With the opening games less than a week away, practice on the House football fields has reached an enthusiastic, though sporadic, intensity. If the right people show up, every team looks good. If they don't, even such perennial giants as Eliot and Kirkland have to resort to the usual tactic for this situation--organizing a passing line for the five or six players who have made it down to practice.

This doesn't happen much with Eliot, however. Eight players from last year's championship team are back, including quarterback Roger Skemp and center Hugh Ault. Running out of a split T. Eliot uses Andy Shea and Mark Woodbury at halfback, and Keith Striggow at fullback. Woodbury's left-handed passes make the Elephant offense particularly dangerous.

Other teams' rebuilding problems have not been so easy. Kirkland, though retaining most of last fall's backfield, lost half its line and is now working with a forward wall averaging only about 170 lbs. a man. The sole sizable lineman is guard Bruce Kruger, well over 200 lbs. The back to watch with Kirkland is Lee Raitz, tailback in the Deacons' single-wing attack. This formation is no surprise, since Kirkland coach Tom Morris played out of it for two years as an all-Ivy tailback at Princeton in the days after Dick Kazmaier.

The prize fo rthe most well-known coach, however, goes to Leverett, where Brown all-Easter Paul Choquette, now at the Law School, has put together a dark horse team around 200-lb. halfback Mike Hardesty.

Dunster Hard-Pressed

The best of the remaining elevens is probably Adams. Strong before this week, Adams will be even stronger with the addition of Rick Rice, a former second-string varsity tackle. Dunster House is having extreme rebuilding problems and will be hard-pressed to duplicate last year's third place finish. The Dunster line (except for tackle Dave Kozloff) is light, and the backs are small.

Lowell, Quincy, Winthrop, and Dudley--all somewhat less organized than the others--are a question mark.