Football to take on undefeated Cornell

After suffering a heart-wrenching, last-second loss to Colgate last week, the Harvard football team will continue to see Red.

Harvard (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) looks to knock off the undefeated Cornell Big Red (3-0, 2-0 Ivy) tomorrow when it travels up to Ithaca, N.Y. Last Saturday, the Red Raiders managed to stave off a fourth quarter Crimson comeback and win 24-21 on a last second field goal.

In this game, Harvard has to contain the Big Red aerial attack led by sophomore quarterback Ricky Rahne and wide receiver Joe Splendorio.

The Big Red is coming off of a comeback of its own. Cornell beat Brown after being down 28-7 early in the third quarter by scoring 26 unanswered points to win 33-28.

Rahne's passing attack for Cornell was wholly responsible for this glut of offense. Rahne completed 23-of-58 passes for 443 yards and two second half touchdowns against the Bears. His favorite target was the 6'6" Splendorio who caught 11 passes for 204 yards, setting a new school record.

"We've got to play defense against the pass first," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said.

This would seem to be the key to beating Cornell because although the Big Red has the highest scoring offense in the Ivy League, almost none of its production comes on the ground. Against Brown, Cornell racked up an underwhelming minus-25 yards rushing.

"We're going to mix up our coverages and try to confuse Rahne by showing man and playing zone, showing zone and playing man and also using combination coverages," Murphy said.

Harvard though plans to disrupt Rahne with more than its wits. It also will rely upon its strong, senior laden front-seven to make it a long day for the quarterback.

"The key [to defending the pass] is getting pressure up front on the quarterback and disrupting their [pass] routes," said sophomore cornerback Willie Alford, who made nine tackles and batted down two passes against Colgate.

Alford has to hope that the Crimson get to Rahne because he and senior corner Kane Waller, who are 5'10" and 5'9" respectively, have the unenviable task of matching up with the 6'6" Splendorio.

"We're going to play lots of man to man coverage on him," said Alford, "He is 6'6" but he also weighs 200 pounds and so he's not as fast as some of the receivers we see. Because he's not as fast [as we are] we can play bump and run on him to try and disrupt his timing. The key to that match-up is being physical."

It will be crucial for the corners to throw off Cornell's timing because a lot of its offense involves Rahne lofting jump balls to Splendorio that no one else can come down with except him.

"We're going to play good defense and mix-up our blitzes to try to get to the quarterback. I'm confident that our defensive line can get to Rahne." said senior linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski

Putting pressure on the quarterback is crucial because it will force him to rush his reads and passes and perhaps throw interceptions.

The Harvard defense has already proven it can stop a top-flight quarterback. It did an excellent job containing Colgate standout Ryan Vena, a favorite for the Walter Payton Award--Division 1-AA's equivalent of the Heisman.

Kacyvenski, as always led the way with 15 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception.

The other key to the game may be whether or not the Crimson offense, which averages 23.3 points a game, can keep up with the scoring pace of the Big Red offense which averages 31.7 points a game.

"We certainly hope to score a lot," senior quarterback Brad Wilford said. "At the same time we won't have to score that much because I'm confident that the defense will play as well as they always do."

The Crimson offense looks to build upon its fourth quarter against Colgate when it mounted two impressive scoring drives of 50 and 79 yards.

An area of obvious concern for Harvard is the offensive line. A questioned facet of the attack since the pre-season, the offensive line did nothing to quiet its doubters through most of the Colgate game.

Harvard was held to only 53 yards in total offense in the first half of that game due mostly to the offensive line's inability to deal with the Colgate defensive rush.

"I have confidence in the offensive line, because of their performance in the fourth quarter [against Colgate]," Wilford said.

The offensive line did play better in the fourth quarter, but it still has to be regarded as a weakness going into this contest.

"We've got to get better pass protection," Murphy said. "Brad is as good a quarterback as there is in the Ivy League but it's hard for him to show it with the protection he's been getting."

With a little help from the line, Wilford looks to improve upon his 16-for-32, 124 yard passing effort of last week.

Murphy will implement some more razzle-dazzle plays to conceal some of his team's blocking deficiencies. Harvard tied the score last week with a reverse-pass that freshman wideout Kyle Cremarosa caught for a touchdown.

This is Harvard's biggest test yet within the Ivy League and they should have a good chance to win since the experienced Crimson defense should contain Cornell's one-dimensional offense. If Wilford receives some pass protection, the undefeated Big Red won't remain so.