Tossed and Turned Over: Fumbled pitch costs Football vs. Huskies

If the increasingly ominous weather wasn’t enough to portend the Harvard football team’s eventual fate in a heartbreaking 17-14 loss to Northeastern on Saturday, perhaps the Crimson’s play in the first quarter was.

For a team that boasts a powerful offense as the forte of its attack, Harvard (3-2, 2-0 Ivy) looked anything but impressive during the first 15 minutes of play as it punted the ball away on all five of its possessions.

The Crimson amassed just 21 yards of total offense in the opening period, and continued that dismal lack of execution for the remaining three quarters, culminating in the Crimson’s lowest scoring output since the 2000 season.

The loss, Harvard’s second in three weeks, also snapped an eight-game home winning steak.

With just 20 seconds left in the game and down by only three, the Crimson coughed up the ball when it mattered the most. Facing a third-and-3 on Northeastern’s seven-yard line, senior running back Rodney Thomas fumbled the ball on a weak-side option and thereby crushed all hopes of a thrilling comeback.

“We had it set up just like we wanted to,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “We had the right look from the defense. We just didn’t execute the play.”

Crimson sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who replaced senior Neil Rose in the second quarter, started the promising last drive with just over two minutes left in the fourth. He converted on two crucial fourth-down plays, one to junior back Rodney Byrnes and the other to senior wide receiver Carl Morris.

However, much like the rest of the game, the final drive featured sloppy play, as the Crimson dropped three balls. It dropped a total of 10 passes for the game—an uncharacteristic statistic for a team that normally values ball security.

“To put it in perspective,” Murphy said, “in the ’97 [Ivy championship] season, we dropped one ball in 10 games.”

Despite the general trend of dire play, Harvard did post some impressive sequences and consistent efforts.

Fitzpatrick led the Crimson passing game with 155 yards and two touchdowns after spelling Rose, who completed just 6-of-19 attempts for 54 yards in his first start since Sept. 28 at Brown.

Fitzpatrick was also the leading rusher for Harvard with 87 yards.

Byrnes and Thomas combined for 80 yards while splitting time at back, as they replaced Harvard’s usual starter, senior Nick Palazzo, who was nursing a shoulder injury.

After falling behind 10-0 early in the second quarter, Fitzpatrick orchestrated a 78-yard drive that ended with a short touchdown pass to junior tight end Adam Jenkins.

After Northeastern (6-1) responded with a field goal, Harvard had a chance to tie the game, but senior Anders Blewett’s kick soared wide right as time expired in the first half.

The missed field goal was one of many blunders for the Crimson, whose two touchdowns were starkly overshadowed by nine punts and two fumbles.

“One turnover for us is a lot,” Murphy said. “We can’t afford it.”

Following the break, the Crimson came out noticeably stronger, as it stopped Northeastern’s first drive and scored a touchdown to go ahead 14-10.

On the scoring play, Fitzpatrick threw a high spiral to Morris, who easily caught the ball and swiftly ran it into the end zone.

Morris played a solid game, tallying 108 yards on nine catches with one touchdown. But the All-American was kept under control for much of the game by the Husky defense, specifically by cornerback Art Smith.

They were very aggressive,” Murphy said. “Their secondary played well against our receivers.”

Despite some strong defensive sequences by the Huskies, Northeastern coach Don Brown was unhappy with his team’s overall play, as they racked up nine penalties for 75 yards.

“I don’t think it was a great effort by us in terms of defense,” Brown said. “But it was one of out grittiest performances.”

Husky quarterback Shawn Brady threw for 128 yards and two touchdowns and executed perhaps the most spectacular play of the game at the start of the fourth quarter.

After taking the snap on third-and-6 from Harvard’s 20-yard line, Brady scrambled around for several seconds, desperately looking for an open option. He finally evaded several Crimson defenders, ran right and threw a high pass to receiver Cory Parks in the right corner of the end zone.

“They came off the edge with a blitz,” Brady said. “I just threw it up. I didn’t even see it. I heard everyone cheer and then I knew it was a touchdown.”

The score put Northeastern up 17-14 and Harvard never recovered. Of the next three Crimson possessions, two ended in punts and the third in the fumble at the end of the game.

Throughout the game, every time it looked like Harvard was gaining momentum, it either hurt itself with penalties or gave up big plays.

At the end of the third quarter, the Crimson forced a Northeastern fumble thanks to the aggressive play of senior defensive lineman Mike Armstrong and junior cornerback Benny Butler. On the ensuing play, a high snap resulted in a fumble by the Crimson. This enabled Northeastern to start its next drive at the Harvard 24-yard line.

The Huskies took advantage of the favorable field position and quickly set up its eventual game-winning touchdown.

In the fourth quarter, Harvard set up a deceptive play where Fitzpatrick took the snap, flipped it to Morris, who in turn threw to Fitzpatrick for a first down. However, the play was called back on a holding penalty on junior left guard Joe Traverso. The Crimson could not come back first-and-20 and ended up punting.

“We had a bunch of momentum busters,” Murphy said, “the obvious one being the penalty on the reverse pass.”

The many setbacks the Crimson faced on Saturday were the result of a lack of execution that turned this regularly 400-yard, four-touchdown offense into a floundering, frustrated unit.

“We didn’t make enough good plays to win the game,” Murphy said.

The Crimson looks to make some big plays and learn from its dismal performance Saturday when it plays next weekend at Princeton, a critical game featuring the Ivy League’s top contenders. The Crimson and the Tigers are the only remaining teams with undefeated league records.

Northeastern 17, Football 14

Northeastern 7 3 0 7 — 17

Harvard 0 7 7 0 — 14

First Quarter: N—Gale 43 pass from Brady (Kesic kick), 6:38. Second Quarter: N—FG Kesic 38, 14:56. H—Jenkins 1 pass from Fitzpatrick (Blewett kick), 5:03.Third Quarter: H—Morris 18 pass from Fitzpatrick (Blewett kick), 11:14. Fourth Quarter: N—Parks 20 pass from Brady (Kesic kick), 14:50. Attendance 13,402.

Northeastern Harvard

First downs 15 20

Rushes-yards 54-208 28-140

Passing 128 209

Comp-Att-Int 9-18-0 21-53-0

Return Yards 29 28

Punts-Avg. 7-39.7 9-34.8

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2

Penalties-Yards 9-75 7-70

Time of Possession 34:44 25:16

Rushing Northeastern: Riley 28-124, Harris 14-68, Brady 10-18, Team 2-(minus 2). Harvard: Fitzpatrick 12-81, Byrnes 7-65, Thomas 6-7, Rose 1-(minus 2), Morris 1-(minus 5), Team 1-(minus 6). Passing Northeastern: Brady 9-18-0-128. Harvard: Fitzpatrick 15-34-0-155, Rose 6-19-0-54. Receiving Northeastern: Parks 6-83, Gale 1-43, Thomas 1-5, Riley 1-(minus 3). Harvard: Morris 9-108, Cremarosa 4-45, Byrnes 3-33, Jenkins 2-8, Harvey 1-7, Thomas 1-5, Fratto 1-3.