"I can't believe it," said Kacyvenski of givingup so many yards. "They have a lot of weapons. Itwasn't huge, huge things, it was small things thatadded up."

Despite the late collapse, Harvard could takepositives from the performance. The Harvard teamthat took the field was totally different from theone that played the first two games. As the teamcame through the tunnel, it pummeled captainBrendan Bibro, who was waiting at midfield. Afterthe toss, the team mobbed Bibro again, replicatinglast year's pre-game ritual.

"That was a team on a mission," Lehigh CoachKevin Higgins said. "I told our kids prior to thegame that we would have to hang tough for thefirst quarter because they were going to come outhard."

The energy carried over to the field, and theCrimson looked sharp on both sides of the ball.The defense held Lehigh to a three-and-out, andHarvard took over on its own 25. The Crimson puttogether a 14-play, 60-yard drive that took 6:21off the clock.

Harvard gained four first downs, three of whichcame on third-down conversions. Menick had twotough runs for successful conversions and ingeneral looked like the runner who gained aschool-record 1,267 yards last year. After Harvardstalled, junior Jonathan Patton hit his firstcareer field goal attempt, a 33-yarder that gaveHarvard a 3-0 lead.

Harvard used great special-teams play to set upits next score, a three-yard touchdown run byLinden on the option. At Lehigh's 30-yard line,Harvard lined up as if it would attempt a fieldgoal. Instead, the center snapped directly toPatton, and his pooch kick died at the Lehigh4-yard line.

Harvard got another three-and-out, then seniorJoe Weidle blocked Jay Heibel's punt. The kickwent for only 11 yards, and the Crimson began atthe Mountain Hawk 22-yard line. The score, whichcame with 11:33 left in the first half, gaveHarvard a 10-0 lead.

What seemed like the knockout punch came fiveplays later. From Harvard's 42-yard line,Stambaugh tried to find Falzone on a slant patternto his left. Senior safety Derek Yankoff read theplay perfectly, jumped in front of the receiver,and ran 64 yards down the right sideline, givingHarvard a 17-0 lead.

Lehigh answered with a seven-play, 73-yarddrive on its next possession. The big blow came ona third-and-23, when Stambaugh found Braswell for54 yards down the left sideline. Two plays later,Stambaugh hit Snyder on a quick pass to the right.Although junior Jeff Svicarovich read the playcorrectly, he whiffed on the tackle, and Snyderwalked in with a 17-yard touchdown that cut thelead to 17-7.

In the third quarter, Lehigh cut the lead tothree after a 13-yard touchdown run by seniorrunning back Brian Baker. Baker took a toss rightand had two offensive linemen in front of him. Theplay ended a 67-yard drive that only took fiveplays and 1:54. Lehigh ate up most of its yards ona 31-yard completion to Braswell, who shieldedjunior cornerback Glenn Jackson from the ball withhis body then drew a 5-yard face mask penalty.

"We squandered the opportunities we had to winthe football game, we just didn't pull the triggerwhen we had the chance to finish them off," Murphysaid.

Harvard seems to have gone back to its 1996form, when it was competitive in many games butfinished 4-6. Even the language is thesame--Murphy said "didn't pull the trigger"countless times that year.

Even during last year's dream season, Harvardhad a 28-0 lead against Lehigh and barely held onfor a 35-30 win. This time, 17 points was notenough.

LEHIGH, 21-17 at Harvard Stadium

Lehigh  0  7  7  7  --  21Harvard  3  14  0  0  --  17