Judging by the first eight minutes of Saturday's opener against Columbia, the Harvard football team looked on its way to reliving last year's 24-0 nightmare loss.

However, Harvard (1-0, 1-0 Ivy) woke up to dominate the next 52 minutes and ran away with a convincing 24-7 victory at The Stadium.

The Crimson showcased a rejuvenated offense newly injected with the strong arm and athletic prowess of senior quarterback Brad Wilford, the return of a healthy, dynamic Troy Jones and an aggressive defense.

Most importantly, Harvard also showed a winning attitude that allowed it to rally after falling behind 7-0 and blowing an easy chance to tie the game.

Despite the lopsided score, the Lions struck first early in the game. It took Columbia seven plays to go 47 yards when Lions quarterback Mark Stoutenberg found split end Armand Dawkins in the end zone with 11:08 left in the first quarter. After that initial score, however, Columbia would not score for the rest of the contest.

On the very next drive, Harvard drove all the way to the Columbia one-yard line but drew a delay of game penalty on first-and-goal. Now at the Columbia 6-yard line, Harvard called for a designed pass to Wilford. Menick took the pitch, ran right, and his pass, floating because of the wind, was intercepted by defensive end Chris Nugent in the end zone.

It was a puzzling call for so early in the game, but it only took one play for Harvard to recover.

Senior linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski intercepted Mark Stoutenberg's pass at the Columbia 29, setting up a 16-yard touchdown run by Jones a play later to tie the score 7-7.

Jones, who missed the final eight games of the '97 season and played in only one game last season because of injuries, shone as he split time with senior Chris Menick, who finished with 85 yards on 18 carries.