Football Faces Immediate Challenge In Brown

Harvard football’s season opener was supposed to be just a tuneup. Now

it’s one of the Ivy League’s most important games of the year.

The Crimson will host Brown tomorrow at Soldier’s Field in a matchup

between two teams picked to finish near the top in the league.

Both teams’ scheduled season openers were cancelled due to last Tuesday’s

terrorist attacks. Harvard was scheduled to play at Holy Cross, while

Brown was to play at the University of San Diego.

“It’s a little strange, spending months preparing for the opener and

then not having the game,” Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. “The Brown

game now takes on a bigger profile.”

Last year a then lightly-regarded Harvard team shocked a Brown 42-37

in Providence. The game marked the arrival of two Crimson offensive

stars. Senior quarterback Neil Rose passed for 412 yards in his first-ever

collegiate start, and junior receiver Carl Morris set a school record

with 220 yards receiving on ten catches.

Joining the pair on offense is speedy junior tailback Nick Palazzo,

the team’s leading rusher from last season. Murphy said the team will

continue to rotate two tailbacks, despite the loss of last year’s other

primary back, Matt Leiszler, to a career-ending knee injury. Thus senior Josh Staph, a converted fullback, should see plenty of action behind

Palazzo. Staph had just 14 carries all of last year.

After generally failing to stop any team’s offense last year, Brown

overhauled its defense. The Bears replaced their defensive coaching

staff and installed a new scheme over the offseason. Unlike last year,

experience won’t be a concern, as the unit returns eight starters.

The cancellation of last week’s games will likely hurt Harvard more

than the Bears. Without a game to evaluate Brown’s new schemes, Harvard

will play tomorrow with only a vague idea of what its opponent will do

defensively.

“They are perceived to be a much-improved defense,” Murphy said. “But

we really don’t know what to expect.”

Brown enters this season without its top two offensive performers from

last year, both lost to graduation. Gone are quarterback Eric Webber,

the nation’s leading passer last season, and All-American wideout

Stephen Campbell, who set a I-AA record with 120 catches.

Still, the Bears kept enough talent to be a potent offensive force.

Among the returnees is tailback Michael Malan, the Ivy’s leading rusher

from last season with more than 1200 yards. Malan rushed for 190 yards

against the Crimson in last year’s game.

“To stop Malan, you have to rally around and get as many guys to the

football as possible,” sophomore linebacker Dante Belastracci said. You

really have to make sure you tackle him.”

Also returning is physically imposing wide receiver Chass Gessner. Gessner, who stands 6’5 and weights 210 pounds, has been selected by some publications as the preseason offensive player of the year in the Ivy League.

Fifth-year senior Kyle Rowley will take over at quarterback for the Bears. He’ll throw to his brother Travis, who should start opposite Gessner at receiver.

“They’ve got outstanding receivers and great balance on offense,” Murphy said. It’s not going to get any easier defending them, that’s for sure.”

On the other hand, Harvard’s defense looks to be much improved since

Brown lit up the scoreboard in last season’s game. The Crimson returns

nine starters from last year’s young squad, which despite some early-season troubles developed into a respectable unit. Harvard led the Ivy League in run defense last year, allowing a meager 3.3 yards-per-carry.

The Crimson defense is led by a senior-laden line as well as

Belastracci, the first freshman to be named All-Ivy in league history.

Balestracci led Harvard with 94 tackles last year, 50 more stops than

the leading Brown linebacker.

Harvard’s secondary settled down late last season after looking awful

in the first several games. Three of the four starters return on what

should be a vastly-improved unit.

“We got a really good scheme going on defense. If we play our game,

there won’t be the shootout that there was last year,” Belastracci said. “We’re hoping to hold them to a lot fewer points.”

Yet despite defensive improvement from both teams, Murphy

said he expects the offenses to put a lot of points on the board.

“Both teams have high-powered offenses,” Murphy said. “This is not going to be a 14-13 game.”

Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. at Solider’s Field.