Football Notebook: Crimson Can't Overcome Mistakes

PHILADELPHIA--The Harvard football team came agonizingly close to beating Penn and then needing to beat only Yale to claim at least a share of the Ivy League title.

But for a few mistakes, mistakes characteristic of a young team, the Crimson would be 5-1 in the Ivy League.

As it is, even with its mistakes, Harvard lost by only one point, 36-35.

"I couldn't be more proud of our guys," Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. "We played as hard as we could. We just have to crash through the barrier and make the plays when the game is on the line."

Costly Mistakes

It is a great credit to the Crimson's toughness that it was in any position to win the game at the end. Freshman Robbie Wright's 33-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide left with 0:10 left on the clock was Harvard's last attempt to overcome its own mistakes.

As a team, Harvard lost three fumbles and two interceptions to a very good Penn squad.

At the start of the second half, with the score 24-21 Penn, Harvard turned the ball over on the first play on three consecutive drives.

On the first play of the half, junior quarterback Neil Rose's pass was picked off by sophomore linebacker Travis Belden at Harvard's 14-yard line.

The Crimson defense held the Quakers to just a field goal to make the score 27-21 Penn.

On the first play of the next Harvard drive, junior strong safety and backup running back Dan Miree fumbled after being hit hard on a run up the middle.

On the ensuing Penn drive, junior quarterback Gavin Hoffman was sacked on third-and-four by senior defensive tackle R.D. Kern, which forced a Quaker punt.

But, because all things come in threes, on the first play of the next Crimson drive, sophomore running back Nick Palazzo fumbled at the Harvard 28-yard line.

All of these turnovers represented enormous lost opportunities for Harvard since its offense was very effective--when it held on to the ball.

Quick Strike 'O'

Except for the five turnovers, the Crimson offense was its usual high-powered self. Rose completed 16-of-33 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Carl Morris was outstanding, catching eight passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. And, the Crimson gained 181 yards on the ground.

On Harvard's first offensive play, Rose found Morris on a simple seven-yard slant pattern. Morris, who had a step on his defender, juked the Quaker safety and outran three Penn players to turn a seven-yard pass into a 77-yard touchdown.

Of the Crimson's four touchdown drives, only one took more than a minute off the clock. The other three took 0:12 seconds, 0:18 seconds and an even minute off the clock respectively.

Harvard made big plays in the air but it also made them on the ground. Palazzo shed three would-be Penn tacklers as he broke a 66-yard touchdown run through the middle of the defense.

Perhaps as a result of this big-play-ability, the Crimson did not put together many sustained drives. In fact, the first Harvard drive that took more than two minutes off the clock didn't come until the third quarter when the Crimson started to pound the ball on the ground.

Overall, Penn had a big advantage in time-of-possession. The Quakers had the ball for a total of 38:59 and Harvard for only 21:01.

Big 'D'

Defensively, Harvard played perhaps its best game of the season. An interesting subplot to this season has been the improvement of the defense from week to week as it tried to match the ability of the offense.

Against Penn the defense matched and surpassed the offense's performance.

The defense limited Penn to just three points on the three drives that the Quakers started deep in Harvard territory after the three Crimson turnovers that started the second half.

Harvard's run defense was stifling throughout the game, limiting the Quakers to a total of 119 yards on the ground.

Throughout the game, the Harvard defense also contained Hoffman, though his stats might not seem to suggest it.

Hoffman completed 34-of-47 passes for 394 yards and two touchdowns. But, he also threw two interceptions and he was unable to complete passes down the field. Hoffman's longest pass of the day was 32 yards. Most of his completions were to receivers or running backs who were running patterns of no more than 10 yards.

On all of Hoffman's passes the Crimson coverage was right there and while the Harvard defensive backs couldn't always break up the pass--though often they did--they were always able to immediately make the tackle and limit the yards after the catch.

Harvard was able to pressure the quarterback as well, sacking Hoffman four times and pressuring him repeatedly.

On Penn's last scoring drive, Hoffman completed his longest pass of the day, to senior wide receiver Jason Battung who gathered the ball in over senior safety Mike Brooks. Brooks had good coverage on Battung, but he didn't turn to see the ball in time.

Similarly, on the next play, Hoffman found junior wide receiver Rob Milanese who was covered well by junior cornerback Andy Fried but Fried just didn't turn to see the ball coming and Milanese made the play for the winning score.