Bulldogs Begin Ivy Repeat Bid On Top

NEW HAVEN—It was a bittersweet announcement for Yale football fans. On one hand, the Bulldogs were the media’s resounding choice to repeat as Ivy League champions in 2007, ranking first in the preseason poll by claiming all but two first-place votes. But here’s the bad: only once since the turn of the century has the media successfully picked the eventual champ.

And so begins the title defense for Yale, a team that learned of its top spot at Monday’s annual Ivy League Football Media Day held at the Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Conn.

The poll tabbed Penn to finish second in the league, while the Crimson is picked third. The Quakers and Harvard each earned one of the two first-place votes not garnered by the Bulldogs, while 2006 co-champ Princeton ranks fourth in the preseason poll. Cornell is fifth and Columbia sixth, while Brown, just two years removed from an Ivy title, is the media’s pick to finish seventh. Dartmouth rounds out the picks in last place.

With 17 returning starters in 2007, Yale was the obvious pick to win the league. Crimson coach Tim Murphy said he understands why.

“This is probably the best returning Yale team that I’ve seen in my 14 years here,” Murphy said. “They are as solid a football team that I’ve seen in the Ivy League. I can’t remember the last time a team had that many first-place votes.”

Bulldog coach Jack Siedlecki said that his team would have to work hard not to get caught up in the hype surrounding its repeat bid, while also maintaining a certain level of confidence necessary to stay on top.

“Kids are kids. If people are going to tell them how good they are, there’s a fine line between confidence…and the fat and happy syndrome, the ‘hey, it’s going to be easy,’” Siedlecki said. “You can’t allow that to happen. And yet, you don’t want to be negative. There’s a fine line.”

According to Murphy, however, the gap between Yale and the rest of the Ivies is anything but fine.

“The rest of the league is up for grabs, and we all have a lot to prove,” he said. “Whether we were picked second or sixth, it really doesn’t matter. We still have question marks.”

FILLING THE VOIDS

One of the most glaring of those questions comes on the defensive line, where junior Brenton Bryant and his older brother Desmond were both missing from the recently-released fall roster. Murphy confirmed that the brothers were both forced to take a year off by the University for separate, unrelated academic reasons.

“Every two years we have a kid who’s in the exact situation, and 100 percent of them come back to Harvard and graduate, and those guys will too,” Murphy said. “Like anything else, we hope that it’ll be a learning experience.”

The rest of the roster has slowly but surely been falling into place. Sophomore Cheng Ho is still slated as the starter at running back, but a strong showing from sophomore Mike Clarke has earned him the backup job, while senior Charles Baakel is third on the depth chart.

Murphy stressed, however, that all three will be getting significant carries come September.

“It’s by committee until someone proves that they’re the guy,” he said. “Between them, we’ll have a solid running attack. Clearly, we don’t have anybody that’s demonstrating they’re an All-Ivy candidate yet.”

Senior Liam O’Hagan has been confirmed as the Crimson’s starter at quarterback, while senior Chris Pizzotti—who started five games for Harvard last year and was battling O’Hagan for the top spot in the spring—has fallen to third string behind junior Jeff Witt.

“I expected, at least in a practice context, it would have been more of a competition," Murphy said. "But Liam was clearly the best guy in practice.”

A LIGHT APPROACH

There was some notable excitement at Media Day regarding Harvard’s league opener, a Friday night home affair against Brown on Sept. 21, the first-ever regular season night game in Crimson football history.

“It brings back a lot of high school memories for the kids,” Bears coach Phil Estes said. “It’s just a whole different atmosphere for the game itself. I think any time you can make history and do something that’s different, that’s a great thing.”

Murphy said he plans to try to make Harvard’s home opener a night game every season, alternating between Holy Cross in even years and Brown during odd ones.

“My goal was to try to get every single freshman to come to that game somehow,” Murphy said.

SPARE CHANGES

Ivy League Associate Director Chuck Yrigoyen opened the day’s festivities by encouraging the media to use the new Football Championship Subdivision designation. “The term I-AA doesn’t exist anymore,” Yrigoyen said…The NCAA has instituted a few rule changes in 2007. The clock rules will revert back to pre-'06 days, with the clock starting on the touch as opposed to the kickoff, and on the snap when possession changes. In addition, kickoffs will now take place from the 30-yard line instead of the 35, as in the pro game…Senior defensive tackle Matt Drazba, who badly sprained his ankle in the spring during a team-sanctioned basketball game, is off crutches and slated for an Oct. 1 return, which would make him eligible to play as early as Week 4 at Cornell.

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.