"We heard that they were starting Kives, which kind of surprised us," Kacyvenski said. "We've faced [senior quarterback] Dan Boland the last two years, so we feel like we're going to have to be ready for anybody."

Kives will likely have to work on protecting the ball when hit. A battered Crusader line, which has lost starting center B. J. Donahue and right tackle Bruce Zaniol for the season, surrendered 10 sacks to Yale last week and has coughed up 21 on the season--less than ideal circumstances for a rookie quarterback.

Holy Cross's main offensive threat may become senior running back Joe Andrews, who has averaged 4.7 yards per carry and has 407 on 79 tries this season.

Harvard will also have to be attentive to fullback Tony Thompson, who averages 5.4 yards per carry in a specialty role, in particular on traps and trap options.

"When they use that trap option, we're going to go to an assignment defense," Kacyvenski said. "They're big up front and we feel that we have a lot to prepare for defending the run."

Certainly that means improving on a run defense that allowed the Big Red 225 yards rushing last week. Kacyvenski, who was last week's Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week with 12 tackles, will anchor a defense that is beginning to gel after injury and graduation had decimated it.

Perhaps the best summation of the Crusaders' season comes from looking at their three losses. In each, Holy Cross blew a fourth-quarter lead, and the Crusaders have been outscored 44-10 in the last 15 minutes. Letting opponents stay alive has proved its undoing, and with Harvard's newly-evidenced big-play capability, that could prove costly.

The Crimson touchdowns last week came on a 60-yard reverse by Patterson and a 41-yard interception return by senior cornerback Glenn Jackson.

It's probably unwise to label a non-league mid-season game a must-win, but a 1-4 record heading into the Ivy home stretch won't get the Crimson many respectful looks across the league.