Harvard Unleashes Kubacki on Terriers, 37-14

Considering the game-time conditions--56 degrees, wet, overcast and drizzling--the afternoon could have been a lot worse. In fact, for the 14,000 or so brave souls who sat through three hours of rain and cold at Soldiers Field Saturday, the reward was an interesting football game and a 37-14 Harvard victory over Boston University.

With all the talk about revenge for last year's 13-9 loss, the game Saturday simply amounted to a good beating administered by the Crimson to the overpowered and outclassed visitors. But it was not without a few twists and turns along the way to keep the spectators from wandering out of the stadium.

The first twist was a Terrier touchdown at 10:16 of the first quarter, the culmination of ten minutes of play that saw B.U. run off 22 plays to Harvard's one. That's not good, especially when you consider that Harvard's one effort resulted in a fumble.

Crimson fullback Chris Doherty did the honors, dropping a handoff from Jim Kubacki into the arms of Terrier Jeff Dawes at the Harvard 18 just after B.U.'s Bruce Rich had missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.

Six plays later, quaterback Greg Geiger called Mike Morrison's number in the huddle and the junior halfback responded with a one-yard burst off right tackle.

Trailing 7-0, the Crimson turned things around almost immediately with a 63-yard march of its own, and it was obvious that the wet field was not affecting the offensive capabilities of either team. Defensively, expectations were for a long afternoon of chasing people.

Kubacki, destined to have another super game, got things rolling with an 11-yard pass to Tommy Winn moving Harvard into B.U. territory for the first of many times. Halfback Bob Kinchen (84 yards in five carries on the day) romped for 12, Winn zipped 29 yards with an option pitch, and Kubacki took it the final six yards on a sweep right at 12:54.

The ease with which Harvard tied the game set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, though it was yet another two quarters before the game was iced away. A few poorly timed fumbles--surprise!--prevented an early rout.

A 71-yard drive midway through the second quarter pumped Harvard's lead to 14-7, and it was some nice running by the backfield that again did most of the damage. Kinchen busted one for 41 yards to set things up, but it was an offside penalty against the Terriers that really did the job.

The drive stalled prematurely at the Terrier 12, and the field goal talents of Mike Lynch were called upon. One small step over the line of scrimmage for a B.U. lineman turned out to be a giant step for Harvard's offense, however, as the five-yard penalty gave the Crimson a first down. About one minute later, Kubacki bucked over right tackle and it was 14-7.

Mike Who?

The game took a temporary turn backwards immediately after that when Geiger nailed Greg Jones with a 29-yard strike that turned into a 69-yard pass-and-run play and a 14-14 tie. Undaunted, Harvard's offense revisited the B.U. endzone 14 seconds later thanks to an 80-yard hookup between Kubacki and Larry Hobdy (who will no longer be referred to as Jim Curry's replacement).

An unsuccessful try for a two-point conversion left the score a dubious 20-14 at the half, though the Crimson forces did penetrate to the Terrier 5 later in the quarter before B.U. recovered a Winn fumble.

It was clear by halftime that the Harvard offense had found its stride, and that rhythm continued into the third quarter. At 4:34, Chris Doherty pulled up in the endzone at the end of a ten-yard jaunt with a screen pass, and it was 27-14. Fifty-six yards, six plays, and no identifiable problems along the way.

Thoughts now turned to Kubacki's total offense yardage, the rejuvenated Crimson defense, and estimates of the exact moment that the death blow would be delivered. Considering them in order: the senior quarterback moved into second on Harvard's all-time list, the defense strangled B.U. the rest of the route, and those who figured that it would come early in the fourth quarter were right.

Kubacki's 209-yard first half effort sent visions of national leadership dancing through the heads of Crimson fans. Things calmed down in the last 20 minutes, however, and he took his bionic arm to the sidelines with a final total of 279 (237 passing, 42 rushing).

It was a Mike Lynch field goal that sealed things up, coming four minutes into the fourth quarter and giving Harvard a 30-14 bulge. Thoughts of an amazing comeback were further squelched when replacement quarterback Tim Davenport speared Steve Saxon in the corner of the endzone four minutes later with an eight-yard dart to close out the scoring.

Thoroughly Beaten

The last quarter was spent almost entirely on the Terrier side of the midfield stripe, the Crimson running off exactly twice as many plays (24) as the thoroughly beaten visitors. For the game, the Terriers ran off almost the same number as Harvard (remember a 22-1 edge in the first quarter) but were outgained in total yardage by a 470-253 margin.