"They have a good pass defense," Crimson wide-out Brian Barringer says. "We're not sure about their rush defense. We're going to stick with our balanced [passing and running] attack. It's a big game."

These teams have already played this game. Harvard won, remember? The Crimson whipped the Bruins, sent them scurrying across the Stadium field like frenzied chickens, not potential Ivy League champs.

"We know we can beat them," Dulsky says. "But then there's the feeling that we should beat them..."

'Cause you've beaten them before. Badly.

The game was for pride then. Just a chance to work up a little sweat, score a few touchdowns, go home and forget about it.

Glory Days

The game is for glory now. The winner has the inside track on the Ivy title.

There's a lot of pressure," Crimson running back Tony Hinz says. "But it's not the type of pressure where you panic. This is where we want to be."

You beat Brown before. Does the win give you an advantage?

"The scrimmage might be a psychological advantage," Hinz says. "They've got to be wondering about the blowout."

Or a disadvantage?

"If anything it gives us a disadvantage," Barringer says. "We might go in thinking we can breeze by."

Or neither?

Did it happen? Can it happen again?

Once upon a time, there was a preseason battle between Harvard and Brown...

A fairy tale or a foreshadowing?