Football to Battle Colgate

After two games and two wins for the Harvard football team which have served to entrench senior quarterback Brad Wilford as the starter, the Crimson (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) faces what may be the toughest test of the season tomorrow when Colgate comes to Cambridge.

Neither Columbia, nor Holy Cross are teams of the caliber the Red Raiders (3-1, 1-1 Patriot). It is led by senior quarterback Ryan Vena, who has completed 53-of-98 passes for 758 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. His numbers make Vena a candidate for the Walter Peyton award, the Heisman award for Division 1-AA football.

Overall, the Red Raiders are averaging 412 yards in total offense per game.

Harvard's defensive game plan, however, is not as concerned with Vena's passing, but his running. Vena is very adept at the option, which makes him even more of a dangerous threat.

"We're going to try and stop the run first," defensive tackle R.D. Kern said. "We're going to try and make them a one dimensional offense."

Lost behind the praise for Vena is a very effective rushing attack. The Red Raiders have averaged 218 yards per game on the ground.

Look for the Crimson to bring eight men up to the line of scrimmage tomorrow as it tries to shut down the running and option aspects of the Colgate offense and dare Vena to beat them through the air.

"[Colgate] has as good an offense as we'll see all year," Murphy said. "They pass well, run well and run the option. Also, their run defense is, if not tops, then in the top-two in the nation, allowing only 1.9 yards rushing per attempt."

Colgate's offense presents many problems because of its balance. It also gives the defense a huge, if unheralded assist.

It has defeated its opponents by an average of 21points, forcing them to play catch-up early.

This limits their offensive options, especially the rush. Here Colgate has been impressive, allowing only 61 running yards per game thus far this season

Colgate has also been very tough to run on because its defensive scheme places special emphasis on stuffing the rush. The Red Raiders employ a 5-2 defense, using five defensive linemen and two linebackers. They often place eight men in the box, also bringing up their strong safety.

With four of those defensive linemen seniors, Colgate has a very experienced group that knows how to pressure the backfield. Moreover, the team has 15 sacks thus far this season placing a lot of strain on Harvard's inexperienced offensive line.

"The strength of their defense is definitely their defensive line," Murphy said. "But I'm confident that our guys will be able to handle that match-up."

The offensive line, with three starters who played junior varsity last year, has had moderate success so far. It performed very well against Columbia, and had an excellent second half against Holy Cross. However, the Crusaders sacked Wilford six times.

Nevertheless, the Crimson hope the line can physically dominate the Red Raiders.

"One advantage that our offensive line has over their defensive line is that enjoy a size advantage over them," said senior tailback Chris Menick, who is averaging 5.1 yards per carry and almost 100 yards per game.

Clearly, the Crimson have a task set before them on the ground, but it may enjoy a passing advantage. The Red Raiders have allowed almost 220 yards per game through the air.

Wilford will especially look towards captain tight end Chris Eitzmann, who has been averaging 20 yards per reception. With the Red Raiders defense as run-oriented as it is, Eitzmann may be able to match-up one-on-one with slower linebackers and strong safeties and get open downfield.

"We will try to balance our offense against Colgate so that their defense can't focus on just one aspect of our attack," Murphy said.

On offense, the Crimson will probably try to establish a running game early and often against the tough Red Raider run defense.

If that doesn't work, and the ground game is stymied, look for Harvard to run pass plays with maximum blocking protection for Wilford to account for the pass rush of the experienced and talented Colgate defensive line.

Unfortunately, this blocking scheme wouldn't allow the Harvard running backs to be involved as receivers--a role which brought considerable success against Holy Cross.

For Harvard to win this game, it probably can't let Colgate jump out ahead to a big lead and then try to come back through the air. The offense most likely will have to stay balanced in order to keep Colgate off guard.

If, however, Harvard is unable to establish its running game, Wilford will have the task of leading the team to scores through the air.

Of course, if Vena dominates like last year this could all be moot. Colgate fumbled the ball six times last year, and Vena still led his team to a 34-14 win. But Harvard has an improved offense, and a senior-heavy defense so the still-favored Colgate should find a much harder match-up this year.