Gridders Look to Avenge '90 Loss, Stay in Ivy Race

Flashback to 1990: Penn dominates the offensively lackluster Harvard football team in the first half, and runs up a 24-7 lead at rainwashed Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

The Crimson battle back in the second half, cutting the Quaker lead to 24-20. With two minutes to play, Harvard drives the ball inside the Penn 20-yd. line for the kill.

Then a strange thing happens. Penn sacks Harvard two consecutive times, the Crimson turn over the ball on downs and the Quakers run out the clock for the 24-20 win.

So much for momentum.

Coming into this year's game, Harvard once again would seem to have the momentum and Penn would not.

The Crimson (3-4-1 overall, 3-1-1 Ivy) come into today's game riding on the tails of its three-game unbeaten streak, and the Quakers (1-7, 1-4) trek into Harvard is still alive and kicking in the race for the Ivy title; sixth-place Penn's Ivy hopes were dead over a month ago, when the Quakers fell to Columbia.

But Penn may not be as bad a team as its record may suggest.

The Quakers dominated second-place Princeton (7-1, 4-1)--a much better team on paper--last week on both sides of the ball, holding the Tigers--who had averaged more than 400 yards a game--to just 160 yards. Offensively, Penn sophomore quarterback Jim McGeehan exploited the Princeton secondary, throwing for 246 of the Quakers 308 yards. Not bad, considering that the Tigers own the Ivy's stingiest defense.

Secondary Concerns

Penn's defensive strength is its secondary, which may force Harvard to run the ball almost exclusively. Strong safety Gregg Walsh was the Ivy Defensive Player of the Week last week with 13 tackles, two pass breakups and a sack. Free safety Tom Oko, who recorded two interceptions against Holy Cross and ranks ninth among Penn's alltime tackling leaders, complements Walsh.

Walsh and Oko don't bode well for Harvard's sophomore quarterback, Mike Giardi, who had an offday last week (three-for-11 for 55 yards).

Harvard will have to rely on its solid running game to crack the Quaker defense, which is second in the Ivies.

Look for Giardi to go to Matt Johnson, the Ivy Offensive Player of the Week and Coca-Cola Gold Helmet Player of the Week (for being the top football player in New England) last week for his 323-yd. performance against Brown, and Robb Hirsch off of the option. Hirsch, like Johnson, has caught fire of late, as he, too, ran for more than 100 yards against Brown.

Hirsch is a gritty back who gains a large proportion of his yards on second effort.

As for Penn's offense, look for McGeehan to go to to Mike Baker out of the H-back position. Baker caught a career-high nine passes against Princeton, and will try to do more of the same against the Crimson.

McGeehan will look to Quaker running back Sundiata Rush, a powerful 5-ft., 11-in., 210-lb. back, on the ground. Rush, Penn's only threat on the ground, averages more than 80 yards a game. If Harvard can stop him and Baker, it will be in good shape today.