Flashy Showmanship Slaughters Boston, But May Backfire in New Haven Fracas

Harvard's use of every available play and player in Saturday's 60 to 0 landslide may have been good showmanship, but the very existence of a game against such an unfit opponent as Boston University may yet backfire this Saturday. Anyone who saw the game must realize that B.U. is probably the most appallingly weak eleven that has appeared in the Harvard Stadium since Grover Cleveland sat in the Presidential chair.

Not-only the score (60 to nothing), but even more the rushing gains (464 to -31) make the Crimson look like a West Point powerhouse when actually it played one of its sloppiest games of the season. Whether even scheduling a game where slipshed playing goes unnoticed will prove harmful can only be determined Saturday in the Yale Bowl, and even then only speculatively.

"Nobody to Block"

One Crimson lineman protested: "There was nobody to block out; we just stood around." The fact remains, however, that the B.U. game descended into a farce within a very few moments of the opening whistle. When Harvard scores on three out of six plays and gets all but the last called back; when sub backs seeing action for the first time this year try field goals from the 30-yard line; when a team that can score at will kicks from punt formation on second down more than once, even a football game begins to look more like a circus.

And when Harvard makes five fumbles and gets only four out of nine conversion points in the game before the Yale game, it doesn't look too sharp--especially when the opponent could get taken over the barrel by most Great Boston high schools.

Paper Bag Punch

But for all this, Boston University proved so incapable of punching its way out of a paper bag that it never got an offensive drive beyond its own 40; eight times the Terrier backs took to the air and Harvard intercepted three passes.

As for Crimson scoring, it was an almost continuous process. For example, in the bloodiest quarter, the fourth, Harvard scored four times. On the first play Chuck Harwood dashed 27 yards for a touchdown. B.U. was held for downs, kicked, and on the first play from scrimmage Hal Miller zoomed across from the 43. B.U. did an encore; Harvard went 155 yards in six plays (five called back), the last being Harwood's 35 yard touchdown. B.U. fumbled on its 35, and Herb Eckenroth scored four plays later.