Athletic directors of the competing schools and organisers of the Bermuda Bowl see it as a win-win situation.

Bermuda tourism gets a boost from the large numbers of alumni attending the game. The schools think they might be able to convince a few parents to consider them when they go about choosing a university for their children.

And since winning on the gridiron was a rare occurrence for Holy Cross (3-8) and Fordham (0-11) last season, officials from the schools believe they simply can't lose by playing in Bermuda.

Arguably their biggest games of the '95 campaign will be played in Bermuda Bowl III when American college football returns to the Island on October 28.

Officials from Holy Cross, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Fordham, with campuses scattered across New York City, were at the Hamilton Princess yesterday as plans for the match were unveiled by Robustelli Marketing of the US and the Department of Tourism, co-organisers of the event.

The game, played in November the last two years, will be played this time in late October, which means the teams won't be ending their seasons in Bermuda.

That alone should improve the level of play since both teams will have three more games on their schedule. Plus, the Fordham-Holy Cross rivalry is considered to be one of the fiercest in college football.

"I think the one thing that we could add from the other games that were in Bermuda is that this is a real natural kind of rivalry that has gone on,'' said Frank McLaughlin, Fordham's Director of Athletics. "People can talk about Notre Dame and Southern Cal or Nebraska and Oklahoma or Harvard and Yale, but Fordham and Holy Cross is that kind of rivalry because we're so familiar with each other. Kids from Fordham Prep go to Holy Cross College and kids from Holy Cross College go to Fordham Law School. It's just tremendous the two of us being here together.'' The Bermuda visit will mark the second overseas trip for the teams since their game in Ireland four years ago. Fordham lost that one by a whisker, but they are now led by Frank Quartaro, their new head coach.

McLaughlin said that his team were better than their record indicated.

"Our football programme has really struggled, but I think that if you look at the record and say it's not a good one you should look at the scores and they've been really close. We're at the point now where we're competitive. We have to get over that psychological hump of learning to win and I think we're going to do that.'' Meantime, local fans of the US college game shouldn't be surprised if Holy Cross look a lot like Lou Holtz's Notre Dame.

"Our coach, Peter Vaas, was the quarterback coach at Notre Dame so we run from the I-formation, which Holtz likes to do, but we throw the ball a lot,'' said Holy Cross Director of Athletics Ron Perry yesterday. "He's got a lot of variations and having been a quarterback himself he's able to see different things and teach his quarterbacks.'' Both schools, in fact, are noted for their wide-open offensive styles.

"We'd like to have a strong defence, I think everyone says championship teams have started with a defensive foundation, but we have lot of passing,'' said McLaughlin, who was also enjoying his wedding anniversary yesterday with his wife Susan. "We have an exciting offence and so does Holy Cross. It's going to be an exciting game.'' Both Perry and McLaughlin said the match would be treated like any other on their schedules.

"But we want to have a good time because it is an experience to go to Bermuda,'' said Perry. "The players understand that the main focus is the game itself. So it'll be no different than any other week when we're playing an away game. The flight from Boston to Bermuda is an hour and a half, so in many ways that's shorter than the bus ride we take into the Pennsylvania area.''