Flashback: September 28, 1991. Having just barely escaped a loss to feeble Columbia the week before, the Harvard football team marched into Michie Stadium 29 point underdogs against Army.

But the Cadets got a shock they wouldn't soon forget. Harvard pounded and pounded, defensively on the line and offensively on the ground and in the air, pushing the Crimson to a 20-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.

With 35,000 plus military personnel, eager parents and nostalgic exvets rocking the stadium, Division I-A Army finally woke up, realized it was playing a Division I-AA team and scraped its way to a 21-20 victory.

Harvard left West Point with the `L'; but it also left with a little `P' and `C': pride and confidence.

Today, against William & Mary, Harvard faces a task much like that of a year ago.

The Tribe is bigger. Man-for-man, it's no contest. One W&M right tackle, Wally Vale, tips the scales at 290 pounds.

The Tribe is more experienced. It returns 17 starters (compared to nine for Harvard) from a team that had the second-hardest schedule in Division I-AA.

And the Tribe is just plain better. It's 14th in the nation. (Las Vegas isn't even laying a line down on the game.)

Entering today's contest with all that baggage (about two tons of Virginia's finest), you think Harvard is thinking about it's almost-miracle against Army a year ago?

"I've definitely thought about that," said senior linebacker Monte Giese. "They're a team that's a lot bigger than us, but we can't get down. We can play with these guys, because we did it last year [against Army]."

Harvard quarterback Mike Giardi, who passed for 151 yards (10 of 15) against a swarming Columbia last week, also thinks the Crimson could confound the experts.

"We were 29 point underdogs against Army. We went in saying we have nothing to lose and we gave them a run," the Mather sophomore said. "If we just do the things we have to do, we can take them."

Things to Do

Ahh, "the things we have to do." Unfortunately for the Crimson, there's a list of those as long as the Mass Pike.

To pick up its first non-Ivy win in two years, Harvard will need a good dose of luck today (a little valium in the Tribe water bottles wouldn't hurt either). But given that, Harvard has a few important tasks in particular to carry out.