Passing Game Aids Balanced Offense

With time running out in the first half of Saturday's game, while you were probably trying to outrace everyone else to the concessions stands, the Harvard offence drove 47 yards in 47 seconds.

Big deal. You were hungry, right? Well, at the time maybe it wasn't a big deal, but Gary Bosnic's 42-yard field goal with one second left, which culminated the drive, eventually turned out to be the Crimson's three point margin of victory over Colgate.

It was simple but devastating stategy by Harvard quarterback Larry Brown that allowed the offense to get in position for the field goals.

The key play of the drive was a 40-yard pass from Brown to wide receiver Rich Horner, which brought the Crimson from its own 35 to the Colgate 25 yard line and brought in Bosnic.

Harvard started the last series of the half as if it intended to run out the clock and sit smugly on a 14-7 lead during intermission. Brown ran halfbacks Ralph Pollilio and Paul Connors up the middle on the first two plays to set up a third and three situation at the Harvard 35. He then dropped back to throw.

"We had run the same play the series before and Ralph had tipped the pass," Horner said afterwards. "This time Larry pump faked to Ralph across the seam, and when he saw the cornerback cheating over he knew I was open."

Horner, whose size and moves make him a kind of Ivy League Fred Biletnekoph, hauled in the Brown aerial and snuck out of bounds with one tick left on the Stadium clock.

The Brown-to-Horner pass play was typical of the emergence of the Harvard passing game on Saturday. Brown enjoyed his best air day of the season, 11 of 17, 159 yards, and noted afterward that "We've started to minimize our mistakes on offense. I feel much more confident running the ball and running the offense. After that, passing comes easily."

Coach Joe Restic had to agree. "I'm very pleased with our passing game. Our wide receivers proved that they are as good as any in the league."

Horner and receiver mate John MacLeod, who both must have suffered pangs of insecurity after their minimal production of the first two games, now add a heeded, somewhat crucial dimension to Harvard's game-breaking multi-flex.

MacLeod got into the act once on Saturday, but in a big way. His diving comeback catch in the third quarter of a Brown toss away from him, moved the Crimson to the Colgate 13 yard line. Five plays later Connors scored Harvard's final touchdown.

"Up until now we had not established the wide receivers as threats," MacLeod remarked. "Now we've shown we can take people deep. That's just another thing for Cornell to think about next week."

And just another thing for all of us to expect from the ever-improving Harvard football team.