53 Yards From History

The all-time Ivy League rushing record has stood for 35 years, and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will break under the ever-chugging legs of Clifton Dawson when Harvard (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) faces Penn (4-4, 2-3 Ivy) this Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

But, in 1996, the 58 yards that former Cornell running back Chad Levitt needed to eclipse the all-time mark—an arm’s length over the course of a career—remained, and rather than a broken record, his season and career ended with a broken right arm.

The record, 4,715 yards, was set by Cornell’s Ed Marinaro in 1971, and with just 53 more yards, Dawson will add it to his ever-growing list of achievements. If there’s a rushing record in the Crimson books, Dawson holds it.

With all the excitement swirling around the senior tailback, it’s easy to forget that Harvard has a game to play and a league championship to fight for. The Crimson finds itself in a three-way race for the title, and must beat the Quakers to have any chance of reeling it in.

“All hyperbole aside, Penn’s as good a team as we’ve played on our schedule this year,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They’re peaking in some respects, every respect other than actually finding a way to win tight, close games against good teams.”

Indeed, the Quakers will come into their contest with Harvard desperate for a win, after playing a total of four overtimes in their last three games, all resulting in stinging losses.

“We’re putting a considerable amount of [practice] time into overtime contexts,” Murphy said. “We’ve been scrimmaging in overtime, just to get the mindset. When you consider Penn’s history, we want to be prepared.”

Though not as highly ranked in most statistical categories as Harvard, Penn comes into this weekend’s game in the top half of the Ivy League in both scoring offense and defense, holding opponents to 18.8 points per game, almost two touchdowns less than the Crimson’s 30.1 points-per-game average.

“I’m looking forward to an outstanding defense,” Dawson said. “They’re very experienced up front—they return all but one starter—and they’re really large, very physical, which is typical of Penn teams. It’s going to take our best effort, our best game, to beat these guys.”

Dawson will have to dodge Penn linebackers Joe Anastasio and Kory Geddin, who rank second and 11th, respectively, in the conference in tackles, in his pursuit of the rushing record. The Quaker run defense is statistically third best among the Ivies, allowing 3.5 yards per rush and a total of 134 yards rushing per game.

Meanwhile, Harvard’s defensive unit looks set to reestablish the almost total lockdown that it has enforced on opponents in past games. Although its success of late may have been muted slightly by Dawson’s offensive fireworks, the Crimson defense ranks third in the Ivy League in points allowed, and has held opponents to a Division I-AA-low 53 yards rushing per game.

“We’ve been harping on that, saying that we can’t overlook Penn,” senior defensive tackle Mike Berg said. “[If we lose to the Quakers] then Yale doesn’t matter anyway.”

Penn running back Joe Sandberg, who rushed for 174 yards last week against Princeton, will run into a defense that is “firing on all cylinders,” according to Berg.

“We thought we may have taken a step back this week,” he said. “We definitely feel like we’re on track with where we want to be.”

A step back? That’s ironic, considering that Harvard held Columbia to minus-14 yards rushing and 320 pass yards on 52 attempts.

“Maybe I’m being overcritical,” he said.

Nonetheless, the Crimson will have to live up to Berg’s high standards in order to ensure that Saturday’s game will result in a win, and not just a broken record.

“I know that if we play well, [the record] will come on its own,” Dawson said. “The simple fact that I’m a senior and I only have two more weeks to call myself a Harvard football player is more on my mind than anything else.”

Marinaro, the current Ivy rushing king, downplayed the importance of holding such a record in comparison to the value of playing for a successful team.

“To gain a lot of yards on a losing team is certainly not as noteworthy as doing it for a winning team,” Marinaro said. “The thing I’m most proud of is not just that I set the record, but that we won the Ivy title that year.”

With a win against Penn, the Crimson will earn themselves a chance to get the best of both worlds and fight for a share of the league championship next weekend versus Yale.

“I think bringing back the Ivy League championship to Cambridge—giving the whole Harvard community a championship—means a lot for everyone,” Dawson said.