One glance at the Holy Cross roster, taken apart from its 1946 performance, will make it hard for any football follower to understand how the Crusaders have dropped three of their first four games this season. Another glance, and you begin to understand why the Crimson Varsity is facing what is easily its most rugged opposition of the current season on Saturday afternoon.

The Crusaders are experienced and huge--so huge that the Crimson front wall should be hard put to hold its present national lead in defense. The Holy Cross line averages well over 200 pounds, and almost all of its operatives have had considerable experience. The Crusaders also boast a large array of backs, all of whom are good at single specialties, but not possessing too much versatility. It has been this defect--passers that cannot run, runners who cannot pass, and kickers who can neither run nor pass--that has been attributed as a major cause of the Purple's misfortunes this fall.

Backfield veterans from former seasons include Ray Ball, Bobby Sullivan, Alex Wizbicki, and Joe McAfee. Ball is a devastating blocking back, a short stubby character weighing more than 200 pounds despite his five-foot-seven-inch stature, reputed as an outstanding blocker and backer-up. Sullivan, fullback of the 1942 eleven which crushed Boston College, 55 to 12, in the famous game that preceded the Cocoanut Grove disaster, shares honors at the bucking spot with Veto Kissel, of last year's Crusader eleven.

McAfee, also a member of the 1942 squad, is a left-handed passing wingback, and Wizbicki, a substitute before the war, is a much improved ball player. This group is bolstered by Stove Conroy, last year's signal-caller; John Comer, an excellent forward passer and newcomer to the Cross; Gene DeFillippe, another passer who is also the Crusaders' number one place-kicker; and Walt Sheridan, highly touted Freshman triple threat who may be sufficiently healed to make his seasonal debut on Saturday.

Linemen who are back from the wars include ends Walter Roberts and Leo Troy, centers Chet Yablonski and Phil Nolan, and John DeGangi, Ted Strojny, John Fentana, and Gene Spinelli. Coaches Chief Boston and Harold Kopp, who scouted the Holy Cross eleven last Saturday, rate Roberts and Jim Dickleman as two of the finest ends they have seen. The rest of the line is rugged enough, as evidenced by the 35 yards net Syracuse gained against them last week.

Ox DaGrossa, the Crusader coach, learned his football from Dick Harlow when the Crimson mentor was directing Colgate's squad. DaGrossa, who has spoken to almost as many high school assemblies and chamber of commerce dinners as Jimmy Conzleman of the Chicago Cardinals, favors a single-wing offense that is very similar to the formation employed by Harlow in the pre-war era.

With both lines reported tough, Saturday's contest may develop into a stalemate on the ground and a resultant aerial circus. For the much-landed Crimson forward wall, it will be a major test For the much-abused Harvard student body, binoculars from their end zone seats should reveal a tug of war par excellence.