Fumbling Eleven To Invade Penn In Pivotal Game

The Crimson eleven brings a sputtering, fumbling offense to Franklin Field today to meet the Penn Quakers, who also have a sputtering, fumbling offense.

Harvard, of course, is the favorite, despite its loss to Dartmouth last weekend. Penn has already dropped a pair of Ivy contests to Dartmouth, 23-0, and Princeton last weekend, 28-14.

But Harvard was a heavy favorite the last time it journeyed to Philadelphia, and the Quakers stunned the visitors with a 10-10 tie. And two years before that, in 1963, lowly Penn knocked Harvard out of the Ivy championship race with a 7-2 upset.

On paper, the Quakers have a superb offense with all four backs returning from last year. Quarterback Bill Creeden led the league in total offense last season as a junior, and threw 11 touchdown passes. Against Princeton last week, he rushed for two touchdowns.

The other backs in Penn's I-formation are George Burrell, Gerry Santini, and the great Cabot Knowlton. Split end Rick Owens is Creeden's favorite pass target. The offensive line, however, suffers from lack of weight.

Penn's offense hasn't lived up to its clippings because of fumbling. The Quakers lost five fumbles against Princeton last week, as the host Tigers ripped open a 28-0 lead by the three-quarter mark. In a 28-27 loss to Bucknell a week before, the Quakers lost four fumbles. In addition, Creeden has missed wide-open receivers during those two games, and the receivers in turn have been dropping easy passes.

The defense, however, has been far better than expected. Sophomore line-backer Ben Gifford has been a pleasant surprise who has solidified Penn's 5-4 defense.

The Penn defense will be doing battle with a Harvard unit that has managed only two sustained drives in the last 120 minutes of play. The Crimson's three other scores against Cornell and Dart- mouth were gifts from the defense.

In an attempt to beef up Harvard's paltry 147-yard-per game rushing totals in Ivy play, Coach John Yovicsin will be going with a drastically altered backfield.

Ray Hornblower will start at halfback in place of Will Stargel, and Gus Crim starts at fullback instead of Gary Strandemo. Hornblower and Crim were both in the backfield with Gatto when the Crimson exploded for 21 points in the fourth quarter against Dartmouth.

For Harvard, this is a must-win game if the team hopes to back into some kind of tie for the Ivy League title. With so many good teams in the League, Dartmouth could get knocked off, and the Crimson will get its own shot at the League's other undefeated. Yale. Meanwhile. Harvard must win and wait