Comeback Crimson Set for Elis

As the Harvard football team heads to New Haven in search of its first undefeated, untied season in 88 years, the 2001 campaign thus far has been a testament to the remarkable courage, confidence and composure of this year’s Crimson squad.

Thanks to an explosive offense, unmatched ball security and thrilling second-half comebacks, the 2001 Crimson has been able to overcome all the obstacles that it has faced and erase memories of opportunities lost en route to the Ivy League championship.

Over the past few seasons, the team had gained a reputation of not being able to finish off opponents and win the close games after suffering several heartbreaking losses. But this season, the Crimson has put together four second-half comebacks of its own, including the largest in team history against Dartmouth, and proven it can win big games.

Led by senior quarterback Neil Rose and junior wide receiver Carl Morris, the Harvard offense is averaging over 32 points per game and has rewritten many of the team records it set last season.

But perhaps even more impressive than the scoring capabilities of the offense is the fact that it has only turned the ball over seven times this season, fewest in the nation, after committing 36 turnovers last year. Meanwhile, the Crimson defense has created 22 takeaways, ranking the Crimson in the top five in the country in turnover margin as well.

The combination of a productive offense, a solid defense and tremendous poise and character has led the Crimson to the brink of history, and it will face its toughest test of character on Saturday against Yale.

Harvard 27, Brown 20

Senior tailback Josh Staph, making his first start in the Crimson backfield, picked up 152 yards rushing and three touchdowns as Harvard rallied to defeat Brown, 27-20, in its season opener at Harvard Stadium.

After the Bears tied the game at 20 in the fourth quarter, the Crimson used Staph’s hard running and some precision passing by Rose to set up the winning score. Rose found Morris in the corner of the end zone from nine yards out to give the Crimson the 27-20 lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Bears tried to rally in the final seconds, but Crimson senior safety Andy Fried intercepted a Kyle Rowley pass at midfield and sealed the Harvard victory.

Brown failed to take advantage of a huge performance by wideout Chas Gessner, who set a new school record with 226 yards receiving in the game, and was hurt by costly penalties and dropped passes down the stretch.

The Bears took a 17-7 lead early in the third quarter, but the Crimson offense kept its composure, and Staph scored twice on short runs to fuel the comeback.

Rose finished the day with 222 yards in the air with no interceptions, and Morris caught eight passes for 101 yards.

Harvard 38, Lafayette 14

Rose ran for two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to Morris as the Crimson raced to a 24-0 halftime advantage then coasted to a 38-14 win over non-conference opponent Lafayette.

Harvard dominated the hapless Leopards despite missing Staph, sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci and senior defensive end Phil Scherrer because of injuries.

The offense didn’t miss its starting tailback though as Rose racked up 261 passing yards to go along with his two scoring strikes, and Morris hauled in nine aerials for 123 yards to lead the Crimson. Junior Nick Palazzo filled in for Staph and rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown to keep the ground attack in step.

Senior defensive end Marc Laborsky stepped up for the defense and picked up a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception as the defense forced five Lafayette turnovers, despite missing its leading tackler.

Morris became just the second junior, and only the fourth Crimson player, to have 100 career receptions.

Harvard 35, Northeastern 20

The Crimson defense scored 14 points on two fumble returns for touchdowns as Harvard took advantage of a myriad of Northeastern miscues to beat the Huskies 35-20 in its final non-conference matchup.

With the Crimson holding a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter and the Huskies driving, Fried forced a fumble deep in Harvard territory that junior linebacker John Perry scooped up and took 85 yards for the score to give Harvard a commanding 28-7 halftime advantage.

Perry’s return was the longest in Harvard history and the first fumble return for a touchdown by a Crimson player since 1980.

The Huskies rallied in the third quarter behind running back L.J. McKanas , who shredded the Harvard defense for 220 yards rushing on the day, and pulled within a touchdown. But Fried sacked quarterback Logan Galli and forced another fumble which sophomore defensive lineman Brendan McCafferty took 19 yards for a score to put the game out of reach.

Harvard 26, Cornell 6

The Harvard defense rebounded from its shaky outing against Northeastern to hold Cornell to -3 yards rushing on the day as the Crimson steamrolled the Big Red, 26-6, in Ithaca.

Balestracci returned from an ankle injury to lead the team with 10 tackles and block a field goal to spearhead a defensive effort that kept Cornell off the scoreboard for most of the day.

The offense had an easy time with the Big Red as well on its way to racking up 512 total yards. Rose picked apart the Cornell secondary and finished with 292 yards on 15-of-24 passing and a touchdown. Morris caught seven balls for 157 yards and sophomore tight end Matt Fratto hauled in a scoring strike to lead the Crimson receiving corps.

Staph also returned from an injury to pick up 101 yards and a touchdown rushing, and Palazzo scored twice and managed 66 yards on only 11 carries.

Much-maligned sophomore kicker Robbie Wright missed two field goals and an extra point and lost his placekicking duties to junior Anders Blewett.

Harvard 28, Princeton 26

In a scene eerily reminiscent of Harvard’s close losses last season, this year’s Crimson had to watch nervously as Princeton’s Taylor Northrup’s 49-yard field goal sailed wide left in the closing seconds giving Harvard a 28-26 victory.

The Crimson offense played by far its sloppiest football of the season in the first half, committing three costly turnovers after turning the ball over only twice in the first four games of the season.

Rose threw his first two interceptions of the year, which set up two Princeton scores, and senior receiver Sam Taylor lost a fumble at the Tigers’ one-yard line in the closing seconds of the half as the Crimson entered the locker room trailing 20-14.

Despite suffering a shoulder injury late in the first half, Rose returned after the break and scored on a three-yard touchdown plunge to put the Crimson up 21-20.

Rose reinjured his shoulder on the touchdown run and was replaced by freshman Ryan Fitzpatrick, who calmly led the Crimson down the field and hit Morris with a seven-yard touchdown pass to make the score, 28-20, early in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers responded on a 27-yard scoring run by Cameron Atkinson, but senior cornerback Willie Alford broke up a pass on the two-point conversion attempt to keep Harvard in front by two.

The Crimson offense couldn’t run out the clock, but Princeton couldn’t take advantage of its final possession as Northrup, an NFL prospect, misfired after nailing two long field goals earlier in the game.

Harvard 31, Dartmouth 21

A week after nearly seeing its hopes of an undefeated season dashed against Princeton, the Crimson needed to pull off the biggest comeback in the program’s 128-year history to beat last-place Dartmouth, 31-21.

Trailing 21-0 in the third quarter, the Crimson needed only four minutes to completely erase the deficit on scoring passes from Morris to Taylor and Fitzpatrick to Morris and a touchdown run by Palazzo. Just over nine minutes after the Crimson’s first score, Blewett drilled a 30-yard field goal to give Harvard a 24-21 lead and complete the stunning comeback.

The only other comeback of comparable proportion in Harvard history was a 22-point rally in the 29-29 win over

Yale in 1968.

The Crimson defense was kept off balance in the first half by a variety of formations by the Big Green and the solid play of backup quarterback Evan Love, tight end Casey Cramer and running back Michael Gratch. But the defense responded in a huge way in the second stanza, holding the Big Green to only 27 yards for the half.

Fitzpatrick made his first collegiate start in place of the injured Rose and put up solid numbers with 261 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The veteran Morris stepped up in the absence of Rose and Staph with 11 catches for 153 yards and a score to go along with his touchdown pass to Taylor.

Harvard 45, Columbia 33

Rose and Staph returned to action and Morris continued to rewrite the Harvard record books as the Crimson exploded for 38 first-half points, the most in team history, and pasted the Lions, 45-33, to set up a matchup of unbeatens against Penn.

Morris, whose 86 yards made him the school’s all-time receiving yardage leader, also surpassed Pat McInally’s record for career receiving touchdowns when he caught his 15th and 16th career touchdowns from Rose in the first quarter to give Harvard a 14-7 lead.

Staph scored the next two Crimson touchdowns, bulling in from three yards and one yard to put the Crimson up

28-7.

Rose and Fitzpatrick were injured on consecutive plays late in the second quarter, paving the way for freshman Garrett Schires to see his first collegiate action and pick up his first career touchdown pass when he hit fellow freshman Rodney Byrnes from 13 yards out to make it 35-7.

The Lions managed to make the final score respectable with 26 second-half points, but Palazzo, who finished with 132 yards rushing, sealed the win with a 32-yard touchdown jaunt in the final quarter.

Harvard 28, Pennsylvania 21

In the biggest game of any Harvard player’s career and the last scheduled matchup of undefeated teams in the nation this season, the Crimson overcame a slow start to beat Penn, 28-21, and clinch at least a share of its first Ivy League title since 1997.

Morris caught two touchdown passes from Rose as the Crimson dominated the second half and turned a 14-7 halftime deficit into a 28-14 fourth-quarter lead. Morris caught a 20-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14, then made an amazing over-the-shoulder catch and eluded a defender for a 62-yard scoring strike to put the Crimson ahead for good.

The Quakers tried to rally late as reigning Ivy Offensive Player of the Year Gavin Hoffman hit Rob Milanese for a score to bring Penn within seven, and the Quaker defense held the Crimson on its ensuing possession.

But Balestracci, who also recovered an onside kick, batted Hoffman’s last-second Hail Mary to the ground, and fans rushed the field to celebrate.

Harvard fell behind early as Hoffman hit Colin Smith with a 30-yard touchdown pass to put the Quakers up, 7-0. On Penn’s next possession, tailback Kris Ryan, who leads the Ivy League in rushing, broke several tackles and rumbled 66 yards to give the Quakers a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Morris finished the day with nine receptions for 155 yards and set new Harvard standards for catches in a season

(66), breaking the record he set last season and career receptions (150), surpassing former teammate Terence

Patterson ’00.

The Harvard ground attack, led by Staph and Palazzo, piled up 145 yards against Penn’s nationally top-ranked run defense, which was allowing only 44 yards per game.