BOOK OF SAMUELS: Crimson Defense Confounds Leopards

Following his team’s loss to Harvard Saturday, Lafayette coach Frank Tavani spoke in the press conference in hushed tones, as if his dog had just died or he had a splitting migraine.

Tavani’s disposition couldn’t have been more fitting.

The Crimson had just picked apart his team in an embarrassing 31-3 defeat.

It wasn’t the 31 points Harvard scored that most upset Tavani. The Leopard defense did a decent job of shutting down the Crimson attack for parts of the game. In the third quarter, Harvard had a grand total of nine yards of offense.

No, what really made Tavani look like he had eaten dirt was the “3” on the scoreboard. Despite 272 yards of total offense and 16 first downs, all the Leopards managed were three measly points.

“I’ve certainly got to apologize to our fans and everybody else that was here,” said Tavani, who appeared ready to punt his entire team. “I have to find guys who got some heart, have some pride, and return to some purpose and have some passion ... We’ve got some guys who are just hanging out there at the edges. We talk a good game, but we don’t follow through.”

Yes, Tavani had good reason to be livid; Lafayette had played an incredibly sloppy game—that much is clear. Whenever a team has nearly as many fumbles (2) as points, or twice as many yards lost on penalties (101) as rushing yards (42), something clearly went very, very wrong.

But to say the Leopards just gave it away doesn’t do Harvard justice. For all Lafayette’s struggles, it was the Crimson which owned the day, not the home team who gave it away.

And while Harvard’s offense did enough—more than enough—the real performance of the day came from the Crimson defense.

In what is quickly becoming a realization of Harvard coach Tim Murphy’s preseason hopes, the defense has emerged as a dominant, ruthless force.

In the past two games, the team has allowed a combined 10 points by a pair of strong offenses. Lafayette hadn’t been held to three points or fewer in a decade. And a few weeks ago, the Leopards dismantled a very good Penn team, 37-12.

So what options do less-gifted offenses have against Harvard?

The Crimson just has so many weapons. For starters, it is blessed with a shut-down corner in senior cornerback Matt Hanson, given the unenviable task of guarding the opponent’s best receiver every week. In the last two games, Hanson has limited two stars—Brown’s Alex Tounkara-Kone and Lafayette’s Mitchell Bennett—to a total of 66 yards and no touchdowns.

Next to Hanson in the secondary, senior free safety Dan Minamide has filled in brilliantly for Collin Zych ’11. After some kinks in game one, Minamide and the secondary have allowed just one completion of 30 yards or more since. And in the past two games, Minamide has developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time, intercepting two balls in the end zone at key points in the game.

Beneath the secondary, the linebacker corps has been just as impressive. Junior linebacker Joshua Boyd, a second-stringer when the year began, led the team in tackles for a second straight week. Captain Alex Gedeon, in addition to tallying eight tackles, brilliantly timed a hit during coverage of a huge punt by junior Jacob Dombrowski to force a fumble. The ensuing touchdown gave Harvard an insurmountable lead.

But perhaps the crown jewel of the vaunted Crimson defense, the facet that makes it arguably the best in the league, is its defensive line—even Tavani acknowledged that.

Of course, senior defensive tackle Josue Ortiz leads the way. The 450-pound bench-presser set a goal of 10 sacks prior to this season, and despite being double-teamed almost every play, he’s well on his way with two sacks after three games.

But Ortiz’s biggest impact may not be shown in his own stat line. While he harasses quarterbacks at least once a possession, Ortiz absorbs two blockers and opens up holes for his teammates.

Those guys are hard to handle as well. You neutralize Ortiz? Then deal with junior defensive tackle Nnamdi Obukwelu. Get rid of him? Then meet fellow defensive tackle Zach Hodges. He’s only a freshman, but he’s clearly learned quickly from his elders.

And new weapons keep emerging for the Crimson. Junior defensive end Grant Sickle led Harvard with one-and-a-half sacks on Saturday, leading a five-sack effort for the visitors.

What does the D-line dominance mean? That Ivy quarterbacks will be giving turf a lot of mouth-to-mouth this year.

The Crimson “D” hasn’t been infallible, though. Brown and Lafayette certainly had their chances. But when the Harvard defense has needed to step up most—in the red zone—the squad has done just that. Opponents are 1-of-4 inside the twenty-yard line over the past two games.

The red zone brilliance shouldn’t be too surprising. As early as the second possession of the season, when Holy Cross recovered a fumbled punt at Harvard’s three-yard line, the Crimson stepped up, surrendering only three points.

“We do a great job in the red zone,” Murphy said. “We really prepare well, we really have a little added intensity, the type of intensity you have to have, the type of resiliency you have to have.”

So to the offenses of the Ancient Eight: Good luck. You’ll need it.

—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.