Position-by-Position: Harvard vs. Yale

There’s an old sports mantra that states that games are not won or lost on paper. This is an unfortunate fact for the Harvard football squad, because all signs point to a Crimson blowout victory this Saturday at the Yale Bowl.

In a position by position analysis, Harvard (8-0, 6-0 Ivy) appears to be far superior to a vulnerable Elis team (2-6, 1-5 Ivy) with considerably less talent than in recent years.

A look at Yale’s football website says it all. The banner reads “1999 Co-Ivy League Champions.” The sidebar article features wide receiver Eric Johnson, now the starting tight end for the San Francisco 49ers. The headline article discusses Yale’s latest 34-14 loss to Princeton, a team that boasted a 1-6 record entering the contest.

By the way, Yale has lost its last four games.

So while The Game will be played on Yale’s turf, here’s how it plays out on the page.

QUARTERBACK

The Crimson’s Neil Rose and the Bulldogs’ Peter Lee, both returning varsity starters, have missed action this season.

Rose sat out the fourth quarter of Harvard’s 28-26 victory against Princeton and watched freshman Ryan Fitzpatrick led Harvard to a 31-21 comeback win over Dartmouth. Lee has sat out three games for Yale this year with a lingering ankle injury, yielding to senior TJ Hyland. The Elis went 1-2 with Hyland at the helm, including its last two losses to Brown and Princeton. Lee will attempt to take the field against Harvard.

Last year, in Yale’s 34-24 victory at Harvard, Lee completed 25 of 37 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Rose, on the other hand, threw four interceptions. Based on those statistics, one would assume that Lee would get the clear nod. However, Lee comes into The Game hobbled while Rose seems to be 100 percent after stellar performances against Columbia (14-16, 156 yards, two touchdowns in two and a half quarters of play) and Penn (18-26, 270 yards, three touchdowns).

With Rose in the line-up, Harvard has dominated all year. Last season’s debacle against Yale can be pinned on Rose’s extremely tender shoulder. This year, “Neil Strong-Arm” is healthy and confident.

“We’ve got the guys to do it, we’ve got the heart, we’ve got the focus, and that will pay off next Saturday,” Rose said. He will likely be proven correct. ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

RUNNING BACK

Both teams have depth at the tailback position.

Junior Jay Schulze leads a talented trio of backs for the Elis. Schulze, who struggled with injuries in the beginning of the season, has emerged as Yale’s most reliable tailback. He rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns against Fordham early in the season and tallied Yale’s only two touchdowns against Princeton last week.

The Bulldogs’ leading rusher during its last two weeks, however, was Hyland. The senior rushed for 139 yards in Yale’s 37-34 loss to Brown two weeks ago and piled up 111 yards against the Tigers. Hyland may see action against Harvard but probably will not throw the ball too much—he has thrown nine interceptions in 82 attempts this season.

Promising freshman tailback Robert Carr, who rushed for 185 yards on 29 carries in Yale’s 32-27 loss to Dartmouth, has been sidelined by injuries as of late. Sophomore Pat Bydume has substituted for Carr as Yale’s secondary option in the backfield and has had decent success, rushing for 60 yards on 11 carries in a 28-14 loss to Columbia on October 27.

Whoever Yale decides to play, expect marginal success.

Harvard, on the other hand, boasts the Ivy League’s top rushing attack.

Last week against Penn, the Crimson’s backfield was in top form. Informally dubbed “thunder and lightning,” senior Josh Staph and junior Nick Palazzo rushed for a combined 142 yards against a vaunted Quaker defense that yielded only 27 yards per game prior to last Saturday.

Harvard Coach Tim Murphy wanted to run the ball against the Quakers as much as possible, “because we’ve done that all year and we know it’s a strength of our team.”

Both backs are finally healthy after struggling with leg injuries during mid-season. Staph, a bruising fullback-turned-tailback, showed his potential in Harvard’s opener, rushing for 152 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-20 victory against Brown. Palazzo, a 5’6 dart, has been superb, averaging 5.1 yards per carry and rushing for seven touchdowns this year. ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

RECEIVER

This one’s no contest. To the Bulldogs’ credit, Yale boasts one of the top wide receivers in the Ivy League in Billy Brown. He has 59 catches and six touchdowns on the year for 828 yards, and average of 103.5 yards per game. Brown will surely be Lee’s primary target on Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Elis, the Crimson has far and away the best receiving core in the Ivy League.

Junior wide-out Carl Morris is the best receiver in school history, bar none. He has every major school record except career touchdowns—and he has another year in the Crimson uniform.

Morris is unquestionably the best receiver in the Ivy League and cannot be contained by any number of defenders. Morris has caught 66 balls for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns this year, dwarfing Brown in all three categories.

If he doesn’t cause enough trouble, Yale will have trouble stopping the senior combination of Dan Farley and Sam Taylor. Each has had a monster game this season, and both are legitimate deep threats. Farley averages 16.2 yards per catch. Taylor averages 17.6.

Yale’s starters do not come close to matching those numbers.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

OFFENSIVE LINE

Yale’s running backs average 3.3 yards per carry. Harvard’s average 4.0.

Yale’s quarterbacks have been sacked 25 times this season. Harvard’s helmsmen have been sacked 16 times.

Yale averages 23.9 points per game. Harvard averages 32.3 ppg.

The Crimson’s combination of seniors Steve Collins, Jason Hove, Justin Stark, Danny Kistler and junior Jamil Soriano have pancaked and pummeled opponents all year long. Yale has had to rely on freshmen and sophomores to fill in for injured starters throughout the season. Pity the Elis.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

DEFENSIVE LINE

Only Penn’s defensive line could possibly rank with Harvard’s dominating cast of characters.

The Crimson overwhelmed the Quakers in the second half, using its scary defensive line to shut down potential NFL draftee quarterback Gavin Hoffman and running back Kris Ryan. Harvard’s senior defensive ends Mark Laborsky and Phil Scherrer may both receive All-Ivy League First Team selections.

No one has been better than Laborsky on the pass this season. Using his 6-4, 230 lb frame and his Mark Gastineau-like quickness, Laborsky leads the Ivy League with 10 sacks, averaging more than one per game. In the middle, captain Ryan FitzGerald and senior Kyle Sims have been impenetrable this year. Any tailback success this season has occurred from running to the outside, as FitzGerald and Sims dominate the line of scrimmage.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

LINEBACKERS

It’s not as if Yale has terrible linebackers. It’s just that the Bulldogs don’t have sophomore superstar Dante Balestracci, the league’s best.

Harvard’s most prized defensive possession, Balestracci will likely finish the year first in team tackles despite missing two games with an injury. He is a behemoth in the middle, swallowing up anyone who dares cross his path. Following up his Ivy Rookie of the Year campaign of last season, Balestracci has demonstrated his immense talent throughout the 2001 season. Don’t be surprised if he scores a touchdown for Harvard in The Game.

Harvard senior Eric LaHaie is fourth on the team in tackles and will likely earn himself All-Ivy credentials. Junior John Perry also made a name for himself this season against Northeastern, forcing a fumble and returning it 85 yards for a touchdown.

Yale’s two best linebackers from last season, Peter Mazza and Chris Eger, both graduated. Sophomore Tate Rich is Yale’s most feared, forcing three fumbles and recording two sacks thus far this season. Nevertheless, Palazzo and Staph could have big days running the football.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

SECONDARY

Yale has a quality secondary, headlined by two safeties, senior Ryan LoPresto and sophomore Barton Simmons.

The strength of the Bulldogs’ defense, Simmons has two interceptions on the year and leads the team in tackles with 63. LoPresto is right behind with him 52. LoPresto had two interceptions late in the fourth quarter against Rose last year.

Harvard’s secondary, thought to be the team’s biggest weakness, has shut down opposing quarterbacks all season.

Senior Willie Alford will likely be awarded a First Team All-Ivy award. He is one of the best coverage cornerbacks in league and is rarely thrown at. Senior safety Andy Fried is the defense’s biggest clutch performer. He has single-handedly turned around the momentum in numerous games this year with bone-jarring hits. He has a knack for forcing fumbles and loves to blitz, tallying four sacks on the year.

I was going to call this one a push, just to be fair to Yale. Then, I listened to Alford’s thoughts on this year’s defensive backfield.

“I think this Harvard secondary is without a doubt the best in the Ivy League, and one of the best in Division I-AA,” Alford said. “I have never personally seen a better Harvard secondary but I can only say that with confidence in regards to the last five or six seasons of which I’ve seen on tape. I would however project that we are one of the top secondaries in school history, if not the best, based on the level of competition that we’ve faced in the Ivy League this year. I can’t imagine that there was ever a year that the Ivies featured more offensive firepower than this one, and we rise to the occasion every day.” Mama always said, when in doubt, listen to Willie.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

SPECIAL TEAMS

OK, so Yale finally wins one. But not by much. Maligned kickers Anders Blewitt and Robbie Wright have made great strides in recent games, with Blewitt nailing a game-winning field goal against Dartmouth.

Sophomore punter Adam Kingston has been inconsistent throughout the year but has the capability of booming kicks at an NFL level.

Yale’s 250 lb senior kicker Justin Davis has nailed 5 of 7 field goals this year, though he has only converted 17 of 22 PATs. Blewitt is 20 of 20 on extra points. Both Davis and Kingston share a 38.6 yard punting average.

ADVANTAGE: YALE, SLIGHTLY

INTANGIBLES

Yale has defeated Harvard the last three years. The game is at Yale. Harvard is looking to win an Ivy League Championship outright and finish the year undefeated and untied for the first time in over 80 years. This is the last chance for Harvard’s seniors to defeat Yale, an accomplishment they have not yet attained. Yale will try to play the spoiler. But this year, there’s no Eric Johnson.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD

OVERALL

Harvard is better in nearly every single category. The Crimson’s games tend to be close, so the final score may not be as lopsided as one would expect. Nonetheless, if you are making the trip to New Haven, be sure to wear your running shoes, because chances are you will find yourself charging the field when the final buzzer sounds.

ADVANTAGE: HARVARD