NEW HAVEN, CONN.--A quiet, almost subtle air of confidence engulfs New Haven this week.

"I really don't understand how you Harvard guys think you can win," challenges one modest fellow. "Have you watched Dowling play this season? Nobody stops him."

Preparing for their biannual migration to Cambridge, the Yalies lack their usual spirit. Besides a few clever bumper stickers proclaiming "To H with Harvard" and "Flush the Johns" no outward manifestations of bravado are visible.

The Yale students look and act blase. Their football team has been winning so easily, for so long, that no one questions the inevitable: Brian Dowling cannot be beaten. In the immortal words of one undergraduate, "You never know what's going to happen--but you know that you're not going to lose."

"The spirit here at Yale is definitely not as great as last year," admits one student. "I guess we will have some peprallies and tickets are impossible to find, but it's not the same this time."

Even the Eli football heroes have lost their collegiate gusto. "This is not a rahrah bunch of boys," proclaims Yale coach Carmen Cozza and a silent, sterile locker room bears testimony to his observation. Boola-Boola is Bush league--Yale has gone professional.

Winning?

"Gambling is a way of life in New Haven," explains a tavern tramp. "Not only has Yale won every game this season, but they are beating the odds continuously. The Yale football team is making a lot of New Haven residents rich. Winning is no longer the question. It is now "How many points can Dowling put on the board?"

While the bettors are making money, the sportswriters are rewriting history. "Get your Brian Dowling biographies while they last." Calvin Hill's quotations and gold-plated, updated record books with pictures have also been selling well.

Benign Grads

The world will never forget this magnicent Yale squad, but the Yale Alumni have just discovered it.

In the past, these benign graduates have usually limited their athletic support to an endearing "Good Luck" telegram to the coach. Now the telegrams are being replaced by intricately diagramed screen plays which look great on paper and "can't miss."

Against Harvard, Brian Dowling and his crew "can't miss," Yale believes. Sports Information Director Charlie Loftus expressed the New Haven consensus when he jokingly told Crimson coach John Yovicsin "We would like to invite Vic Gatto to speak at our victory dinner again this year." Some joke.