Yohe and Yukica: Y in the World

We open this week's notebook with a brand new feature: a brief salute to the most noteworthy un-noted play of the week. The first-ever award goes to Harvard linebacker Kris Thabit for his recovery of a Dartmouth fumble 46 seconds into the gridders' contest Saturday in Hanover, N.H.

Thabit, a 6-ft., 2-in. junior from Encino, Calif., registered five tackles on the afternoon, but it was his timely play which set the stage for the Crimson's first score in four weeks.

Six plays and 30 yards after Thabit's recovery, halfback Joe Pusateri became the first Harvard player in three hours, 32 minutes, and 45 seconds of game time to move the pigskin over the goal line.

Pusateri, who recorded a second TD before the final whistle of the Crimson's 42-26 victory blew, rushed for only 12 yards on the day and lost his team lead in that department.

Overall, the Crimson rushed for 333 yards against the Green, the squad's largest single-game total since it picked up 339 yards on the ground opening day against Columbia.

The big rushing day created a dramatic shake-up in the Crimson rushing leaders. With his 81 yards on 14 carries, Brian O'Neil vaulted from the fifth slot into the team lead with 160 net rushing yards on the season.

While Pusateri was dropping down to the number five position with 119 yards for the year, George Sorbara--on the strength of his 66-yd. effort against the Green--moved up to the number two spot with 154.

Yowee it's Yohe: But unquestionably the biggest gainer of the weekend was sophomore quarterback Tom Yohe, who entered Saturday's contest in 15th place--with four rushing yards to his credit on the season--and emerged with 128, good enough for third-best on the team.

Yohe continues to impress all with his ability both to run and to throw the football. Playing in only his third game in a varsity uniform and starting for the very first time, he gained 120 yards on the ground and another 106 by air Saturday.

After opening the season not even on the Crimson's five-man-deep quarterback depth chart, Yohe has become Harvard's most dangerous offensive weapon.

The Crown Point, Ind., native--who averaged negative-one yards per carry in 27 rushing attempts on the freshman squad last year--only got a chance to shine when opening-day starter David Landau sustained a shoulder injury in the Holy Cross game and second-stringer Bill Koehler suffered an ankle injury in the Cornell game two weeks ago.

It's not a coincidence that Harvard's first passing touchdown of the year (on a four-yd., third-quarter reception by Joe Connolly) as well as the squad's first game in which Crimson QBs were not intercepted both came in Yohe's first-ever start.

Say it Ain't So, Joe or Yikes, it's Yukica: Dartmouth Coach Joe Yukica runs away with the notebook's Quote of the Week award.

After watching his team give up 42 or more points for the fourth consecutive week, score more than 12 for the first time all year, and drop to 0-5 on the season (0-2 Ivies), Yukica was asked in a post-game press conference about the Green's chances for the rest of 1986.

"We're not mathematically eliminated yet," Yukica replied. "It won't be an easy road, but schools have won the Ivies with two losses before."

Now that's optimism.

Yukica exhibited a bit more realism when asked about how his much-publicized, off-season legal battle with the college--which ended in a legal injunction allowing Yukica to coach through the conclusion of the '86 campaign--has affected the team this year.

"Whatever problem I've had is my problem, not the team's problem," Yukica said. "It's all in the past now. All I asked was to coach here, and I've got five games left. It has not affected our football team; it is not bothering our game."

"We've had some tough weeks," the ninth-year coach continued. "We had a good effort against a good team today [Harvard]. "When my place-kicker misses an extra point, you can't tell me that has anything to do [with my personal affairs with the school]."

Color it Crimson: The gridders didn't just dominate the Green on the scoreboard Saturday: a host of other offensive categories were colored Crimson as well.

Harvard led Dartmouth in first downs (24-21), yards rushing (333-182), plays from scrimmage (72-68), and time of possession (30:16-29:44). The Crimson also converted on four of nine third downs, much improved from its dismal performances of the previous two weeks (1-for-14 against Cornell and 4-for-16 at William & Mary).

Surprisingly, the total yards statistic--usually a key factor in a game's outcome--has been a poor predictor of the final score in Harvard's last three games.

Against the Tribe, the gridders were significantly outgained, 396-226, but by less than the 24-0 final score would indicate. The Crimson actually rolled up more yardage than the Big Red two weeks ago (226-216), but still came out on the short end of the 3-0 final score.

And Saturday, Harvard accumulated only 26 more total yards than Dartmouth (439-413), but still cakewalked to victory.

So much for the total yards statistic.

Incidentally, Harvard's 439 total yards against the Big Green was its highest total since the Crimson rolled up 457 yards against Yale in the 1982 Game.

So much for the Dartmouth defense.

Same Time, Last Year: Harvard (2-3 overall, 2-1 Ivy) travels to New Jersey this weekend to take on the Princeton Tigers (1-4, 1-2). And if this year's game is anywhere near as exciting as last year's Crimson-Tigers game, it might well be worth the five-hour trip.

A pair of Rob Steinberg field goals put Harvard up, 6-3, in the first half last year against Princeton, and the lead stood up until late in the fourth quarter. But with Steinberg back in punt formation deep in Harvard territory, disaster struck. The snap from center sailed over the kicker's head and out of the endzone, cutting Harvard's lead to the unlikely score of 6-5.

But on the ensuing Crimson free kick, Princeton's Tom Urquhart scooted 75 yards for a touchdown and a 11-6 Tiger victory.

So much for the kicking game.