Nor'eastern Storms Into Cambridge on Saturday

Down three with 2:19 left in the fourth quarter, Harvard took possession of the ball on its own 12-yard line and began an epic 81-yard march downfield that would climax in one of the most disappointing moments of the Crimson’s season.

Just seven yards out, then-sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick optioned the ball to running back Rodney Thomas ’03, who fumbled away Harvard’s final chance to take the lead and solidified the Huskies 17-14 victory.

But last year’s game-ending debacle will be a distant memory once tomorrow’s battle of the titanic offenses begins, as No. 10 Northeastern brings the number two offense in Division I-AA to Cambridge to take on the Crimson, sporting the most proficient attack in the country.

Unlike Harvard’s, which centers on Fitzpatrick, the Huskies offense flows through its running backs.

Averaging 333 yards rushing per game—a statistic altered dramatically by a combined 92-yard performance last weekend against No. 3 Villanova—Northeastern rotates its backs through, pounding away at fatigued defensive lines until they are on the verge of collapse.

In the season-opener against Stonehill, the Huskies combined for nine rushing touchdowns and had six different rushers gain more than 50 yards, with three different players—sophomore Anthony Riley and freshmen Shawnn Gyles and Anthony Hopkins—each rushing for more than 100 en route to a 78-6 victory.

“I think the bottom line is that they’re a very good football team offensively and defensively,” Crimson coach Tim Murphy said. “But what they do best is run the football.”

Each of Northeastern’s four primary tailbacks—Riley, Gyles and seniors Peter Harris and Tim Gale—brings a distinctly different look when attacking the line of scrimmage, further complicating attempts to stop the ground game.

Harris, the team’s leading rusher thus far with 432 yards and 6 touchdowns, has been explosive in five games this season, finally regaining his speed lost to an MCL injury in 2001.

“He’s certainly running at a fast level,” Huskies coach Don Brown said. “And he’s got the ability to pop you and he’s got great shaking ability.”

Though lacking Harris’ speed, Riley has proven equally difficult to bring down, posting a team-high three 100-yard rushing performances this season.

Agile and shifty, he darts through opposing defenses, using misdirection to avoid oncoming defenders.

“He’s a jitterbug,” Brown said. “[He’s] tough to get a pop on.”

Gale brings the power the others lack, bowling over defenders before exploding into daylight. Utilizing his 4.4/40 speed, opposing secondaries have difficulty catching up with him once he finds a patch of green space and an even larger challenge bringing him down if they should manage to get their hands on him.

“He’s more of a slasher, a straight line power guy,” Brown said. “But if he gets in the open field he can finish.”

Gyles is the freshman sensation, sharing the team lead for rushing scores with Harris. Possessing a mixture of the upperclassmen’s talents, he is the most versatile offensive threat and at times is impossible to stop.

In his first collegiate game, he recorded 172 yards and 4 touchdowns. On five carries.

“He can fly,” Brown said. “He’s got great shake.”

And when team’s overcompensate and don’t present a strong defense against the pass—a weak point already for Harvard—Northeastern exploits play action to burn secondaries deep down field for easy scores.

But when the run is taken away and everyone on defense knows the pass is coming, that strategy hasn’t been nearly so effective, as seen in last weekend’s 28-7 loss to Villanova.

The Crimson will try to do the same.

“We did it last year, we did it the year before,” Murphy said. “I certainly expect we’re a better defense this year than last.”

Last year, Harvard surrendered 208 yards rushing on 54 attempts and allowed just 128 yards through the air. Though that was a success against such a talented squad, Murphy is hoping for a bit more from his squad this time around.

“We’ve got to limit that number [of rushing yards],” Murphy said. “[Ideally it] would probably be around 190.”

To accomplish that feat, the Crimson won’t make any changes though, hoping the standard game plan will suffice.

“The focal point of our defense is to make people play left-handed,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t mean they’re not an effective passing team.”

But they certainly aren’t as effective in that regard, so the burden will be on the Harvard secondary to smother the Husky receivers if the front seven succeeds in blocking off the backfield.

Not that their success is guaranteed. Last weekend, Brown’s Nick Hartigan broke loose in the open a couple of times, bouncing off weak tackles attempted by an exhausted group of defenders.

“We were obviously able to overcome that last week,” Murphy said. But we’ve got to make them earn everything they get, to keep the big runs to an absolute minimum.

To ensure that the defensive line is impermeable, Murphy will rotate his linemen almost as quickly as Northeastern will its backs.

“We’ve got to play a lot of people,” Murphy said. “We see our defensive line as two-deep.”

On the other side of the ball, the Huskies will attempt to do what neither the Bears nor Holy Cross have been able to do this season—find an answer to Fitzpatrick.

The Northeastern coaching staff doesn’t expect to handle him any differently than any other quarterback, however.

The Huskies will mix coverages and blitz heavily to prevent Fitzpatick from finding his rhythm, hoping to keep the pocket shrinking without allowing him to slip away.

“I think you need to keep him off guard and mix the best you can, try to disguise it as best you can,” Brown said.

Part of that package will be making sure that all of Fitzpatrick’s many weapons are taken away. Throwing touchdowns to four different receivers last weekend, he was able to find every hole in the secondary once he found his groove, whether it was junior Adam Jenkins breaking off the line or sophomore running back Ryan Tyler finding space in the flat.

“Each coverage that you run has the ability to cover all five guys,” Brown said. “You’ve just got to take the best pieces of what you have.”

Key to his estimation of how to stop Fitzpatrick in the air is shutting down junior wideout Brian Edwards, who has exploded onto the scene in the last two games.

“He’s really solid, got great hands, runs great routes,” Brown said. He’s picked up right where Morris has left off. But we think we’re really solid on pass defense. We think we have very capable corners in the guys we have.”

Notes: Junior wide receiver Rodney Byrnes will most likely return to the lineup for the Crimson on Saturday. Byrnes injured his left ankle on a kick return in the third quarter of last weekend’s game. Murphy will wait until game time to make a final decision.

Freshman running back Clifton Dawson returns to the team after serving his one-game suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules. He is expected to play much the same role he did against Holy Cross in the season opener.

Junior quarterback Garrett Schires, who suffered a first-grade MCL sprain in the fourth quarter of last weekend’s game against Brown, is back to full-strength and will serve as Fitzpatrick’s backup this week.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.