The Harvard football team was once the finest team in the country. In 1919, the Crimson beat Oregon, 7-6, in the Rose Bowl to capture the national championship.

But if current rules regulating Ivy League football are maintained--and administrators see no reason to revise them--Ivy League football will never again regain national prominence, coaches say. The Presidents' Agreement of 1954 relegates Ivy League football to second-class status in the world of big-time collegiate athletics, these coaches say.

However, administrators believe the Ivy League will continue to draw fans to its stadiums and top-flight student-athletes to its teams despite the allure of other programs.

Once upon a time, the Ivy League represented the cream of the football crop. Harvard, Princeton and Yale dominated the national football scene in the early part of the century. Even as late as the 1930s, Ivy League teams participated in national bowl games.

But when the Ivy League was officially created in 1954, league presidents severely limited the league's ability to compete nationally. The Presidents' Agreement of 1954 prohibited Ivy League teams from giving out athletic scholarships or participating in post-season play.

The agreement committed Ivy League schools to fielding teams of scholar-athletes. Finanical aid, the agreement said, should be distributed according to need, not on the basis of athletic talent.

Today, administrators and coaches are living with the ramifications of that agreement. Many Ivy League coaches are finding it increasingly difficult to compete for athletes with schools that offer scholarships.

"I feel we're having more difficulty attracting some of the top athletes because it's so tough to finance an education," Yale Coach Carmen Cozza says. "We're also having trouble getting a big pool of athletes because of the academic standards."

"I worry we are not in as competitive a situation as possible, but that's a situation that is dealt with at the dean's level and president's level," Pennsylvania Coach Ed Zubrow says.

Administrators grant that some athletes who might be able to meet the academic standards of Ivy League schools are lured away by scholarships and the promise of participating in big games in front of big crowds.

"Anyone who comes to Harvard or another Ivy League school does not have ambitions of going to the Rose Bowl," Harvard Athletic Director Jack P. Reardon says.

But these administrators insist some athletes will choose to spend their undergraduate careers in the Ivy League because of what it has to offer both on and off the playing field, but mainly off.

"There are still many fine athletes who know the value of an Ivy League education," Columbia Athletic Director Al Paul says. "There are many athletes whose families will make the sacrifice."

Unlike other teams in the Ivy League, the league's football clubs are not permitted to participate in post-season play. In 1970, the Dartmouth football team was ranked 14th in the nation in both the Associated Press and United Press International polls. But because of the Presidents Agreement of 1954, the Big Green was restricted from competing in a bowl game, even though it clearly deserved to.

In 1978, the Ivy League officially became part of Division I-AA, which features a post-season tournament. (Teams are assigned to divisions based on the number of spectators they draw.) In 1986, the Penn football team was ranked number seven in the Division I-AA poll and would have earned a bid to the playoff had it been eligible. This fall, Harvard was ranked in the top 20 within Division I-AA, but could not test its talents against other highly-ranked schools.