In 1979 it looked like a good move. While other colleges played 11- or 12-game seasons, the Ivy teams were playing nine-game schedules. So the Ivy presidents voted to allow member schools to play 10 games.

Except they really didn't.

The new rule: the Ivies could start no earlier than the second-to-last Saturday in September and finish no later than the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

So in 1980, Harvard played 10 football games for the first time since 1919 (when Harvard won the Rose Bowl, 7-6 over Oregon). And in 1981 through 1983, the brainiest football squads in the nation look the field 10 afternoons.

But in 1984, only nine Saturdays fall within the magic timeframe. So on all eight Ivy campuses, there'll be one less day of pleskin-tossing.

Why not just play 10 games?

"Rather than decide on it number, we decided on parameters," says James Litvack, executive director of the Ivy League council of presidents. "We all have very different academic calendars," he added, explaining that schools didn't want to play before the start of classes.

The point, if there is one, is moot. By 1989, the next time the calendar calls for nine games, the Ivies will have to play 10 games. Starting with the 1989 season, each Ivy team will play two non-conference games against teams from the new Colonial League (Holy Cross, Columbia, William & Mary, Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell).

Two Colonial League opponents plus seven Ivy counterparts makes nine games. The tenth game is needed for traditional intrastate rivalries. Brown and Yale, for example, annually play for their state championships against the University of Rhode Island and the University of Connecticut.