Ryan's Long Resume Missing One Item

NEW HAVEN--His resume is as long as his name is short.

He is Yale's Captain. He is Yale's all-time leading passer. He is a professional prospect.

He threw for over 2000 yards this year. He threw for 16 touchdowns. He completed over 60 percent of his passes.

There is little Yale quarterback Kelly Ryan hasn't done in his four years here. Except bring the Elis an Ivy League championship.

Saturday, Ryan--who took over the starting quarterback job in his sophomore season--had the chance to do just that. Saturday, he hit 17 of 37 passes for 181 yards. He threw for a touchdown.

But, in the end, the Harvard defense proved too much. The weather proved too much. Something stopped Kelly Ryan. Finally. Sadly.

"I have to give credit to the Harvard front eight," Ryan said in a somber press conference at game's end. "They come after the quarterback a lot. When they do that they also play man-to-man defense, and the defensive backs did a good job. They were one-on-one [with the Yale receivers] out there."

Harvard and Yale entered the Yale Bowl with identical 5-1 league slates. Both teams were atop the league standings when The Game began.

And like their teams, the quarterbacks were evenly matched. Harvard QB Tom Yohe had thrown for 16 TD passes, Ryan for 15. Yohe had thrown for just over 2000 yards, including one for 64 yards; Ryan for just under 2000, including one for 54 yards.

The two quarterbacks are front-runners for the Ivy League Player of the Year award, which will be announced today. Ryan, a senior, has the edge over Yohe, a junior.

So Saturday's Game was not only a battle of league giants in search of an Ivy crown but also of a pair of fine quarterbacks seeking to put their names on the league's most valuable trophy.

"I talked to Kelly after the game," Yohe said. "I told him I thought he played a really good game and had a great season."

Thanks to a Ryan to Mike Stewart pass late in the second quarter, Yale carried a 10-7 halftime lead into the lockerroom. But in the second half, Ryan and his troops often had to begin their attack deep in Harvard territory. With swirling winds and biting cold, moving the ball upfield was a tremendous task. Even for Kelly Ryan.

"We never got any sustained drives," Ryan said. "We had the ball in pretty miserable field position and we were not able to get the ball out."

Ryan appeared on The Game program with Harvard Captain Kevin Dulsky. On the cover, they are standing close to each other, smiling as if they were friends. And maybe they are friends. Even after Saturday.

But the kind of rush Dulsky put on Saturday was most unfriendly.

"Kevin Dulsky is a great leader," Ryan said, "and he was the guy on their side of the ball who did the job."

Dulsky may have won the battle of the captains--leading Harvard to its second-straight Game victory--but afterward he spoke highly, almost reverently, about his counterpart.

"He's a great quarterback," Dulsky said. "He's a smart quarterback, too, which makes it hard to catch him."

Ryan had a chance to win the game with a minute and-a-half left. Harvard had just been stopped on fourth and three from the four yard-line and the Elis took over deep in their own territory. Ninety-eight yards to the endzone. Less than two minutes. Impossible.

"With Kelly, as long as there's some time on the clock, there's a chance," Yale Coach Carm Cozza said.

Ryan had done it before. On the last play of a game against Penn three weeks ago, he threw a 40-yd. touchdown past to lift the Elis to victory. This time, there was more time but also more space to cover.

Ryan completed two of his next four passes to bring the Elis to their 37 yard-line. But Troy Jenkins fumbled on a pitch out on first and 10 and Yale was sunk.

Ryan had no more time. No More room.

"I'm going to remember this game," Ryan said, "but more importantly I'm going to remember the four years I had at Yale. I feel a little down. It was a tough game and we lost. But when I look at the whole picture, playing football at Yale has been a gift. I've treasured it."

His resume is as long as his longest touchdown pass. Long, but not as long as it could have been. For Kelly Ryan, not long enough.