OLD DOMINION TEAM WILL OPEN SEASON

For the fifth time in football annals an eleven from the University of Virginia will invade the Stadium at 3 o'clock this afternoon to face the Crimson team. Never have the Virginians scored against Harvard, while the latter have piled up 13 points against the southerners in the five skimishes.

Indications point to a much closer struggle today than in previous years, not on account of a weaker Harvard team, but on account of a much stronger aggregation from Virginia. Even this, leaves the Crimson a safe margin of victory unless something unforeseen occurs.

Fisher Puts Best Foot Toward

The lineup Coach, Fisher will start this afternoon is undoubtedly his strongest combination. With the exception of Beals for Chase at the left outpost, the line in the same which was chosen for Team A the beginning of the second week of practice. It out-weighs the Virginian line by three pounds a man, and although it has not been tested in a game as the visitor's line has, it is given the odds in about all the points of the game.

In the Hampden-Sidney game, which Virginia barely won last Saturday, the Virginia line showed up poorly. But this week's practice, according to Coach Neale, has remedied most of the faults. A very different showing is expected today.

The Harvard line, on the other hand, has not yet been seen in action, and we can judge of its ability only from the daily scrimmage at Soldiers Field. Greenough, in fact, is its only member at whom critics of the game have had so much as a fair chance, and at that it was when he was at the pivotal position. The other six are practically unknown quantities to the outside world. To closer followers of football they are all known to have had coaching under Fisher for either one or two seasons, and most of them to have played in games last year. They are not, therefore, uninitiated to Harvard football ways.

Backfield Composed of Veterans

The backfield proposition is quite different. Spalding is well known as an expert signal caller, who can be counted on to keep his head in any situation. Cheek, though not known as a quarterback, has achieved considerable fame as a ball-carrier. It is almost impossible to say which of these two will direct the team at the opening of today's contest. A guess, based largely on Coach Fisher's usual tendencies, favors Spalding. The other, whichever he be, will undoubtedly be tried before the end of the game.

The three other members of the backfield are each rated as having possibilities of becoming renowned before the 1924 season comes to a close. Gehrke has but to repeat his 1922 record to achieve this, and Zarakov and Miller their Freshman records of last year. With his weight and speed, the jump from Freshman to University competition should not affect Miller Zarakov, with the aid of University interference, should be an even more dangerous threat.

Dispatches from Virginia this week have shown the Cavalier backfield to be a fast and hard-working combination. Against the Virginia scrubs and Freshmen it has scored with esse