The future couldn't save the present.

Junior quarterback Tim Perry came on in relief of injured starter Tom Yohe late in today's Harvard-Yale fight at The Stadium, but could get nothing going. Yale won, 26-17.

Harvard, hoping to redeem a year which began with many experts picking the Crimson to successfully defend its Ivy League championship, ended in further disappointment today.

One season, the regular season, ended in disaster a week ago in Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsylvania trounced Harvard, 52-13. Another season, The Game, ended today in frustration.

Last year, The Game decided the Ivy title. Both Harvard and Yale entered last year's matchup with 5-1 league records. Harvard walked out of the Yale Bowl last year with a 14-10 triumph and its first outright Ivy crown since 1975.

This year, The Game meant nothing in the league championship race, but a great deal to a Harvard team searching for respect. Today the Crimson was hoping to show that it was really not as bad as its 2-7 record.

Yohe, who has beaten Yale the last two years, started for Harvard despite the fact that he was still wobbly from a stress a stress fracture in his right leg that he had suffered three weeks ago against Brown.

The Yohe magic was good for 17 points. Down 13-0, Yohe marched on a 10-play, 47-yd. drive, culminating in Alan Hall's field goal with 13:36 left in the second quarter.

Yohe and company struck again with 7:55 left in the quarter. Facing third down from the seven-yd. line, Yohe pitched to running back Tony Hinz, who raced around right end for a TD.

When wingback Jim Reidy took a counter play from the six-yd. line into the endzone with 2:22 left in the half, Harvard looked well on the way to redeeming its season. After Hall's PAT, it was Harvard 17, Yale 13.

But Yale backup QB Mark Brubaker led the Elis to a touchdown with :29 seconds to go in the half. Facing third-and-nine from the 11-yd. line, Brubaker dumped a screen pass to Kevin Callahan, who raced into the endonze.

From that point on, it was all Yale.

Why did Harvard fail to live up to its advance billing this year? How does a championship team become a dud in one season?

The questions have been asked again and again. Harvard Coach Joe Restic has answered them.

What went wrong?