THE GAME: Coach's Choice, O'Hagan's Chance

Coming into the season, it was the story surrounding the Harvard football team.

Two quarterbacks—neither of whom had ever taken a meaningful snap in a Crimson uniform—were competing to see which one would replace the best player in the Ivy League, an NFL draft pick, and arguably the top signal caller in Crimson history.

Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 was gone. It was time for sophomores Liam O’Hagan and Richard Irvin to take his place.

Both came to Harvard to play. O’Hagan had turned down numerous offers from Division I-A schools to play as a safety so that he could come to Cambridge and lead the Crimson offense. Irvin had left behind a starting job and a scholarship at Tulane with the idea that he would be Fitzpatrick’s successor.

As the season opener against Holy Cross approached, it appeared as though they might both get their wish.

Irvin had won the performance battle with an impressive display in the preseason scrimmage against Columbia. But O’Hagan held the edge in comfort and knowledge of the system. Irvin would start the opener, Harvard coach Tim Murphy said, but they would split time. They were both No. 1 quarterbacks. They each offered something different.

It sounded like a balanced solution, and it lasted exactly one quarter.

After completing four consecutive passes on the Crimson’s opening drive, Irvin threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown on Harvard’s second possession.

O’Hagan came in, led the Crimson to two first-quarter touchdowns and a 31-21 fourth-quarter comeback victory. Murphy named O’Hagan his starter at the post-game press conference. Irvin hasn’t seen meaningful minutes since.

“At the very beginning of the year I was really like, ‘Wow, I’m not sure what’s going to happen here—if I’m going to play or if Richard’s going to be starter’,” O’Hagan says. “It just worked out in my favor.”

O’Hagan cemented his position a week later when he led Harvard to another comeback victory—this one against Ivy rival Brown. Down a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, O’Hagan engineered a dramatic last-minute, game-tying drive. The Crimson won the game 38-35 in double overtime as O’Hagan played the role of hero and Irvin cheered and watched from the sideline.

Not everything has gone as smoothly for O’Hagan. He followed the game against Brown with his two worst performances of the year against Lehigh and Cornell—two Crimson losses. For a Harvard program that hadn’t lost a game in well over a year, losing wasn’t an option and O’Hagan began to feel the pressure.

“I really had to dig deep and be like, ‘Man, I know I can play at this level. I just have to find a way to be consistent,’” O’Hagan says. “For a while in the middle of the season, when I was playing pretty bad, I thought Richard would get a shot and go back in.”

Irvin must have been thinking the same thing. But Murphy stuck with O’Hagan, citing a lack of progress by both of the quarterbacks at the time. Irvin would continue to watch.

“It’s definitely different than what I had hoped for—what I had planned for,” Irvin says. “That’s the coach’s prerogative, that’s why he’s the coach. He gets to make those types of decisions.”

Irvin is guarded when he talks about his first season in crimson. He’s careful to make clear that he has no regrets, and he declines comment when he thinks answering a question could indicate otherwise.

But this couldn’t have been the experience he expected. Back in September, Irvin told The Crimson that one of his reasons for transferring was his desire “to play more.” Unless something happens to O’Hagan in practice this week, Irvin will finish this season with fewer starts this year for Harvard than he had last season at Tulane.

While Irvin perceives his development as progressing, and is ready to challenge O’Hagan for the starting role once again, Murphy sees otherwise.

“To be very honest, and I’ve been very upfront with Richard, I think he’s regressed somewhat,” Murphy said last week.

“The coach thinks that, that’s his own issue,” Irvin responds, “but I don’t necessarily agree with that.”

Still, Irvin is ready and willing, he says, to come back next season and support a quarterback who doesn’t appear to be in any danger of losing his job.

Through nine games, O’Hagan has more passing yards and touchdowns than Fitzpatrick did in his sophomore year. And although Fitzpatrick split time with Neil Rose ’03 that season, the current St. Louis Ram’s career path certainly isn’t a bad benchmark for any Harvard quarterback.

O’Hagan has even managed to get his turnovers under control and has been interception-free in four of the last five games.

“Every two games, [O’Hagan] takes another leap,” Murphy said. “We don’t know how steep the curve is going to continue to be, but my sense is that he can be a championship-caliber quarterback.”

Both quarterbacks head into this week excited. O’Hagan says he wanted to win the game for the seniors and complete a quality 7-3 season, and Irvin says he’s keyed up to be a part of the rivalry for the first time.

Just over two months after the opener against Holy Cross, both are still here to be the Crimson quarterback. Both still believe they can be the one to lead Harvard into the Yale Bowl and send the senior class out happy.

But on Saturday, only O’Hagan will get that chance.

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