Crusaders Cross Up Crimson, 35-20

WORCESTER--The Harvard football team is having a bit of an identity crisis these days.

In its season-opener, Harvard played Mr. Hyde. The Crimson was mean. Evil. And good. Wickedly good. Holding Columbia to only 147 yards of total offense, the Crimson lambasted the Lions, 41-7.

A weekend ago, Harvard did its best impression of gentle Dr. Jekyl. Matched with the Minutemen from the University of Massachusetts, the generous Crimson gridders never had a chance. Harvard gave away 525 yards of total offense and a 45-28 victory to UMass.

And Saturday here at Fitton Field, the Crimson combined the two split personalities into one confused body. The result was a 35-20 Crusader victory over both Crimson entities.

"We were Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hyde today," Harvard offensive guard Maurice Frilot said. "We played as well as we have all year inside of the 10-yard lines. We should have had 40 points and we came away with 20. We stopped ourselves."

In the first half, the Crimson defense just wasn't there. Holy Cross quarterback Jeff Wiley dumped short passes under Harvard's secondary, then watched as his receivers slipped tackles for big yardage.

Mistakes, Mistakes

Offensively, there were penalties to stall drives, passes dropped and mental mistakes.

The Crimson failed to come away with points on three different penetrations of the Holy Cross 10-yard line.

In the second half, the Crimson came alive. Wiley, who tossed for 312 yards in the first half alone, could pick up only 78 more in the second stanza.

But the hole Harvard had dug for itself was too large to overcome.

The schizophrenic Crimson had its chances Saturday. After stopping the Cross cold on its first drive, Harvard marched impressively down the field.

But the significant other in the Crimson's life came striking back. Although the left hand was under control, the right came up swinging with a solid uppercut.

More Mistakes

Once inside the Crusader 10-yard line, a motion penalty and then a dropped pass stalled the drive. Harvard had to settle for a field goal to take its only lead of the afternoon.

However, Holy Cross retaliated with the play of the day.

Fourth-and-three from the 32, a Holy Cross drive looked like it would bog down after a delay of game penalty. But the daring Crusaders took the gamble, going for it on fourth-and-eight.

Wiley hit running back Darin Cromwell with a pass at the line of scrimmage. The diminutive speedster (5-ft., 9-in., 170-lbs.), shed a pair of tackles before dashing 37 yards for the score.

"I thought it was going to turn into a big play for us," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said.

Instead, the Crusaders were on the way to a 21-point first half.

Heading into the heart of the Ivy schedule, the Crimson must come to grips with itself.

Is it the squad which dominated the Lions? Or is it the team that was hopeless against UMass two weeks ago and Holy Cross in Saturday's first half.

Was the second-half performance a sign of things to come?

Or could it possibly be all three?