He completed two passes after the second-half kickoff, then faked a pass and whizzed to the Harvard four-yard line before Driscoll tripped him from behind and Jerry Mechling flattened him.

It took four plays, but he finally scored from there, getting the last yard on a quarterback sneak, as the referee waited fully half a minute after the play was over before deciding it was a touchdown. It was 14-6, Harvard.

Now UMass dug in and stopped the Crimson attack and Whelchel had the ball again. He threw to Walt Morin, the 240-pound end who was carrying defenders three yards after they caught him, then to fullback Mike Ross, then to Meers on a fourth-down play that put the ball on Harvard's nine-yard line. One play later Whelchel took it in himself, rolling out of the hands of a defensive lineman and into the end zone.

Whelchel played an outstanding game, a cool young man who passed for 124 yards, ran for 68, and handled the ball flawlessly although UMass plays call for some tricky reverse handoffs. He called plays almost perfectly, twice popping screen passes over the heads of Harvard linemen who had called a blitz. If Harvard meets a better quarterback, they may need to call in the Military Science Department to stop him.

But on the Crimson side, McCluskey was looking just as good. He led the team shrewdly on a 67-yard first-quarter march, the kind that so often seems to wind up with a Harvard fumble.

Thunder on the Right

It didn't this time--in fact Mac didn't make a ball-handling bobble all day. On the long drive he let Poe and Conway do most of the work, with Grant a decoy. Neil Curtin and John Hoffman were tearing giant holes in the right side of the UMass line and another constant soft spot turned up over right guard.

Conway popped through this one for a six-yard gain that took the ball to the one and then rode Chuck Reischel's back for the first touchdown scored against UMass in ten games.

Three and a half minutes later it was 14-0. McCluskey took the ball on his own 18 and ran the option to the left. Viclous downfield blocking by the line helped clear the way and he slid down the sideline, never more than a yard away from being out of bounds. Safetyman Dave Kelley had a good shot at him at the 20, but McCluskey turned on the speed and Kelley's diving tackle missed. Dullea's second conversion gave Harvard a 14-point lead.

Whelchel hadn't taken to the air in the entire first quarter. Suddenly he discovered his own right arm and started picking the pass defense apart with the kind of short, hook-and-slant passes that a 5-4 defense is supposed to be vulnerable to. Only a fumble by Phil DeRose at the nine-yard line stopped what seemed like a sure UMass touchdown as the second quarter ended.

But Whelchel's play, fine as it was, should not overshadow the unusually good first game Harvard played. McCluskey winding up with 109 yards, Poe with 71, Grant 55 and Conway 35. Yovicsin has found a wonderful fullback in Conway, a big, fast guy whose vicious blocks cleared the way for the end sweeps.

Running Slows

If the running game slowed a bit in the third quarter and if the line never mounted a big rush on Whelchel, it was partly because Curtin went out with a leg strain just after Harvard's second touchdown, and Diamond, his replacement, was playing on two bad ankles.

But the line looked excellent against UMass' touted defense and the depth Yovicsin worried about may not be a problem. Two supposed second-stringers, Driscoll and Gene Skowronski, were the stars of the show on defense, smothering the UMass running game from their inside line backing positions. Skowronski was credited with eight tackles and Driscoll with 10, plus Harvard's only pass interception of the day.

The pass defense may need work, but it will not often be up against a quarterback as good as Whelchel was Saturday, or ends as good as Morin and Meers. Poe, Bilodeau, and John Dockery are experienced safetymen and it will be a rare passer who will gain 150 yards against them again. Dockery also filled in well at halfback on offense.

Will Harvard pass more? "We're always going to pass more," said John Yovicsin with a smile after the game.

"No one has ever run against us like that without passing," said UMass coach Vic Fusia, looking at the statistics that said Harvard had gained 281 yards on the ground. "Passing! That play when McCluskey runs around end like that, that's the best pass there is.