Yesterday's Super Bowl game put many Harvard students in a dilemma: to watch, or to study?

The prospect of a thrilling battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys proved a lure to many students. For others, though, the thought of oncoming exams dampened their football fever.

"I cried into my textbook as I was studying," Peter J. Crowley '81 said yesterday. "I would have done anything to push my exam ahead one day," he added.

Libby Pierpont '81 also chose to spend the afternoon studying at Lamont. "My score in EC 1010A is more important than the Steelers score against Dallas," she said. "And besides, EC 1010A is more lucrative than football," she added.

Those football fanatics who watched the game had few regrets. Many students settled down in one of the house common rooms, or at the Freshman Union, where a raucous crowd fiercely cheered for their favorites. "Pittsburgh's victory has inspired me. Things are going my way," Mark H. Helmericks '82 said yesterday.

Others preferred to do their cheering in the privacy of their own rooms. Donald Godfrey '80, who sat in his apartment with the lights turned off, a fire glowing, and a down comforter spread over him and his friends, said "I've had a great day. I don't care who won."

Lackadaisical

Dining halls were not as crowded as usual because many students decided to order food for their rooms rather than risk missing a key play. "This is Super Sunday man," John P. Fishwick '79 said yesterday, adding "Do you think I'm going to have another mundane meal in the Lowell House dining hall on Super Sunday?"

"Thank God this is over," Michael W. Small '79 said yesterday, adding "now everything can return to normal."