It must have seemed pretty funny, actually, to all the Cadets; these nerdy Hahvahd preps coming down to challenge the backbone of America's defense in a game of football. The plebes thought up the slogan "Nuke the Preppies!" and everybody at West Point got a real kick out of that.

So they all showed up at Michie Stadium last October to watch their men (who were 12-point favorites) beat up on the Ivy wimps.

But the Ivy wimps proved not so wimpy after all, and the preppies had no intention of getting nuked. By the end of the game, only a few of the more than 38,000 fans present were smiling.

Powered by quarterback Brian Buckley, who turned in his finest performance of the season, and defensive back Rocky Delgadillo, who picked off two Army passes, the Crimson pulled off a surprising (and for Army, mortifying) upset win, 15-10.

Buckley, who spurted around left end and sped downfield for a 67-yard touchdown run during the contest, led Harvard by capitalizing on several breaks provided by the Crimson defense.

In addition to Delgadillo's interceptions, the previously unheralded secondary picked off two more, forced two fumble turnovers and staved off a last-ditch effort by the Cadets to go ahead.

With just more than a minute and a half remaining in the contest, Army took over possession of the ball 53 yards away from Harvard's goal-line.

But the defense, which had proved less than stellar in previous clutch situations last season, refused to yield.

By keeping Cadet receivers and running backs in bounds and the clock running. Harvard finally stopped Army for good on fourth and six at the 25. A little close for comfort, perhaps, but in the end it made victory all the sweeter.

The contest started out slow, with both sides struggling to gear up on offense. The Crimson held Army scoreless through the first half, but could only manage a field goal for itself, retiring to the locker room with a tenuous 3-0 lead.

And Buckley was not through scoring for the afternoon. Later in the third, with Harvard ahead 9-0. Buckley found halfback Paul Scheper open over the middle for a 30-yard pass completion (he threw for 147 total on the day), which brought the Crimson to the Army nine. The offense worked its way down to the one. and Buckley dove over for his second touchdown of the day, making the score 15-0.

From here it was up to the big D. And in the finest tradition of that old saying about bending without breaking, the defense allowed the Cadets to put ten points on the scoreboard, but toughened up when it came down to the wire.