Crimson Tackles B.U. Today

Under the guidance of coach Joe Restic, Harvard's football team has won 15 of its last 19 ball games--not bad when you think about it--and the Crimson figures to make it 16 of 20 today when it squares off against a weak but determined squad of Boston University Terriers on Soldiers' Field at 1:30 p.m.

Confrontations with B.U. teams do not always turn out the way Harvard fans might hope, but the hockey season hasn't started yet, so something positive (from a Crimson point of view) should come of today's showdown. Harvard has won seven of the eight grid contests between the two schools, the latest a 16-0 mugging two years ago.

Last-Minute Losses

The Terriers come to Harvard stadium with a 1-2 record that could easily be 3-0, owing to two last-minute defeats at the hands of New Hampshire and North-eastern.

After dumping Maine, 31-21, in their season opener, the Terriers lost to UNH by blowing an extra point late in the game (an occurrence which shouldn't surprise anyone who watched Harvard kick the ball around the lot last week) and then succumbed to Northeastern by a 20-17 count.

Despite the losses, though, the B.U. contingent is fairly well balanced with some potential to score a lot of points. "They are a big-play football team," Restic said yesterday. "They like to throw the ball a lot, especially long ones."

Solid B.U. Offense

B.U.'s solid offensive attack is keyed by quarterback Greg Geiger, a talented sophomore who has hit on 25 of 58 passing attempts this season for a good 435 yards and three touchdowns. His targets include split end Pete Kessell, whom Restic rates as an "exceptionally good receiver."

Kessell has averaged a hefty 25.3 yards per catch in B.U.'s first three games.

In the backfield, halfbacks Tom Floyd and Roger Strandberg do most of the work. Floyd has picked up 273 yards in just 46 carries for an average of almost 6 yards per try, while Strandberg has roughed out 247 in 54 carries for a 4.6 average.

The Terriers have an offensive threat that Harvard cannot match, field goal kicker Bruce Rich. Rich has hit on three of four this year, including a 45-yarder. He has also clicked on five of six PAT's, impressive only when you think of Harvard's zero-for-three effort last week.

'You Can't Do It'

"We've been doing a lot of work on the kicking game this week," Restic said yesterday. "You can't afford to have kicking like we did against Holy Cross and be a winning football team. You just can't do it."

The biggest factor in Harvard's kicking game is the injury to junior Jim Curry, who was the back-up to All-American Pat McInally last season. "I don't know how far we can go without him," Restic said.

According to the Crimson coach, the real test today will be how Harvard's defense handles the Terrier passing game. In addition to Holy Cross's 63-yard scoring pass last week, Restic is concerned about Harvard's non-existent pass rush.

"We have to get to the quarterback this week," he said. "We've worked on our defensive quickness up front this week, but we'll have to wait and see what happens against B.U.'s solid passing game."

K.O.'d by Mono

The Crimson defensive line suffers only from a lack of experience, having lost two key men, Bob Shaw and Charlie Kaye, from last year's squad. Shaw graduated in June, and Kaye was a surprise loss when he came down with mononucleosis this year.

As for Harvard's offense, everybody around knows by now that the Crimson's Cinderella quarterback, Jim Kubacki, is number one in this week's NCAA statistics for total offense. The junior ran for 154 yards and passed for 104 more against Holy Cross, a 258-yard total which has him, at least temporarily, leading every other major college football player.

As long as Kubacki continues to deliver, Restic's problems are reduced to coping with Harvard's inexperience. "We are nowhere near where we have to be in order to contend in the Ivies this season," Restic said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Yet with a coach who has won 80 per cent of his ballgames in the last two years, things seem to be well in hand--at least for the moment.

The Best Ever

The 1975 Terriers sport the best offense a B.U. team has had since Restic has been coach at Harvard. This is promising, since the Terriers have managed only two touchdowns in their two efforts against the Restic-coached Crimson.

The Terriers are a capable group this year, and, as always with B.U. teams, they have an inordinate desire to upset the Crimson. Though snores were heard from the crowd during the confrontation two years ago, there should be none today.