"Most often at Columbia, it has been the backfield which has been strongest," Lion Coach Lou Little remarked before the current football season opened. "This year," he continued, "I think our line will be quite strong. The backfield will be the question mark."

And though Columbia has dropped two of its first three games since Little made this analysis, the backfield's performance, especially the passing of Dick Carr, has been much more like an exclamation point. The junior quarterback led the Lions to a 14-7 win over Lehigh and starred in 20-19 and 13-7 losses to Princeton and Yale.

Besides two good ends, Carr has an able receiver in the backfield. He is slight Bob Mercier, a half who stands only five foot six and weighs but 155. Two seniors complete the starting backfield, and all have performed adequately in the Lions' first three games, although Columbia's ground attack admittedly isn't strong. One is stocky Ken Krebs, who until this season played guard. Little, however, has shifted the 200-pounder to fullback. The other is halfback Max Pirner, a defensive half last year, seeing his first varsity experience on offense.

At the ends--all-important because of the Lions 'reliance on Carr's passing--will be Dale Hopp and Phil Bonnano.

The rest of the line is also very strong. Strong offensively, defensively, and strong from the point of view of experience.

The tackle posts for instance. Senior John Casella, one of the starting tackles and the iron man of the 1952 Light Blue squad, averaged nearly 58 minutes for all the Lion games. The other tackle, Fred Bucci, is a sophomore but is considered one of the most promising linemen on the squad.

The starting guards are Captain Gene Wodeshick, who is playing his second year of "two-way" ball, and husky Ben Hoffman, an ex-Marine. The lightest line starter is 175-pound center Jerry Hampton.

Thus, with a solid line, a dangerous passing threat, and an adequate running offense, Lou Little's worries about the backfield holding up its end may be only partially justified. The question mark in today's game shouldn't be "Is the Columbia backfield going to produce?" but rather "how well?" It will be the Crimson's job to try to counter that question with an exclamation of its own.