Not Since 1916 Has Varsity Eleven Rated Favorite Role Over Cornell

"The sooner the team forgets last Saturday and gets ready for what's ahead, the better." That was Lloyd Jordan's brief offering to the Boston sports writers at their weekly luncheon on Monday.

Not that Jordan was deprecating his player's common sense. They knew as well as he that optimistic press releases and nine touchdowns in an opening game against fair opposition don't necessarily win football games.

He just wanted to remind the Harvard public and any one who cared to listen that serious work was ahead for the team. If the coach had been more than unusually propaganda-minded, he might also have pointed out that Cornell, with only a brief lapse of memory last fall, doesn't forget its pre-game predictions.

That's been true since 1916, when the varsity won its last game against the Big Red, except, of course, for last year's 13-12 Crimson upset.

In 1938, 1941, and 1948 through 1951, the Big Red were rated as winners and they did just that. A random sampling of pre-game predictions reveals the following

1938: The Crimson enters todays game as decided under dogs." And they were as the final 20-0 score proved.

1914: 'Cornell will rule as the definite favorites. . ." And they were. Final score, Cornell 7, Harvard 0.

1948: "It's even money at Ithaca today that the Cornell eleven will win." Right again. Cornell swamped Harvard, 40 to 6.

1949: "Only the incurable optimist in the crowd will be looking for a Harvard victory." Whoever did was wrong. Final score Cornell 33, Harvard 14.

1950: "Only the most rabid alumnus would predict a Harvard victory Cornell in the Stadium this afternoon." Some did but they were wrong as the Big Red won once more. The scoreboard read 28 to 7.

1951: "Cornell has been established as a 34 point favorite going into todays game." The writer wasn't far off. Cornell 42, Harvard 6.

Then came last year when the Big Red forgot about their theoretical 19 point advantage and lost by one point in the year's biggest upset for the local athletes. It was a costly lapse of memory.

This afternoon thanks to the Boston scribes, the Crimson meets Cornell favored by an official six points, the first time such has happened since 1916. Apparently the Boston scribes are still impressed by nine touchdowns, have turned a deft eye to the record books, and decided that the Crimson varsity is more than ready for "what's ahead."