Harvard had 11 starters returning from its 1987 championship team. There was Hinz, who rushed for 161 yards in last year's Game and won All-Ivy honors. There was Yohe, Harvard's record-breaking quarterback.

There was guard Maurice Frilot. Safety Jim Smith.

Eleven starters. A nice foundation upon which to build another championship team.

What went wrong?

Today was like many other Harvard games this year. Come close, but not close enough. Have problems, but not be able to overcome those problems with a long pass or a tough defensive play.

Yale blocked an Alan Hall punt today and raced with it to the endzone. This kind of disaster would not have happened last year.

The Crimson would have stopped Yale's Richard Huff before he was able to reach out and bat Hall's punt to the ground with four minutes left in the first quarter. Or, at the least, it would have been able to halt Brian Hennen before he raced 35 yards for a touchdown, putting Yale up, 12-0.

Big plays, Restic said last week, hurt Harvard this year. Huff's block and Hennen's return were the sort he was talking about.

The question now is, does Harvard have a future? If it's possible to go from champion to dud, is the reverse true? Will the Crimson rally next year?

Perry started last week against Penn, and Restic praised his performance. "He can be a quarterback in this league," Restic said.

But can he be a championship quarterback? Next year, we'll see.

Today, we saw the stream of happy Yalies who poured out of Harvard Stadium. We saw the bowed heads of the Harvard players walking into the locker room.

Today, like most Saturdays, we saw a championship team go so sadly awry.

Next year seems so far away.