After Saturday's 27-25 loss to Holy Cross, Harvard football Coach Tim Murphy criticized the new trend in Ivy League scheduling that--for the first time in 25 seasons--forced his young football team of 16 new starters to open against a non-league opponent with a game already under its belt.

From 1976 to 1999, the Crimson opened its season against traditional Ivy League doormat Columbia. Because Ivy teams play only ten games as opposed to eleven-plus per season, they start a week later than all other Division One schools. Another disadvantage in scheduling a non-league opener, up until 1994, was the Ivy League's lack of spring practices.

Now that the spring practice system has been in place for six years, other Ivy programs have grown more confident in their ability to open outside of the conference, but the one-week delay before the start of the Ivy season is still a glaring handicap, and Harvard administrative rules--which bar freshmen from practicing during the week before the season opener--augment the problem.

"It makes no sense to [open] with a nonleague game," Murphy said. "I'd much rather play Columbia where they have the same number of practices as us."

Harvard wasn't alone among Ivy teams struggling in their nonleague openers. Against the Patriot League, the Ivy League went just 1-5 on Saturday, as opposed to 11-8 over all of last year.

Against the middle-tier teams of the Patriot League--Lafayette, Holy Cross, and Bucknell--Ivy teams were 5-2 last season, but winless in three tries this weekend.

While in the early going Ivy League teams have suffered from the scheduling maladies, the Patriot League teams have reaped all of the benefits. Crusader Coach Dan Allen recognizes what his first victory over Harvard in five tries means for the future of his football team.

"Harvard's got a very good football team, they're very talented, and I think they're going to have a very good year--there's no doubt about that--but to beat them on their home field is a tremendous feat for our program," Allen said.