It really wasn't all that bad. Pretty good, actually. Your first Harvard exam, and you handled it pretty well. Eckstein didn't pull any fast ones, and you answered all four questions. There were five questions? Whaddya mean, page two? I didn't get a second.... Oh, Jesus.

For those of you who were too tied up with Ec 10 to notice, the week did not pass without a reminder of the fact that this is not exactly a normal year for football. Kirkland House, perennial meany of the intramural league, slumbered its way through its first two games without a win, averaging one point per four quarters in the process. When that happens, you have to know that things are just not working out the way they should.

Yet other things, like the Ivy League race, are developing the same as usual. That's right--as usual. With the one week of massive upsets behind it, the league has settled into a pattern to which we have all become accustomed, and most observers know exactly what is coming next.

It happens every year around this time. Harvard and Yale begin to filter toward the top of the division, a position so precariously held by the we'll-never-win-anything Bruins of Brown. A moment's reflection, and the realization crystalizes: The Game will again decide The Championship.

All that is left is for the protagonists to win their remaining games leading to the November 13 showdown. For Harvard, that means Princeton, Brown and Penn. For Yale, the task is an easier one: Penn, Cornell and Princeton.

Where, you may ask, does that leave the heavily considered Brown contingent? For those who have watched the league and its traditional trends during recent years, the answer is a simple one. Brown plays Harvard and Dartmouth back-to-back in upcoming weeks. The Bruins have trouble with the Crimson--who doesn't? --but they haven't beaten Dartmouth since 1955. And that's not good.

So while everybody is beating up on everybody else, Harvard and Yale prance into The Game with the championship on the line, right? Possible obstacles: Brown over Harvard (gasp) and/or Princeton over Yale (gulp). In which case, The Game decides The Four-Way Tie. Everything is normal. * * * *

The picks have been going well this season; here are this week's winners:

BROWN at HOLY CROSS: The Bruins get a non-league breather, and judging by what Dartmouth did to the Crusaders earlier this year the game could be a real snoozer. Brown 27, Holy Cross 20.

COLUMBIA at RUTGERS: there isn't a big-time school that wouldn't give its eye-teeth to have the schedule that Rutgers has had this season. The Scarlet Knights have been fattening up on Ivy non-contenders, and today should prove no different. Rutgers 31, Columbia 14.

DARTMOUTH at CORNELL: Today is the first day of the rest of Dart-mouth's football season, and it has fallen upon the Big Red of Cornell to be the first team the Big Green runs into after last weekend's miserable loss to Harvard. Curt Oberg will have Ithaca crying for mercy. Dartmouth 38, Cornell 17.

YALE at PENN: Two wins in a row (Brown and Lafayette) have brought the Quakers into this game with some momentum, but that probably won't do. This is a game that title challenger Yale cannot afford to lose and some heavy odds-makers say the Elis won't. Yale 20, Penn 10.

HARVARD at PRINCETON: After what the Tigers did to the Crimson last year at The Stadium, there isn't much hope for them in the game today. Kindness will be a commodity in short supply at Princeton, and even an Ec 10 section person can tell you that it will be the Tigers who will pay the price. the inoffensive Princetonites may have trouble getting past midfield. Harvard 24, Princeton 3.

Last Week: Four right, one wrong.

Season: 21 right, 5 wrong (.808).