Senior quarterback Brad Wilford must have thought he was trapped in the sequel to the Blair Witch Project.

He spent the entire day running from dangers that were beyond his control in Saturday's 24-21 home loss to Colgate. The result was bad enough to make some members of the audience sick.

Wilford had the roughest start of his brief tenure, finishing 16-of-32 for 124 yards with two interceptions. Some of the problems were the result of poor decisions he made, but most of the blame rests on the shoulders of Harvard's inexperienced offensive line.

Harvard (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) returned only junior left tackle Mike Clare from last year's starting five. Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said from the beginning that although his team had the athletic ability to be a good line, it would take time, aggressiveness, and game experience before the unit could be considered a strength.

"I hope it happens by the third or fourth game of the season," said Murphy in a preseason interview.

Saturday's game showed that Murphy will have to wait a little longer before he can call the maturation process complete. The numbers imply an improvement from last week, when the Crimson gave up six sacks to Holy Cross. The numbers are wrong.

To be fair, Colgate might be the best defense Harvard faces all season. Its defensive line, which is light but extremely quick, posed unique challenges.

"Their defensive line is small, but we knew going in that they were the quickest, most athletic, and at times the most productive defensive unit we'd see," Murphy said. "We felt they were outstanding, and we had no qualms saying these guys do a great job defensively in terms of scheme and getting off blocks.