NOTEBOOK: Hot Start Might Be Football’s Best

None of the individual stats are impressive. No Harvard football player had 60 receiving yards, 80 rushing yards, or 200 passing yards Saturday at Columbia. Junior quarterback Conner Hempel completed less than 60 percent of his passes, went a second straight week without a touchdown pass, and threw his fifth interception of the year.

But then you look at the score.

Even without any of its big guns firing, the Crimson still had plenty of firepower to blow by the Lions, 34-0.

In the first 17 minutes, Harvard scored three touchdowns while Columbia punted on its first seven possessions. The Crimson took its foot off the gas after that, but those first three drives were some of Harvard’s most impressive of the year.

Hempel was 7-for-9 during the stretch. Sophomore running back Paul Stanton collected 78 yards on just three rushes. Senior Scotty Miller had his longest punt return since he started fielding them fulltime. On the corresponding three Lions drives, Columbia accrued just five yards combined without getting a single first down.

A year after Harvard coach Tim Murphy said he “felt badly” that his Crimson obliterated the Lions, 69-0, Harvard clearly slowed itself down after taking the 21-0 lead. Murphy pulled Stanton to protect him for next week, and Hempel was left to work with what amounted to the second team offense.

The Crimson did not score again until the fourth quarter, but after its hot start, it did not need to.

CLEAN UP SONG

Harvard committed 11 penalties against both Dartmouth and Princeton over the last two weeks.

Saturday, the Crimson cleaned up its act, committing only two penalties all day.

Harvard did so with a great number of bodies rotating onto the field. Eight players recorded a rush, and seven caught at least one pass while 25 defensive players recorded a tackle.

With receivers Andrew Fischer and Seitu Smith and tight end Cameron Brate out due to injury, the blowout gave Hempel an opportunity to work with several wideouts he had not played with before.

The defense also got to work with new personnel packages. With defensive linemen Nnamdi Obukwelu and Jack Dittmer sitting out, and Obum Obukwelu leaving the game early with an injury, senior Danny Frate stepped up, tallying 1.5 sacks, and Murphy called more blitzes to put pressure on Columbia quarterback Trevor McDonagh.

“We didn’t have three of our top four defensive linemen so sometimes you need that extra guy to get pressure,” Murphy said.

A year after Harvard tallied eight sacks, the Crimson still managed to accrue five sacks despite the injuries and substitutions.

“The kids that played, whether its new running backs, whether its new receivers, whether its new tight ends, whether its new offensive linemen—and we had all of the above today—I thought those kids did a very solid job,” Murphy said. “It was really good to get them some work.”

NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS

Harvard’s stats Saturday were impressive, but that was somewhat expected. Columbia averages less than 10 points a game this year, and had given up more than 34 points in all but two of its games coming into Saturday.

Though the Lions were more competitive this year than last year, the game’s result was never really in doubt.

“The future is bright [for Columbia] but it’s not like you are just going to show up and win eight games next year,” Murphy said. “It’s just going to take time.”

At the same time, the Crimson does not control its Ivy League destiny, meaning its play will only impact the conference leaderboard if Princeton slips up.

Saturday, the Tigers did not. Though they trailed Penn in the third quarter, the Princeton offense eventually prevailed, scoring 21 straight points to end the game up, 38-26.

Harvard has to hope that Princeton trips up against Yale or Dartmouth, while also working to avoid a second loss that would knock the Crimson out of contention all together.

“We are going to enjoy the win today, tomorrow,” Hempel said, “And then turn our focus to Penn.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com.