"And I don't mean to say that you're not a man if you don't play football or anything, but whenever you go on a football field you expect to do battle. It has something to do with the invincibility of youth--you're looking for someone to hit," Clark explained.

"To me," Kross answered, "It's more that I've played football so long, and it's almost like a job. You try to do your best. If my job tomorrow is to move this particular guy, then I'm trying to move this guy--so I go out and move the guy. It's almost like working with inanimate objects."

Man of LaMancha

"Geez," Clark countered, "that makes what I just said sound awful. But I do prefer the Don Quixote image of single combat; although, of course, it's part of a larger team effort. Ideally, a perfect play for an offensive lineman is to knock down every guy on the other side of the ball--almost like a broken-field run."

Kross laughed and shook his head. For him, the ideal play was to make your block, to methodically beat your man--there was nothing else really to fantasize about.

*****

While the average fan knows flawless pass-protection or a gaping hole when he sees it, hardly a one actually watches offensive line play during a game, and very few could tell you what differentiates an unskilled lineman from a skilled one.

In terms of technique, though, these guys have got their act together, at least in terms of the level of play demanded in the Ivy League.

Target Practice

Clark can pull, pass-block or trap capably. (Karras: "When he's assigned to trap a linebacker, he hardly ever misses."), while Kross's down blocking stands out among his all-around strengths.

"Both have a good feel for who they have to block," senior halfback Ralph Polillio, who is having his finest year ever behind them and the rest of the front wall, said Wednesday.

"Joe's greatest asset is his strength, while Mike's greatest asset is his quickness," Polillio continued. "What I like best about Mike is that he'll be going upfield turning a linebacker inside out, and he'll still have a good feel for where the back is behind him."

Mac DeCamp, Clark's counterpart on the left side, has nothing but praise for the right-side pair: "Both are very good at making adjustments based on the defensive man's first move. On our last TD against Dartmouth, they picked up the blitz on a '25 blast' play, and because they saw it coming there was a huge hole for Ralph to run through."

Polillio himself has perhaps the highest words of praise for the Joe-and-Mike Moving Co. "If a lineman isn't capable of controlling the action, you can just forget it; but I don't think they've ever let the team down," Polillio said. "They're doing a helluva job. I love to run behind 'em--I really do."

It should be noted that both Clark and Kross fit the traditional jock stereotype about as well as a pair of size-32 shorts fits Vasily Alexeyev.