One thing that may be said for this fall's football team, in addition to the fact that it was the best outfit John Yovicsin or anyone else has turned out at Harvard in some time, is that it was imaginative.

It requires imagination--for a team bouncing along with convincing victories over Penn, Princeton, and Yale--to take a Saturday off to lose to Brown. It requires imagination, too, to build a reputation for abysmal fourth quarters and then to demolish Yale with three fourth period touchdowns.

All this imagination adds up to a season that was both the Crimson's most satisfying in years and a curiously acute disappointment. To be the only team in the League to beat champion Penn, to upset both Princeton and Yale for the Big Three title, and then also to lose ingloriously to mediocre teams like Cornell and Brown--the final impression is a mixture of pleasure at a good season and disappointment at a couple of near-misses.

For the record, the 1959 varsity football team won six games and lost three (4-3 in the Ivy League), scored 177 points to its opponents' 101, rolled up 147 first downs to its opponents' 121. This was Harvard's first winning season since 1954 and also the Crimson's first Big Three title since that year; 1959 also marked the first time Harvard has finished in the first division since the Ivy League began round-robin play three years ago.

Although there are some important question marks, prospects look good for repeating or even improving this performance next year.

The problem is going to be in the backfield, from which almost every one of the League's top performers is graduating. (Chet Boulris, Dartmouth's Bill Gundy and Jake Crouthamel, Brown's Paul Choquette, Yale's Rich Winkler, Penn's Fred Doelling, Princeton's Dan Sachs, Cornell's Marcy Tino and Phil Taylor). In addition, the Crimson is losing starters Albie Cullen and Sam Halaby.

Whatever the virtues of Bruce Mcintyre, Larry Repsher, Roy Williams and the others, Boulris is going to awfully difficult to replace. Cullen and Halaby will be missed, too.

McIntyre, Repesher, Williams, John Shipman, John Damis, and freshman Hobie Armstrong constitute a promising corps of halfbacks, but the trouble is that there is no Boulris among them.

Williams and McIntyre are the most likely candidates for Boulris' left halfback job, with Repsher probably taking over at right halfback. Williams is big and fast, and can pass; he sat out most of the season with injuries, but looked good in the Yale game. Mcintyre, the team's best punter, was running almost as well as Boulris for a while against Penn; he too was bothered by injuries this year. Shipman, Damis and Armstrong will be speedy and capable replacements.

At fullback, only Halaby--a regular for three years--is leaving. Junior Glenn Haughie, who started when Halaby was hurt early this year, is the probable successor, but sophomore Chuck Reed and junior Jim Nelson (defensive back who gained 11 yards in his only carry this season against Yale) are in the running.

The line situation is much clearer, and very promising. Five men are graduating from the first two lines, but the nine returnees form the nucleus of a potentially excellent unit. Captain Hank Keohane and Dave Cappiello, the starting ends, will be missed, but the second pair of Bob Boyda and Bert Mennsenbaugh was outstanding all year and can fill the gap beautifully, with Alex Hart and freshman Ron Bonebrake behind them.

At the tackles, if Bob Pillsbury's head injury does not keep him from play next year, the varsity will have three of the League's finest in Pillsbury, Eric Nelson and Darwin Wile. Mike Sheridan and Bill Greelish give the Crimson uncommon depth at this position.

Guards Jerry Weilder and George Waterman are graduating, but captain-elect Terry Lenzner and Bill Swinford can handle the starting berths with ease, with Roger Wilson, Dick Baker and Tom Gaston backing them up. With only Pete Eliades graduating, the centers look solid with Jon Christensen, Steve Cohen and Tony Watters.

Charlie Ravenel, whose passing has improved, is of course the quarterback, and he may get some real help next year from freshman Charlie Kinney (a fine passer) and some maturing sophomores.

With an experienced line that may be the best in the League, and a carload of very promising backs, the Crimson may well be the team to beat in 1960, even with Holy Cross as a first opponent and the now semi-automatic loss to Brown assumed. Harvard football looks ready to continue its upswing.