AMOR PERFECT UNION: Underdog Can’t Pull Off Upset

WORCESTER, Mass.—There are few archetypical plots in American sports culture more beloved than the underdog story. Jesse Owens sprinting to glory in defiance of Hiter’s Nazi regime. An amateur ragtag United States hockey team dismantling a polished Soviet machine with a miracle. Rocky Balboa.

These are the tales that capture the American sports fan’s imagination most vividly, and yet their appeal lies in their scarcity. David rarely beats Goliath.

This was made all too clear in the Harvard football team’s 27-20 loss to Holy Cross on Saturday in Worcester, Mass. On one side, there was junior Collier Winters, the Crimson’s new starting signal caller, a scrappy scrambler listed at 5’11 and 190 pounds who hadn’t thrown a ball in a college game. On the other, there was senior Dominic Randolph, the Crusaders’ 6’3, 233-pound juggernaut of a quarterback, the two-time defending Patriot League Player of the Year with a cannon for an arm and implausible mobility for a man of his size.

It was a lopsided matchup, one that Harvard couldn’t win, so the Crimson tried to prevent it from being the focal point of the game. For most of the game, Winters was confined to screen plays and short passes while Harvard tried to establish its running attack. The Crimson also attempted to keep Randolph from breaking out by pestering him with an extra player rushing into the backfield and sticking his receivers with man coverage.

Neither strategy was as effective as Harvard would have liked. Junior Gino Gordon and rookie Treavor Scales had modest success running the ball for the Crimson, and Winters occasionally caught Holy Cross off-guard with designed quarterback run plays and improvised scrambles. But for the most part, the Crusaders kept Harvard’s ground game in check. On defense, the Crimson had trouble breaking through a stalwart Holy Cross offensive line, and while the Harvard defensive backs played solidly, even the tiniest of openings was enough for Randolph to thread the needle and hit his intended receiver.

In the end, it came down to Winters vs. Randolph. David vs. Goliath.

And for a moment, it appeared that the underdog might pull it out.

Nearly midway through the fourth quarter, the Crimson was down, but not out, trailing 20-13. But after a quick three-and-out, Harvard gave the ball to Holy Cross at its own 45-yard line with 11:12 left to go in the game.

That was all Randolph needed. On the first play of the drive, Randolph launched a pretty, arching pass to Gerald Mistretta down the left sideline. Mistretta hauled in the catch and sauntered into the endzone to give the Crusaders a commanding 27-13 advantage.

But Harvard and Winters were not done yet. On the ensuing drive, the Crimson worked quickly and effectively, mixing the run and pass well to move up to the Crusaders’ 46. From nearly the same spot where Randolph had just seemingly crushed Harvard’s aspirations for victory, Winters reached back to God knows where and unloaded a bomb down the right sideline. Junior receiver Chris Lorditch—Winters’ favorite target on the day, with nine receptions for 89 yards—turned on the burners and chased the pass down, pulling it in for a touchdown to bring the score to 27-20.

The Crimson defense quickly got the ball back, giving Harvard one more possession to complete its comeback with 3:41 left, and the thought of asking Winters for a repeat performance didn’t seem entirely unreasonable.

But there would be no underdog story, at least not the kind that people like to hear. Winters fumbled the ball away, and with it went the Crimson’s chance to win.

In the context of this game, it’s impossible to look at Winters’ performance without looking at Randolph’s as well. On that front, there is no comparison. Winters completed 22 of 37 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, while running for 40 yards on 11 tries. Not bad, but not Randolph. The Crusader went 25-for-39 with 293 yards and 2 touchdowns, and ran for 41 yards on just seven carries. Looking beyond the statistics, Randolph displayed a command of the field and a confidence in his throws that Winters couldn’t match. While Winters managed the Harvard offense, Randolph directed his.

But in a broader sense, Saturday’s game left Harvard with plenty of reason for optimism regarding its new quarterback. Winters proved that he could handle the starting role, and if he can replicate his final line every game, the Crimson will be in great shape as it seeks its third-straight Ivy title.

There’s also some more silver lining for Harvard—it’ll never see Randolph again, unless it’s on television, and the Ivy League is a conference with far more Davids than Goliaths at quarterback.

—Staff writer Loren Amor can be reached at lamor@fas.harvard.edu.