A late-game dilemma for the Harvard football team Saturday: to score or not to score?

The Crimson began mauling Dartmouth early in the second quarter. The rout continued into the third. The moral question facing the Crimson: when are you supposed to stop? When is enough enough?

A 20 point lead? A 30 point lead?

Harvard Coach Joe Restic waited until the middle of the fourth quarter to pull his starting unit in favor of the second and third teams. By then, the Crimson led 42-3--a score that would stand until the gun went off at game's end--and the Big Green was pretty blue. Columbia blue.

Harvard found itself in a peculiar situation Saturday. It was too good. A little late-game restraint was in order because the starting unit--particularly Tony Hi and Tom Yohe on offense and Frank Caprio on defense--had rolled over Dartmouth as if it were a pee-wee team. Or Columbia.

The must-win turned into a dustin', and pushed Harvard (4-1 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) into a second-place Ivy logjam with Cornell, Penn and Princeton, all a half game behind Brown (3-1 Ivy). The Bruins climbed to the Ivy peak with a 23-15 upset Saturday of previously undefeated Cornell.

Meanwhile, Dartmouth fell to 0-2 in the league, 1-4 overall. The Green has company down in the valley--Columbia lost again (27-13 to Yale) and is 0-4.

For Dartmouth Coach Buddy Teevens, Saturday's game was a rude return to the Stadium. In 1978, Teevens was the Green quarterback who led Dartmouth to a 6-1 league record. The only loss was against Harvard at the Stadium. But it was a big loss: Dartmouth finished a half-game out of first place that year.

Dartmouth will not be contending for the league crown this year. If the Green players didn't know this before Saturday's game, they know it now.

Still, a loss is a loss. And a rout is rough.

"It wasn't a good loss," said Teevens.

No, Buddy, it was bad. Michael Jackson Bad.

And sad. Teevens is a good guy, trying to bring back respectability to a once powerful team. The going has been rough. Harvard made it rougher.

"I'm pleased with the way we've come along," Restic said. "We showed more aggressiveness than I've seen so far this year."

After the game, Teevens had a solemn discussion with his team. "I wanted to say a couple of things to the players to make them think about what was going on and where we were going from here," Teevens said.

Restic, too, looked ahead, to days when the only rout(e) will be made of cement and tar and will have signposts pointing to Brown, Holy Cross and Yale.

From now on, the Crimson's opponents are better. Their quarterbacks can throw longer and straighter.

It gets harder from here on in, boys.

"If you can throw the ball long, that's a tremendous weapon," said Restic, referring to Dartmouth QB Chris Rorke, whose sawed-off shotgun accounted for 176 yards in the air. "We have to be able to handle that part of the game down the stretch."

"We have some good passers coming up," Restic warned. "Princeton's a test next week, and we're looking at Brown, Holy Cross and Yale. We just have to saddle up and handle that part of the game."

Harvard may worry about opposing QBs, but teams around the league are trembling at the prospect of facing Yohe, who threw for 237 yards--his fourth straight 200-plus day--and three touchdowns Saturday, picking up Ivy League Player of the Week honors along the way.

Last year, Yohe, then a sophomore, got his first varsity start against Dartmouth and led the Crimson to a 42-26 victory. He won Ivy laurels then, too.

Let's just say Yohe likes Green.

"I'm getting the hang of calling the right plays in the right situations," said Yohe, who is now four touchdown passes shy of Harvard's season TD record.

Yohe was not alone in his glory. When you score 42 points, everyone has a finger--or a fist--in the pie.

Hinz ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Caprio picked off two Dartmouth passes.

Even the tight ends, usually quieter figures in Harvard's Multiflex offense, got into the action. Kent Lucas caught three passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. Backup Don Gajewski caught four for 72 yards.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Restic cleared his bench, sending in substitutes to mop up the rout.

Teevens and company could only watch, frustrated, Green with envy.

CRIMSON, 42-3 at the Stadium Dartmouth  0  3  0  0--3 Harvard  7  14  14  7--42

First Quarter

Harv--Barringer 11 pass from Yohe (Jacob kick), 3:39.

Second Quarter

Harv--Hinz 3 run (Jacob kick), 5:06.

Dart--FG Romero 26, 9:33.

Harv--Bunning 18 pass from Yohe (Jacob kick), 11:11.

Third Quarter

Harv--Lucas 13 pass from Yohe (Jacob kick), 2:17.

Harv--Hinz 73 run (Jacob kick), 6:20.

Fourth Quarter

Harv--Bunning 4 run (Jacob kick), 2:13.

A--20,500. Dar.  Har. First Downs  22  20 Rushes-Yards  39-94  46-250 Passing  214  237 Return Yards  5  41 Att-Comp-Int  24-53-3  16-26-0 Punts  4-29.0  6-34.8 Fumbles-Lost  8-2  1-1 Penalties-Yards  2-15  10-63 Time of Possession  31:48  28:12

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Harvard, Hinz 12-152, Bunning 11-55, Glatz 5-20, Yohe 5-(-6). Dartmouth, Rorke 6-58, Stanham 17-34, Phillis 5-19, Shakeshaft 6-(-15), Anderson 1-11.

PASSING--Harvard, Yohe 16-26-0-227. Dartmouth, Rorke 18-38-3-176, Shakeshaft 6-14-0-49, Griffin 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--Harvard, Gajewski 4-72, Bunning 4-46, Barringer 3-17, Lucas 3-76, Hinz 1-5, Glatz 1-21. Dartmouth, Anderson 6-51, Milaccio 4-37, Morton 3-26, Keck 3-34, Stretch 3-53, Stanham 2-12, Phillis 1-2, Drury 1-3, Clark 1-7.

Other Ivy Scores

Brown 23, Cornell 15

Yale 27, Columbia 13

Navy 38, Penn 28

Princeton 16, Lehigh 15