The bad news is the Weather Channel says there's no chance of rain.

One week after sloppy conditions at The Stadium forced the Harvard football team into a rush-heavy, blue-collar offense that produced a gritty 19-12 win over Cornell, the Crimson (1-3, 1-1 Ivy) will have to contest Patriot League rival Holy Cross under sunny--or at least dry--skies in Cambridge.

The Crusaders (2-3, 0-1 Patriot) are the third and final Patriot League opponent on Harvard's schedule and represent the Crimson's last tuneup before it begins its title defense proper with five straight Ivy games to close out the season.

"Winning two in a row would be gigantic," junior linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski said. "Holy Cross is our only in-state rival, and the game is a big momentum-gainer. It's huge for our confidence."

After sitting out the second week with thumb and ankle injuries, junior running back Chris Menick has busted out and returned to the form that made him an all-Ivy first-teamer in 1997, notching 100-yard efforts in his last two starts.

Menick carried 22 times for 114 yards in a 21-17 loss to Lehigh then shouldered the bulk of the offensive burden against Cornell, working overtime with 176 yards on 39 carries.

Menick and his supporting cast on the offensive line will have to contend with a Crusader defensive line that has proven highly effective against the run.

Holy Cross allows 92 yards per game on the ground but limits its opponents to 2.5 yards per carry. And on two occasions, the Crusaders have shut down a Menick-style power rusher coming off a strong week.

Georgetown's Rob Belli, who gained 187 yards on 18 carries against Marist the week before playing Holy Cross, was held to 38 yards, and Towson's Jason Corle also managed only 38 yards against the Crusaders a week after tallying 239 against Fordham.

Given Holy Cross's relative success defending the run, junior quarterback Rich Linden will be under pressure to break through in the same way that fellow superstar Menick did.

Linden, who suffered through one of the least productive afternoons of his rather illustrious collegiate career last week, going 4-of-12 for only 39 yards, must find a way to turn his lackluster season around. This week could be the perfect opportunity, because Holy Cross is giving up 224 passing yards a game.

Linden has completed 50 percent of his passes on the season but has only totaled a little better than 100 yards a game and has been intercepted six times against one touchdown.

Clearly lacking at the wideouts are replacements for graduates Colby Skelton and Jared Chupaila, as Linden has struggled to find new favorite targets. Sophomore flanker Josh Wilske and junior wide-out Terence Patterson are the likely candidates, with 10 and 15 receptions respectively, but neither has shown big-play potential.

Holy Cross's offense presents a unique puzzle for Harvard Coach Tim Murphy. The central wildcard will be at quarterback, where senior Matt Kives gets the first start of his collegiate career in place of sophomore Ryan Collar.

Kives--who had completed six passes prior to last week's 15-7 loss at Yale--stepped in when Collar sustained a knee injury in the third quarter. The senior managed 119 yards on 11-of-17 passing with one interception and one touchdown.

"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.