All three of the Crimson's subsequent drivesended in turnovers. Linden was intercepted twice,once at the Colgate 22-yard line, and backup BradWilford had a Hail Mary intercepted on the game'sfinal play.

Once again, the Crimson offensive line haddifficulties creating a passing pocket, as Colgatepressure, particularly from right ends AhmadRussel and Barry Hoaire, forced Linden into anumber of rollout patterns and backfieldscrambles.

"[Colgate] put some really great pressure onthe quarterback," Murphy said. "We didn't have ananswer for [Russell]. They put a great athlete outthere, we put a sophomore tackle [Mike Clare] outthere, and he got taken to school."

Consistently hurried, Linden completed 17 of 33passes for 183 yards and a touchdown but wasintercepted twice in the fourth. Junior flankerTerence Patterson, an offensive key with thegraduation of receivers Colby Skelton and JaredChupaila, was not integrated into the offense,catching only five balls for 39 yards.

Sophomore flanker Josh Wilske enjoyed thebiggest day of his young career, with fivereceptions good for 77 yards.

"It was Josh's second game, but we consider hima veteran receiver," Linden said.

The primary wrinkle Colgate threw at theCrimson was the option-based offense, whichVena--two-time Patriot League Player of theYear--ran beautifully.

Vena took the snap from multiple sets,including an I-formation with running backsRandall Joseph and Tim Lavoie and a split-back setin third and fourth-down packages.

Although Vena is sometimes criticized for beingtoo greedy with the football, he excelled atrunning the quarterback draw and beating theCrimson defense around the ends.

The best example came on two successivefourth-down attempts during a late second quarterdrive. Vena converted from a shotgun split-backset, once on a seven-yard draw and once on afive-yard out. The drive ended with an eight-yardtouchdown pass to Hill that upped the lead to20-7.

"[Vena] kept hurting us with the quarterbackdraw," junior linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski said."And in the shotgun split-spread, he just took off.We were blitzing up the middle and he kept takingit outside and beating us. We hadn't seen theoption that much."

Colgate gave the Crimson a brusque welcome toupstate New York, opening up a 14-0 lead midwaythrough the first quarter.

Harvard's opening drive, which went for 48yards on eight plays, was its longest of the game.The Crimson stalled out at the Colgate 33-yardline when Linden and sophomore tailback ChuckNwokocha failed to net one yard on consecutivethird and fourth-down plays.

Vena promptly marched the Raiders backdownfield, connecting with Hill on a 22-yardcrossing pattern, then split end R. J. Gregory ona five-yard slant that Gregory broke upfield for36 yards to the Harvard two-yard line. The paircombined for 16 receptions and all of Vena's 254passing yards.

"Those two receivers are outstanding," Murphysaid. "Everybody knows who Corey Hill is, but[Gregory] is becoming a go-to guy for them aswell."