Harvard Must Win Today To Evade Losing Season

The Harvard-Brown football game is usually quite an emotional one-for the Bruins. Beating Harvard is considered an incredibly desirable thing in Providence, but since Brown has failed to do so since 1959, an encounter with the Bruins has done little to incite the Crimson's enthusiasm in recent years.

But this afternoon at Providence, the emotional tone of the contest will be markedly different. For the first time since 1958. a Harvard football team will be doomed to a losing season if it cannot defeat Brown, and for the first time in several years, the Bruins have enough raw material to fight a Yoviesin squad on even terms.

For both squads, a victory will be extremely welcome, if not mandatory. Harvard needs to rebound from its humiliating drubbing at Princeton's hands last week, and Brown, still trying to get its much-publicized "Bear Rebellion" off the ground, is looking for its first Ivy triumph.

If They Lose

If Harvard loses, it will enter the Yale game with a 3-5 record two straight defeats, and the prospect of a desperate fight to avoid a tie for seventh place, And if Brown loses, the Bruins will face a final game with Columbia for the usual stakes-possession of the Ivy League cellar.

The Crimson was flattened by the Tiger offense last week, and its attack never got moving consistently. Except for an injury to guard John Cassis, however. Harvard came out of the game in fairly good physical condition. It was its psychological condition that took a massive beating.

Pyrrhic Victory

The victory over Pennsylvania two weeks ago was subtly cruel to Harvard emotionally. The Dartmouth game the previous Saturday had left the players with strong doubts as to whether the squad would ever get moving as a unified force. The Penn game gave them hope that it would. Princeton crushed that hope.

So now the Brown contest is a must game, and for a squad that has always unconsciously regarded the Bruins as somewhat of an emotional breather, it will be difficult to prepare psychologically for the sort of enthusiasm with which Brown will approach the game.

An additional hindrance could be Yovicsin's shuffling of his offensive backfield. After the loss to Princeton, the Crimson coach made it clear that senior Dave Smith would no longer be his regular quarterback. So, when Harvard takes the field today, junior Joe Roda will be the fifth man to direct a Crimson attack this fall, and the ninth to throw the ball.

But if Roda can take can advantage of Brown's porous secondary, the switch could prove beneficial. The Bruins' seven opponents this season have completed 72 of 119 passes for 923 yards, and if Roda goes to ends Pete Varney and Bruce Freeman as often as possible, the results should be reasonably pleasant.

Two touchdowns have been enough to defeat Brown this year, and Harvard should at the very least obtain that many. The question is, how effectively can the Crimson defense stop an underrated Bruin ground game.

Quarterback Bryan Marini leads a backfield of fullback Gerry Hart and halfbacks Jim Rianoshek and Tom Spotts that is not far behind Harvard's in rushing yardage. And, although Marini's passing is unimpressive and should not be a factor in the scoring, the Bruin backs could be dangerous, especially if the Crimson defense has another bad day.