After Dave Shulman's 27-yard field goal gave Penn its 23-21 win over Harvard last week. Mike Granger walked off the field-- quickly and quietly Head down, helmet on, the senior fullback entered the locker room and just sat.

"I didn't want to see any celebration," he would say several days after the initial sting had worn off "I was the first one in the locker room I just sat down and didn't do anything for a long time."

It was Granger who had given Harvard its apparent game-winning touchdown on a three-yard scamper; just a minute and a half before Shulman split the uprights.

Granger recalls what happened: "We were down 20-14, with just over a minute-and-a- half to go. It was fourth and goal from the three and we needed to score on that play. [Harvard quarterback Donnie Allard] called an option right to the short side of the field. All I could think about was catching the pitch."

"We'd been having trouble with the pitch all day," he continues. "I kept telling myself to just catch the ball. When we lined up and started running right. I was expecting five guys to be there to kill me. It all happened so quickly. I got the pitch, got around the corner and no one was there. It was the greatest feeling in the world."

"We were sky high after that. I was sure we were going to win, even while we stood on the sideline and they were moving down the field. When they missed that first field goal, I ran on the field and just hugged the first guy I saw. I don't even know who it was. It was just like a dream come true."

"And then, all of a sudden, I found myself walking off the field," he says.

"It was probably the biggest shift of emotion in such a short period of time I've ever experienced," he adds.

But by Monday, the Marion, Ohio native had put the game behind him, and was back on the practice field, assuming his customary position as a quiet leader. "I realized there was nothing we could do," he admits. "We just had to get back to business and start preparing for Yale."

It is just that business-like attitude that has impressed his teammates and coaches. "We're extremely pleased with everything Mike's done," said Larry Gleuck, who as offensive backs coach has watched Granger's development. "Mike's a quiet person but he's certainly one of the team leaders. He's not a hollered or a screamer, he just goes out and performs, and leads the team by his example."

It's been that way for most of Granger's football career. At Marion Pleasant High, where he dazzled crowds with his basketball and track ability, as well as his football prowess, he was a "man of few words but much ability," recalls coach Don Kay.

As a junior, and then again while he was captain as a senior, Granger played both ways, wreaking havoc on opposing gridders. From his tailback position, he often left defensive backs confused with his slashing running style, while from his linebacking spot he punished the opposition, remembers Kay.

"He was a fine, outstanding guy who did his best in whatever he did," Kay adds. "People certainly looked up to him as a leader, but that's just the type of kid he was. You always remember a person like Mike."

Recruited by Harvard, Yale and several Division III Ohio schools, Granger found Harvard's offer of acceptance too good to turn down. "Probably the main person who got me interested in Harvard was my brother, Matt, who graduated in 1979. I thought it would offer me a lot of chances and it's been everything I expected," he says.

Harvard was probably the farthest thing from his mind when he took up football in the seventh grade, only because he thought it was "the thing to do." "I had dreams of going on to play big-time ball at Ohio State," he says. "But even if it wasn't Ohio State, I always thought I'd go on to play college ball."