Inconsistent Effort Hurts Team

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—In football, the only thing that matters is which team shows up when the first whistle blows.

A week ago, Harvard came out ready to play. Senior quarterback Andrew Hatch sparkled, the defense shut Holy Cross out for nearly 59 minutes, and the Crimson came away with a dominating 34-6 win. Alums started emailing me to ask if Hatch was too good for the Ivy League. In many fans’ minds, the Ancient Eight cup was already polished and sitting in the Harvard trophy case.

Flash forward to Saturday night. The Crimson was once again playing under the lights, but this time in front of a hostile crowd in a game that mattered in the standings. Brown scored on its first possession, Harvard managed to move the ball just 17 yards before punting it away. And from there, things just kept getting worse.

“I can’t remember watching the Harvard football team play like that,” Crimson coach Tim Murphy said.

Hatch, who last week looked like an LSU starting quarterback, came crashing down to earth. He finished the game 11-of-23 with two picks, gaining only 128 yards in the air. But Hatch’s ineffectiveness can’t be blamed solely on the quarterback. When he could find an open receiver—which wasn’t often, as the Bears’ defense seemed well-prepared for the Crimson’s passing scheme—the wideouts didn’t always corral catchable passes. And when there was nobody open downfield, Hatch had next to nowhere to go.

Brown’s aggressive defense had no trouble shutting down Harvard’s run game—the second week in a row that the Crimson, which was tops in the Ivy League in rushing last season, hasn’t established itself on the ground. On Saturday, Harvard finished the game with -16 net rushing yards after factoring in sacks and botched snaps.

The Crimson’s trio of running backs—senior Gino Gordon and sophomores Treavor Scales and Rich Zajeski—got a combined eight touches, with Gordon finishing the game with -1 yard on the ground. Scales and Zajeski ended with seven and six yards, respectively, all of which came late in the second half with the contest already all but decided.

But looking at the stat sheet doesn’t answer the fundamental question: what the heck went wrong?

For the most part, it’s not that Harvard is lacking key personnel. Sure, Hatch wasn’t the projected starter at the beginning of the year, but he proved last week that he is more than capable of handling the Crimson offense. The receiving and running back corps are nearly entirely intact from last season. It’s also important to realize that the Bears are a much, much better team than the Holy Cross squad Harvard dismantled last week. The Crusaders went on to lose to Georgetown, 17-7, on Saturday. For a little perspective, the Hoyas were 0-11 last season.

But though Brown does deserve credit, the Crimson was still its own worst enemy on Saturday night. And on the field, there was one unit whose ineffectiveness proved contagious—the offensive line.

The offensive line was the biggest preseason question for Harvard, and it seemed last week that the unit was ahead of expectations. But after its performance in Providence, those questions are pouring back in.

It’s hard to really judge the offensive line’s performance, because it doesn’t accrue any stats. But Hatch’s four sacks, the two botched snaps, and the team’s wimpy 112 yards of total offense speak for themselves. And having senior Brent Osborne, the only returning starter on the line, carted off the field at game’s end with what appeared to be an ankle injury certainly won’t help things.

Murphy had no update on Osborne’s status after the game.

With two weeks gone in the Ivy season, we’ve seen two very different Crimson teams show up. Last week, it was easy to believe in dreams of an undefeated season. This week, it’s easy to assume that the Ivy championship is already out of reach.

“We didn’t play physical enough, we didn’t do a good enough coaching job,” Murphy said. “Bottom line...we got our butts kicked.”

There’s no question that Harvard has put itself in a hole by starting the season with a loss—particularly because Penn, the defending champion, led No. 1 Villanova late in the fourth quarter before falling, 22-10, on Saturday night. But if there’s anything to be learned from the first two weeks of the season, it’s not to make assumptions.

We’ve seen both Jekyll and Hyde from the Crimson thus far. Harvard has a chance to bounce back against a winless Lafayette team on Saturday—it just has to show up.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.