Clearly, defense is the key area for Harvard, and penn's style plays right into the hands of the Crimson's strengths. The Quakers, who have rushed for 170 yards per game, will be faced with a stingy Crimson defense that has held its opponents to 103 yards per game on the ground.

"Harvard is probably as a good defensive team as we'll see," Steele said. "They're comparable to the Holy Cross front seven."

The offense is another story. The Crimson has had a strong running game, rushing for nearly 1500 yards on the season thanks largely to junior fullback Matt Johnson's 77 carries for 431 yards.

Grounded

But Harvard quarterbacks have thrown for only 716 yards and connected only four times for touchdowns. Even the Crimson's 52-37 stomping of Brown last week was accomplished mainly by the ground game. Priore, who has sat on the bench for much of the season and has completed only seven of 20 aerial attempts for 100 yards, will be given the starting nod for the second week in a row.

"I'm sure we'll run the option a lot," Priore said. "We'll try to establish the running game. They're a very aggressive defensive team. I'm sure they'll come at us, especially down at Penn."