When the whistle blows at Soldiers Field this afternoon, the Crimson will face a team with which it has much in common. Both squads have been building from the ground up this year, learning new formations, nows plays, and new offense defense techniques from new coaches.

While Art Valpey has introduced a western system to Harvard, "Bullet" Bill Osmanski has returned to the scene of his greatest football triumphs bringing with him the spectacular Chicago Bears' T-formation. But neither the Michigan nor the Halas system can be easily learned, and both teams have needed time.

Georgetown Falls

The season's opener against Georgetown proved to be a pleasant surprise on the Hill. Even though Georgetown was strictly an unknown quantity, the Crusaders demonstrated so much superiority over them that the experts began to think the system was progressing more rapidly than expected. Osmanski's T continued to look unusually efficient the following week, when the Purple racked up a 33-7 count against Syracuse.

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

While Holy Cross was coasting into its third game, Harvard had been shoved precipitously off the walls of Ithaca. But it was the end of smooth sailing for the Crusaders, too. A vastly superior Dartmouth eleven proceeded to show up all the suspected Holy Cross weaknesses and more. With the Purple line continually outcharged by the Big Green, the T-formation looked mighty impotent.

It was the same story all over again against Brown in the next encounter.

Last week both teams had their hearts broken. Colgate nosed out the Purple 14-13, as Dartmouth took a close 14-7 victory over the Valpeymen. Certainly both teams will be up for today's game.