leading the Crimson to Restic's 104th career victory, Foster had been the only Black quarterback of Restic's reign.

No Lie: There was a scalper in the parking lot Saturday afternoon, hawking tickets at the top of his lungs.

Well, It's Still Not a Lie, Per Se: All right, so he was selling them at face value.

OK, Maybe a Tiny Little Fib: Fine, so he did offer to cut a deal for less. But he was yelling.