The Harvard football team blew three games last year by surrendering touchdowns in the final minutes. As the game waned, the pass defense collapsed and Harvard's championship hopes died.

The lowlights: Cornell's Ricky Rahne rebounded from fourth-and-13 with no timeouts to produce a pair of touchdowns in the last 2:49. Gavin Hoffman purloined a win for Penn with a 50-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10. And most painful of all, a fever-stricken Joe Walland set records for Eli proficiency and Crimson futility, posting 437 yards through the air to lead Yale to a come-from-behind triumph in The Game.

"I've never been through a season like last year before," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "The Cornell loss was the toughest to take. Those things happen."

The painful memories resulting from the Harvard pass defense's failure during crunch time last season have left the Crimson secondary with no direction to go but up.

There is good reason for optimism, however. The secondary--which returns two of four starters--has emerged as one of the most talented units on the Harvard team.

"Only our secondary is really solidified," Murphy said. "If I had to try to gauge an early strength in our football team it would be the offensive line or the defensive secondary or both."

The outlook didn't look so rosy last spring, when sophomore Ryan Dickerson--the expected replacement of All-Ivy right corner Kane Waller '00--went down with an ankle injury. But Murphy solved the problem with a radical position change, plucking excess depth from his receiving corps.

Junior Andy Fried, the second-string wideout whose four catches and two touchdowns ignited Harvard's offense in a 63-21 win over Dartmouth last year, will now be counted on to provide game-breaking receptions--for the defense.

"I was pretty excited when Coach Murphy asked me to make the move," Fried said. "It was a total surprise. I didn't see it coming."

Like many of the talented athletes on the Harvard football team, Fried had played both ways in high school. If Murphy needed any evidence that Fried could handle the rigors of a defensive position at the college level, he merely had to look at the Crimson-best 17 tackles Fried made on special teams last year.

"It wasn't hard for Andy to make the transition because I believe he was a natural defensive player all along," Murphy said. "He was a quality wide receiver for us last year, but he has a defensive mentality, being a guy who would rather hit somebody than catch the ball, which is why he did so well on special teams."

Now that he has switched sides, Fried's chances of matching his three touchdowns from last year--tops among all returning players--have been reduced. But his 4.22 speed makes him a serious threat to return interceptions into the end zone.

"I feel I have decent speed," Fried said. "The position is a lot of technique, getting your feet down in the right places. I feel I can keep up with anybody."

Playing alongside Fried is the man who knows more about defensive scoring than anyone else. Last season, senior strong safety Mike Brooks lived the consummate dream of every Harvard defensive player--returning a 66-yard blocked field goal for a touchdown to put the Crimson up 14-3 in The Game.

Unfortunately, the Harvard defense disintegrated after that play. It will be up to the senior leadership of Brooks--one of the Crimson leaders in pass break-ups and forced fumbles last season--to ensure that such a collapse does not recur.