Can't Buy A Win

PRINCETON, N.J.--Princeton University Stadium, constructed last year to replace its decrepit, 84-year-old predecessor, is with good reason the pride and joy of Old Nassau this season.

The 27,800-capacity arena boasts a ring of luxury boxes and lounges, open-air concourses replete with concessionaires, a swank, well-equipped press box and nary a bad seat among the bunch.

Princeton paid $45 million for this model of modern architecture. Judging by the apparent financial state of the boosters and seigneurs of privilege who crammed it Saturday afternoon, that must have been chump change.

The aura clinging to the rafters of the Tigers' digs Saturday afternoon wasn't just new-stadium smell--it was the heady aroma of old money. Or better yet, of old white men with money.

Funny, isn't it, that flush in the middle of the much-maligned round of recruiting currently visiting Cambridge that the Harvard football team should get a preview of what a post-I-banking future might resemble?

Maybe it was the elixir of potential wealth in the air, or maybe it was carryover from the eagerness that characterizes recruiting, but the Crimson snagged a win--the first ever by a visitor--in Princeton Stadium because it was supremely opportunistic.

Looking at the shorthand of the box score, one wonders how Harvard managed to spoil Homecoming Saturday.

Princeton outgained Harvard 460-326, controlled the ball for 38:20 versus the Crimson's 21:40, rushed 48 times for 258 yards and limited junior running back Chris Menick, the Ivy's leading rusher, to an atypically slim 56 yards on 19 carries.

For all that, the Crimson still came up one point ahead because it seized several key chances and turned Princeton miscues into points.

"I tell our kids all the time, there's going to be days you may not have your fastball, you may be up against an opponent that may be physically better than you," said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy. "But you can always outwork people and you can always outhustle people."

For the first week this season, junior quarterback Rich Linden was able to punish defensive lapses in an opposing secondary. He sparked a first-quarter scoring drive with precise, well-placed passes of 22 yards to sophomore wideout Josh Wilske on a play-action and a 38-yard touchdown to junior tight end Chris Eitzmann.

In the second, Linden converted junior flanker Terence Patterson's 46-yard punt return into an eight-play, 44-yard touchdown drive capped by a six-yard lob to Eitzmann again, this time in the back left corner of the endzone.

On the opening drive of the third quarter, junior linebacker Mike Sands forced Tiger senior quarterback John Burnham to fumble on a keeper right, and junior defensive end Chris Nowinski pounced on the loose ball at the Tiger 43-yard line.

When the drive stalled at the 17, junior placekicker Mike Giampaolo, in his first action since the season opener at Columbia, drilled a 30-yard field goal to tie the game at 16-16.

The Crimson started three drives in Princeton territory, and converted on two of them for 10 points, a sharp contrast to last week's 20-14 win over Holy Cross.

Make no mistake, Harvard wasn't perfect, but it survived because it minimized the impact of its mistakes, sometimes by luck, sometimes by increasing its defensive pressure.

After scoring its first touchdown of the afternoon, a high snap on the extra point forced a failed attempt at a two-point conversion, which left the Crimson out a point.

Tiger senior placekicker Alex Sierk gave the point back at the end of the second half when he flubbed the point-after off a perfectly good snap, booming his try off the left upright.

"Special teams: unfortunately, we missed a field goal, we missed an extra point," Princeton Coach Steve Tosches said. "They're three equal parts. You play hard offensively and defensively, but as you can see, a couple of plays on the special teams make a difference."

On two drives in the fourth quarter, the Crimson defense provided crucial stops. With 5:01 remaining, junior safety Aron Natale collected a coverage sack of Burnham on second down to force a third-and-17 and an eventual punt.

Late in the fourth quarter, Linden's fumbled third-and-10 snap from the shotgun led to excellent field position for the Tigers at their own 42-yard line with 2:26 to play.

After a critical offsides penalty pushedPrinceton into a first-and-15 at midfield, juniorsafety Ben Green came up with a game-winningtakeaway, intercepting a badly overthrown ballfrom Burnham at the Harvard 27 to preserve aone-point lead.

"We don't have the weapons we had last year,and anybody who watches us on a regular basis cansee that," Murphy said. "We've become a veryresilient, mentally tough football team, andbasically, we've played extremely well in thefourth quarter and second halves of the last threegames."

The Crimson allowed only three Princeton pointsin the fourth quarter and only 27 rushing yards,this after Tiger running backs Derek Thiesen andDamien Taylor had burned them for 156 on 19carries in the first half.

Throughout, Harvard played, if not perfect, atleast smart football, converting when it had toand turning it up a notch defensively with firstplace on the line. Murphy summed it up well:

"We talked about having a lot of poise today,"he said. "Not only win the war, but also ace theexam. We didn't have very many missed assignments,penalties. We had zero turnovers, zero offensivepenalties. That's the only way we could havebeaten Princeton today."

If it was the only way, credit is due theCrimson for finding it. And not only did itsfootball credentials improve monumentally onSaturday, but the smarts it exhibited might makeit that much more attractive to all thoserecruiters.

At this rate, we'll have enough money for a newstadium of our own before long

After a critical offsides penalty pushedPrinceton into a first-and-15 at midfield, juniorsafety Ben Green came up with a game-winningtakeaway, intercepting a badly overthrown ballfrom Burnham at the Harvard 27 to preserve aone-point lead.

"We don't have the weapons we had last year,and anybody who watches us on a regular basis cansee that," Murphy said. "We've become a veryresilient, mentally tough football team, andbasically, we've played extremely well in thefourth quarter and second halves of the last threegames."

The Crimson allowed only three Princeton pointsin the fourth quarter and only 27 rushing yards,this after Tiger running backs Derek Thiesen andDamien Taylor had burned them for 156 on 19carries in the first half.

Throughout, Harvard played, if not perfect, atleast smart football, converting when it had toand turning it up a notch defensively with firstplace on the line. Murphy summed it up well:

"We talked about having a lot of poise today,"he said. "Not only win the war, but also ace theexam. We didn't have very many missed assignments,penalties. We had zero turnovers, zero offensivepenalties. That's the only way we could havebeaten Princeton today."

If it was the only way, credit is due theCrimson for finding it. And not only did itsfootball credentials improve monumentally onSaturday, but the smarts it exhibited might makeit that much more attractive to all thoserecruiters.

At this rate, we'll have enough money for a newstadium of our own before long