Joe Restic, Harvard's rookie football coach, unveils a new look offense and a shifting, stunting defense Saturday when the Crimson opens its 1971 season against Holy Cross at 1:30 p.m. in Harvard Stadium.

As usual, the opener should serve more as a polishing opportunity than as a real test of the stuff of which the 1971 Harvard squad is made. Holy Cross, the team Harvard edged 13-0 two years ago (a week before the Crusaders were stricken with an epidemic of hepatitis), had a resounding 0-10-1 record last season.

But Restic is cautious about his debut. "Holy Cross doesn't have much depth," he said yesterday. "But their two starting teams are experienced and they have a lot of fight."

Doubtless the Crusaders will be aiming for an upset win over a Harvard team that returns 13 starters, from last year's 7-2 Ivy League runners-up. Last Saturday, the Crimson dropped a 24-23 game condition scrimmage to the University of New Hampshire, but Harvard is still a heavy favorite over Holy Cross.

The Crusaders also have a new coach this season, Ed Doherty, but the problems they faced in digesting Doherty's new system could not have been as legion as those encountered by Restic's proteges. The squad arrived in Cambridge on September 2 and began two-a-day workouts the next morning. They changed back to one practice a day Monday, but only after they had smoothed out Restic's complex of formations, motion and play action.

The guts of Restic's system lie in outguessing the opposition and disrupting its normal patterns both on offense and defense. His personal forte is his imagination, which, coupled with a willingness to try just about anything once, will give Harvard a multitude of offensive and defensive variations on which to draw.

At the same time, Restic realizes the necessity of tempering daring with equal doses of moderation and caution. His cautiousness is founded primarily in planning, in making allowances for each gamble he takes. When asked early in the preseason about his strategy, Restic said, "We want to play an exciting game, but if it's a question of being exciting versus winning, the exciting part goes. We want to win, and we want to win right away."

The Crimson will show only about a third of its offensive sets this weekend, due mainly to the fact that it takes time to iron out all the cogs in a system as varied as Restic's.

Eventually, Harvard quarterbacks will be able to go with tight "T", spread, single wing, "I", slot and double slot formations. Also, they can fall back on myriad forms of motion in the backfield to influence the opposing defense.

The Crimson defense will have a similar range of choice in choosing sets to break up opponents' offensive continuity. Restic uses both odd and even man fronts, stacking linebackers and backs in odd positions, and he rolls the defense to adjust to pre-determined weak spots. The downmen and linebackers are distinct from the deep backs in that they call separate sets on each down; but the two defensive calls are coordinated.

"We know is advance where the weak spot is on any given defensive formation," Restic says. "So when the other team begins to go to that spot, we can adjust immediately and they have to begin probing for the new weak point."

"You see, our success depends on making it impossible for the opposition to know what we are going to do from week to week, and even from one series to the next. Both on offense and defense, our game is styled to confuse the other defense or quarterback; that way we have the advantage because we hopefully will know what we are doing."

After three weeks with the team, Restic is pleased with the progress the Crimson has made. Yesterday, he said he was encouraged by the team's ability to "assimilate" the new system. That means the team should know what it's doing come Saturday, and that could spell trouble for Holy Cross. Last spring, Restic said the only possible limitation he could foresee for this season was a mental one, and apparently he feels that this obstacle is no longer a factor.

Restic is confident that his quarterbacking corps--Rod Foster, Eric Crone, Frank Guerra and Jim Stoeckel--understands the flexibility and capability of the new offense, and, not surprisingly, he thinks the defense is coming along even faster, with Spencer Dreischarf and captain David Ignacio calling the signals.

While a scrimmage loss to UNH is nothing to brag about, no one connected with the football program seems overly concerned with the outcome.

Restic thought the offense moved well, and despite several dropped passes, Foster and Crone managed to produce 23 points. Foster started the first and third quarters, while Crone went most of the way in the second and fourth. Crone had the hotter passing hand, and moved the team better overall, but Restic will not decide Saturday's starter until late this week.

Minor injuries have plagued the Crimson during preseason work, but the only serious casualty is last year's leading pass receiver, junior Bill Craven, who pulled a hamstring on the first day of practice and then repulled when he tried to come back too soon. Craven could be out until the first Ivy League game against Columbia two weeks from now. Taking over for him is senior Denis Sullivan, who is taller (6' 3") and just as fast as Craven.

Tight end is a wide open position, with surprising depth, as fifth-year senior Steve Zakula, and juniors John Hagerty and Howard Keenan are battling for the starting role. The starting offensive line is set, except for one position, but depth is a real worry there.

Four returning starters--center Skip Starck, guards Jerry Hevern and Frank Veteran, and tackle John Ferullo--anchor the line, but left tackle is a question mark. Sophomore Monte Bowens and Tim Manna (6' 3", 235 and (2", 230 respectively), are sharing time at tackle, with Bowens the probable starter on Saturday.

Hevern, the only All-Ivy returnee on this year's team, and Veteran missed practice with minor injuries earlier in the week, but both should be ready to go Saturday. Three sophomores--Mark Bauer, Bob Kirscher and Bob O'Neal--back up the four seniors starters.

The offensive backfield is the Crimson's strong point, as usual. Foster and Crone are the leading candidates at quarterback, and both have the ability to win any game for the Crimson. But Restic emphasizes that he will substitute players to utilize the upmost of their ability, and this extends to quarterback. It is possible, though not probable, that Restic could use all four of his quarterbacks at various times in a given game(like, say, Saturday's.)

At halfback, 1970 rushing leader Ted DeMars is atop a covey of talented runners, including senior Steve Harrison, juniors Vic Gatto and Chuck Krohn, and sophomore Nick Leone. Leone, along with Stoeckl and Bowens, has been the most impressive sophomore in preseason practice, according to Restic.

Last year's starter Steve Hall, a junior, returns at fullback, although he twisted an ankle in the UNH scrimmage. Sophomore Bucky Staggers and senior Sid Williams, who has had problems with his eligibility, back up Hall.

On defense, Harvard returns six starters. Senior Mark Steiner and junior Ed Vena are the tackles, while Senior Spencer Dreischarf is the "Mike Man," playing both middle guard in a down set or middle linebacker in a split set. Vena is just recovering from an abbreviated version of "Holy Cross Hepatitis," and may not be full speed this week, but he will start. Vena's misfortune was the team's misfortune, since everyone had to have a painful hepatitis shot neatly placed in the posterior area by a large hypodermic needle.

At defensive ends, the Crimson will go with sophomore Mitch Berger (a high school All-American) and veteran Mike McHugh. Junior Phil Robinson is just coming back from a virus which kept him out during preseason and he should figure into the starting picture soon.

The linebackers are paced by lettermen Jack Neal and Mark Ferguson, with Dreischarf and Ignacio joining them for a four-man mid-line on some sets. Ignacio floats between linebacker and defensive back in a capacity tagged "adjuster." In the deep backfield, he works with returning starter Steve Golden, a junior. Several other backs are possible starters on defense; they include junior Barry Malinowski, seniors Tobin Harvey and Tim Bilodeau, and juniors Mike Murr (switched from offense this week) and Wes Shofner.

The kicking game is another strong spot, with Foster and Stoeckl to share the punting duties, and two newcomers--junior Phil Faust and sophomore Bruce Tetirick has not place-kicking time. Tetirick has not missed an extra point in 60 consecutive attempts, while Faust is a soccer-style kicker who Restic says has a strong leg.

Harvard tied UNH, 13-13, in a scrimmage at this stage of the season last year and that fact alone is encouraging to Restic and the team. While putting in a new system, the Crimson has managed to reach about the same point as a year ago when they were working with a 14-year-old established system. Many of the players feel--and Restic agrees--that they only reason that the Crimson didn't completely outclass UNH last weekend was that everyone was still thinking too much about assignments, rather than carrying them out instinctively.

The emphasis this week will understandably be on honing a more restricted number of offensive and defensive sets, but the result will still be a wide-open, fast-moving game on Harvard's part Saturday. Talking to Restic and the players, the predominant feeling is one of enthusiasm; there is also an aura of confidence that things will fall in place as the season progresses.

"We may be a little rusty the first few games, but if the defense can pull us through until we get out timing down on offense, we should be a contender by the middle of the schedule," Restic forecast yesterday. Barring a major deviation from plan, the defense should begin to do just that Saturday, and Restic won't have to abandon excitement for winning.