Lou Little Weeps, But Lions Will Still Field a Strong Team Oct. 2

If last year's football records mean anything, the Columbia-Harvard football game should be the only soft spot on the Columbia schedule, a breather between Saturday's contest with Rutgers, which was a lot tougher for the Lions than the score of their 27 to 6 victory would suggest, and Yale, which whipped Columbia last fall, 17 to 7.

But that's not the attitude at Baker Field. Somehow, the word has gotten around that "Harvard is loaded," and Columbia coach Lou Little will assure you that he spends sleepless nights worrying about such Crimson stars as Gannon, Moffie, Kenary, Drvaric, Houston, Rodis, Florentino, DiBlasio and Guthrle, who he feels could make Harvard tougher than Yale or Rutgers.

Any mention of the fact that Columbia has a few good ball-players also brings a derisive snort from Little, who means that Columbia's freshman teams of last year and the year before were "the worst in Columbia history" and that hence he has no new blood to pep up his squad.

Has "Goal Dust Twins"

Things are not so dark on Morning-side Heights, however, as Little would suggest. He has, after all, a pair of backs named Rossides and Kusserow, who have established or are threatening umpteen all-time Columbia records. With Ventan Yablonski, last year's fullback, graduated, Kusserow will probably return to his old fullback position this year.

Bill Olson, wingback on the 1947 Lions, will continue in that spot, while Johnny Nork, last year's number one backfield replacement, has displayed some fancy running in practice and should fill the fourth backfield starting slot.

Two returning lettermen from last year's squad, including punter Bob Russell; Don Bleasdale, back from the 1945 team after two years in the Army; and some promising newcomers indicate that the Lions will show considerable backfield depth.

When it comes to the line, the situation is a little more cloudy. By juggling around his returning lettermen, Little has managed to piece together one pretty good forward wall, but reserve strength seems lacking here. This isn't the line that held its opponents scoreless for 15 consecutive quarters last year, but it is a good one.

Only at the ends does Coach Little have real cause for the worries he professes, but here Old Man Graduation really took his toll when he removed Bill Swiacki and Bruce Gehrke from the Light Blue roster. Adam Rakowski is the only experienced end returning, but Lion rooters are waiting patiently for Little to wave the same magic wand he used in beating Army last year and come up with someone else to pull down Rossides' heaves.

The Little has whipped together a strong aggregation is shown by his 27 to 6 win over Rutgers Saturday. But the score does not give a complete picture of what went on at Baker Field. Rutgers had 16 downs to Columbia's 12, netted 202 yards rushing to the Lions' 166, and out-gained the Light Blue through the air, 133 yards to 89. Only four Columbia interceptions, all at crucial moments, gave them their three touchdown scoring edge over Rutgers.

Columbia need not apologize for its triumph, however, for the Lions scored their first three touchdowns early and were never headed by Rutgers.

It is a matter of record that, in the six games between Columbia and Harvard, Columbia has never beaten, tied or even scored on the Crimson. Unfortunately, the last contest in this series was played in 1901.