Heat's on at Harvard
Harvard is suddenly shoulder deep in water and the sharks are circling. Heading into today’s historic 700th all-time game at The Stadium, the Crimson sit at 2-2 for the first time since 2007.
Harvard faced Lafayette in the fifth game that season and won, 27-17, before reeling off five more victories to finish 8-2. Today, the Crimson will try to start a similar streak against the Leopards.
The problem is Cornell’s 17-14 upset last week has instilled newfound confidence among Harvard’s foes. Now, the Crimson must prove whether that loss was mirage or reality.
“Obviously, Cornell wasn’t the result that we wanted. But it’s not like reinventing the wheel. We’ve had success here for quite awhile and it’s just a matter of doing what we’ve been doing only better,” said Harvard captain Luke Hutton. “The schemes are there. We have good players. We know what the consequences are. Everyone has bought in. We have a competitive group of guys. We love playing the game and we love a challenge.”
Hutton discounted any groundswell of optimism among opponents.
“I think that every team we play, in any given year, we know that we’re going to get their best,” he said. “We know that they’re going to come in and play hard. But it’s not just a game of emotion. It’s combination of that along with fundamentals and we just have to do a better job.”
In the Ivy League preseason poll, Harvard and Princeton shared the top spot with 120 points, followed by Penn, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia and Cornell. Today, Dartmouth (4-0, 2-0) and Columbia (4-0, 1-0) are the lone remaining unbeaten teams in league play. The Big Green visit Harvard on Oct. 28, one week before the Crimson head to New York to face the Lions.
“I’ve been preaching this for two years, there are more good football players in the Ivy League than ever before,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “That’s certainly the case now. Everyone is well-coached. You’d better be healthy and you better be prepared because there are no easy weeks. It’s going to be hard.”
This week, Harvard must ramp up its offense and put the ball in the hands of junior Justice Shelton Mosley. The preseason All American is fourth in the country in punt return average (17.6) and sits 10th in program history in career receptions (101).
One of the challenges has been opening the full playbook for freshman Jake Smith (29-of-51 for 447 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions), the first yearling to start behind center for the Crimson since Ryan Fitzpatrick directed a 31-21 win over Dartmouth on Oct. 27, 2001. Waiting patiently in the wings is senior Joe Viviano (33-of-55 for 408 yards, one TD).
“People ask me why are we playing a freshman at quarterback. It’s simply because he has performed better in practice, The best guy is going to play,” said Murphy, who admitted the playbook is naturally condensed with any newcomer.
Lafayette (2-4) dropped its first four games before stunning Holy Cross, 10-7, and defeating Fordham, 1410, the past two weeks. The Leopards’ new coach is John Garrett, the brother of Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett. John Garrett is well versed in the Ivy League, having started his studentathlete days at Columbia before finishing at Princeton with a degree in history.