Crimson Enters Contest with ‘Evolving’ Attitude

It’s been so long since coach Tim Murphy and the Harvard football team have had to go through a week like this that they nearly forgot what it felt like. For the first time in nearly two years, Murphy and his staff have been forced to regroup and refocus their team after a stunning loss.

The Crimson didn’t just lose a non-league game last week—a game that has no bearing on Harvard’s pursuit of its second consecutive Ivy title—but it lost its air of invincibility and its swagger.

More than new schemes and minor tinkerings, this week was spent trying to regain whatever mental edge the Crimson lost last Saturday.

“We had a solid practice [this week] but not great from what I call attitude standards in terms of level of enthusiasm and confidence,” Murphy said. “We expect that to improve and we expect to rebound and battle through the adversity of a loss.”

Murphy labeled his team’s attitude as “evolving” and mentioned multiple times that Harvard faced a variety of transitions: not only the change from a veteran group last year to this year’s more inexperienced squad, but also the transition of recovering from a loss and finding replacements for injured players.

“It’s a work in progress,” Murphy said.

TURNOVER TROUBLE

The most problematic trend for the Crimson through its first three games has been the offense’s inability to hang on to the ball.

Harvard is averaging over three turnovers per game with 10 total on the year. Nine of those giveaways have come in the form of interceptions—six by sophomore starting quarterback Liam O’Hagan, and three by his back up, sophomore Richard Irvin.

While pleased with O’Hagan’s overall development, Murphy knows that for Harvard to be successful, the quarterbacks must do a better job of protecting the ball.

“There’s no question that he needs to make improvements in the very most important part of his job, and that is ball security,” said Murphy of O’Hagan. “There is no other job that he is more directly responsible for.”

O’Hagan is not alone in his ball security troubles­—junior running back Clifton Dawson also uncharacteristically fumbled last weekend against Lehigh.

BERRY BACK

Freshman cornerback Andrew Berry will be back in the starting lineup tomorrow after missing last week’s game due to a shoulder injury.

While Berry’s replacement, sophomore Steven Williams, performed well in a tough situation against Lehigh, the Crimson is glad to have Berry back.

“It certainly helps,” said Murphy of Berry’s return. “But I’ve got to give Steven Williams a little credit because he was thrown into the fire [last week] without practicing a snap against their offense and did a good job.”

Overall, Harvard’s secondary has struggled this year. The unit ranks sixth in the Ivy League and has allowed 217 passing yards per game.

Fortunately for the Crimson, Cornell’s passing game is dead last in the league and should not pose much of a threat.

FOURTH AND 4

Cornell has held junior running back Clifton Dawson to an average of 67.5 yards on the ground in the teams’ two meetings during Dawson’s career...Senior offensive tackle Brian Lapham will play despite seeing limited practice time due to a knee injury...Cornell has allowed 30-plus points the last two weeks against Yale and Colgate...Harvard is 253-5-1 all time when scoring 30 points or more.

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.