Menick Rushes Into Record Book

You've all heard the cliche: the best defense is a good offense. If so, Chris Menick has to be the Ivy League defensive player of the week. Too bad the sophomore running back was already named the offensive player of the week.

Harvard's defense may have been highly rated coming into the year, but consistent productivity on offense has been the crucial factor in the Crimson's first 4-1 start since 1987.

The victory was not as easy as the final 52-24 score might indicate. When Harvard allowed a 21-0 lead to shrink to seven, there was plenty of reason to be worried, because everyone had seen this before.

Against Lehigh, the Crimson allowed a 35-6 cushion to dwindle to a five-point win.

And with a 20-7 advantage over Bucknell, Harvard gave up 17 unanswered points to lose by four.

But the offense would not be denied, as Harvard put several dents in its record book Saturday afternoon.

As a unit, the Crimson embarassed the Crusaders with 623 yards of total offense, a school record by 51 yards. Harvard's 33 first downs and 97 plays are also new marks.

"It was certainly the best job of execution offensively we've had since we've been here," said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy.

To get an idea of how good this offense was consider that it had totaled 329 yards by halftime. That's generally a solid game's worth of yardage. By then, sophomore tailback Chris Menick had already reached the 100-yard plateau with 11 carries for 122 yards.

For the second week in a row, sophomore quarterback Rich Linden and Menick set career marks for yardage. Linden completed 21-of-37 passes for 272 yards, bettering last week's effort against Cornell by six yards.

Menick, meanwhile, had one of the best games ever by a Harvard rusher. He carried the rock 34 times for 261 yards, an average of 7.7 yards per carry.

Like Linden, Menick scored three rushing touchdowns on the day.

The rushing yardage total places Menick second all-time for a Harvard single-game performance. Matt Johnson '92 still holds both the school and the Ivy League record with an amazing 323 yards against Brown.

"Our offensive line has just been doing an outstanding job this year," Linden said. "Chris is a hell of a tailback, but I think he'll admit he had some nice holes to run behind, and I felt like I had a lot of time to throw the ball. They're just getting it done up front."

Menick had a 52-yard run to set up a first-half touchdown by breaking outside to the left, then crossing the field before being dragged down at the Holy Cross three-yard line.

When Harvard needed him in the second half, Menick allowed the Crimson to run down the clock, tire out the Holy Cross defense and put the game away.

"You just cannot put our defense in that position against a very good offensive team," said Holy Cross Coach Dan Allen. "When you play against a team like Harvard and get your defense out there as many plays as they were in the second half, they're going to wear you down."

"Menick's a very good back, he reads his blocks very well. He's a very patient runner and picks his holes well."

After Holy Cross had cut the lead to 31-24, Menick----err, Harvard--started from the 33. Menick showed his speed on the first play, sweeping right for 23 yards. He then showed his ability to run inside on an 11-yard counter.

He ran twice more for 17 yards then ended the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.

In case you don't want to do the math, that's five rushes for 66 yards. On Harvard's next possession, which opened up the fourth quarter, Menick ran seven times and scored his second touchdown on a one-yard option left.

Harvard went for two, and guess who caught the conversion pass? Number 39, who lined up at fullback and ran a little hook to the middle.

To cap off a day of hard work, Menick scored on a cutback to his right from 10 yards out.

"I knew I was getting a lot of carries, but I try to take it one carry at a time," Menick said. "It was getting tough there because a couple times I had four or five carries in a row and was getting tired, but if you convince yourself you're not tired, you can make yourself feel better."

That kind of battering-ram mentality has allowed Menick to carry the load after junior co-starter Troy Jones was lost with a sprained ankle.

Menick's efficiency and durability gives Harvard reassurance for all the times the oft-injured Jones is unavailable.

"Chris is a warrior," Murphy said. "The instinctive things and the intangibles in terms of how hard he plays are things that you can't understand until he plays a couple of games.

The longer the game goes, the stronger he gets. He's got outstanding vision, and he's getting better."