Brown: Bearing the Pressure

Brown's coach John Anderson says he's scared about playing Harvard today, an after-effect of the devastating thrashing the Crimson gave to a favored Brown contingent last year.

This year, Anderson isn't taking any chances, downplaying his team and stressing how good Harvard is. "I don't know if we have any strengths against Harvard. It's Harvard's strengths we have to worry about," Anderson said.

Anderson is still in awe of the Crimson's performance last year. "There are not enough adjectives and superlatives to describe them. I've never seen a quarterback have a day like that (Kubacki passed for 289 yards)," he added.

But Anderson can't think about last year's game. The Brown offense is staging a more-balanced attack this year, mixing passing and running. Last year, the offense hinged on the passing of Bob Bateman to star end Bob Farnham, but Bill Emper successfully shut him off.

This year, Farnham is doing well, leading the Ivies in receptions. The Bruin offensive attack is complemented by the passing of quarterback Paul Michalko and the running of backs Wally Shields and Seth Morris.

Michalko is third in the league in total offense, and has thrown more completions than Kubacki. Shields is second in rushing and Morris is ninth.

And if the Bruins offensive attack stalls, sophomore punter Tom Thurow, who is averaging 37 yards per punt, will come in to boot the ball.

Anderson will be counting heavily, however, on the Brown defense, which has let up the fewest points in the Ivies, to contain Kubacki and Co. "I think we have a good defense. We have a lot of people returning from last year," Anderson said. He adds, though, that the defense is very young, and that it will have to put on "one of the greatest performances of all time." Anderson claims that the defensive secondary hasn't been tested yet, and Harvard should stage a big passing game.

The Brown mentor shies away from predicting the outcome of the contest, but agrees with Harvard coach Joe Restic that the breaks could be the determining factor.