In the aftermath of last Saturday's improbable second-half meltdown against Cornell, Harvard Coach Tim Murphy pointed out that one of the reasons his football team may have fallen apart at the end was because it had never had a lead before.

"Obviously, we didn't handle prosperity very well," Murphy said after the Big Red's 29-28 comeback win.

Tomorrow, when Harvard (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) hosts the nationally-ranked Lehigh Mountain Hawks, it probably won't have to worry about having the lead.

No. 15 Lehigh (5-0, 1-0 Patriot) is the best team Harvard has faced since, well, since Harvard last played Lehigh in 1998.

The current Lehigh team is built on a punishing defense. It stops the run, as evidenced by a rushing defense ranked 10th in Division I-AA. It also creates turnovers: so far Lehigh has recorded 13 turnovers, returning two of them for touchdowns. Linebacker James "Bubba" Young is the team's star defender. At 5'10, 220 pounds, he's the epitome of a speedy, stifling defensive unit that flies to the ball.

"Lehigh is the fastest team we play, and they like to blitz," Murphy said. "We have to make our blitz pickups in the backfield."

None of this bodes well for the Crimson offense, which after 2.5 games of explosive, high-flying point-scoring became a dud in the final 30 minutes against the Big Red. One of the reasons for this was Cornell's switch to an aggressive eight-man front, designed to put pressure on junior quarterback Neil Rose and stuff the run.

With an already decimated backfield (tomorrow's starters will once again be third- and-fourth stringers Matt Leiszler and Nick Palazzo), Harvard's inability to run ruined the balanced attack and forced Rose and the passing game into uncomfortable situations. Lehigh, with its ability to shut down the run, will force the Crimson to make big plays.