Giardi Honored

Harvard quarterback Mike Giardi took home co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after his performance in the Crimson's 41-25 win over Holy Cross Saturday.

Giardi, who shared the honor with Pennsylvania quarterback Jim McGeehan, is the first Harvard player to be honored. The Mather resident accounted for 273 of the Crimson's 510 yards this weekend and nearly broke the 100-yard mark on the ground (98 yards on 16 carries).

But the rest of the Ivy League is just getting stronger. Giardi averted a would-be Penn sweep of the Offensive/Defensive awards as Dave Betten became the third Pennsylvania defensive player to register the week's best performance.

Betten's all-around performance helped Pennsylvania destroy Columbia, 36-7, is one of only two league games this weekend. (Dartmouth topped Yale, 31-14, in the other.) The Quaker defense is becoming one of the nation's best--now ranked 11th in rushing defense, 12th in passing defense, 17th in total defense and 11th in scoring defense in Division IAA.

The only team that can top that continues to be 24th-ranked Princeton. With the nation's leading rusher in Keith Elias and an efficient quarterback in Joel Foote, the Tiger offense is a difficult machine to stop.

On defense, Princeton is second in the nation against the rush, 11th in total defense and sixth in scoring defense.

Harvard will face the Tigers on Saturday. The Crimson defense is ranked fourth in the league against the rush, but it hasn't seen a runner like Elias yet.

Princeton and Pennsylvania, meanwhile, will meet in Penn's Franklin Field on November 6.