The Harvard football team plays its most important non-league contest in years this afternoon when Colgate's undefeated Red Raiders come charging into Soldier's Field. These non-Ivy games are usually for ironing out a few stray wrinkles, but today's encounter involves both a tougher-than-usual opponent and larger-than-usual question marks.

Quarterbacks Unproven

Harvard is coming off its worst defeat since this year's seniors were back in high school, and is still a team without a proven quarterback. A week and a half ago. Tim Davenport was reported lost for the season.

Last Saturday, neither junior Larry Brown nor sophomore Burke St. John could do enough to put himself in the driver's seat. The powerful UMass detense, the terrible weather, and the lack of help from the offensive line didn't make things any easier.

Once Is Not Enough

Crimson coach Joe Restic said Thursday he'd never count a player out after only one opportunity, and stated that Brown had the best chance of being named the starter, as he was last week. But once again, Restic reserved the right to wait until game time to actually make the final decision.

Amid all the uproar about the gaping hold left by Davenport's injury, many have lost sight of the fact that even when the senior was still at the helm, the team was unproven in several spots.

The defensive backfield, without the benefit of a single returning starter, has held up so far. But Columbia's quarterback couldn't throw well enough to provide a real test and UMass found it necessary to pass only four times.

Restic did say, however, that he was very pleased with the deep backs' performance against the run on Saturday.

Experience?

An inexperienced offensive front badly hampered the Crimson attack last year, but with several regulars returning this time around, the Harvard coaches are expecting better things. The offensive line provided little protection for the new quarterbacks against UMass, however.

Restic must also be hoping for the real return of Jim Curry. In his official return on Saturday, Curry showed a few glimpses of the talent that made him such an asset two years ago, but with no one to get him the ball, he accounted for only 33 yards through the air. Between the heavy rush and the heavy rain, moreover, his punting was not up to his past standards.

As if the ongoing problems weren't enough. All-Ivy defensive tackle Charlie Kaye will miss the Colgate game with an injury, and center Joe Pellegrini is questionable.

So, Harvard will be searching for answers this afternoon. Unfortunately, playing Colgate is something like having to take the MCAT's and the LSAT's on the same day.

Red Raider, Red Raider

Under new coach Fred Dunlap, the Red Raiders went 8-2 last fall even though they lost to Rutgers on the most-publicized bad call of the season, 17-9. Colgate began this season by helping Penn State put the Scarlet Knights back in their place, whipping Rutgers, 22-0.

Since then, the Red Raiders have used the passing of Bob Relph and the running of fullback Pat Healy, who is 300 yards short of Mark van Eeghen's school rushing record to earn high-scoring victories over Lafayette (38-12) and Cornell (28-22).

If Cornell can score that well against Colgate, Harvard's young signal callers might well get something going. Whether or not that something will be enough depends on Harvard's defense.