In 1986, the Pennsylvania football team went 10-0, including a victory over Division I-A Navy. The Quakers, ranked seventh in Division I-AA, should have been given a chance to prove themselves against the teams ranked higher in the Division I-AA poll.

Also, the Academic Index should be abolished. The Index, which applies solely to potential athletes in major sports, is composed of class rank, SAT and Achievement Test scores. Any athlete who falls below 161 on the Index cannot be recruited.

The Index discriminates against athletes. There is no such index for musicians or actors or poets. Imagine the Harvard English Department being unable to approach a promising writer because his or her Index score was below 161.

The Index is also elitist, as Brown basketball Coach Mike Cingiser says. It favors those students who are able to buy a spot in an SAT class or go to private or prep schools geared toward preparing students for college entrance tests.

The public school kid, equally or more intelligent than the average preppy, is often on his own when it comes to taking those tests. No guidance, no glory. He goes at it alone, like someone coming cold off the bench into a heated game.

The Ivy League will never regain national prominence in major sports. Too many schools willing to dish out scholarships and occasionally overlook a fistful of D's on an athlete's report card are out there, ready to pounce on a top-notch athlete. The Ivy League will continue to attract the top-notch student-athlete. A student first, an athlete second is the great motto of Ivy League athletics.

The real problem will come when Miami starts drawing the quarterback who makes straight As and Oklahoma gets the linebacker with 1600 on his SATs.