Ball Four

If watching football is anything like playing, I think I have a pretty good idea of what it felt like for the Harvard football team on Saturday against Lehigh.

I arrived early, before the Lehigh team bus, even, to fire up a grill, break out the chips and toss a pigskin at a tailgate. A brat, two burgers and several dropped fly patterns later, I made my way into Harvard Stadium, just as the sun took the bite out of the brisk October air.

I smiled as Harvard took to field and felt something rare inside me as the team came together in a frenzied mass of energy reminiscent of the excitement and confidence of the 1997 season when Harvard ran through the Ivy schedule like a freight train on a mission.

However, by the time I had wrapped up the post-game press conference three-and-a-half hours later, I was so fatigued and despondent that I did not feel up to eating solid food.

The same miraculous change seemed to come over the actual participants in Saturday's war of wills.

Watching Coach Tim Murphy face the media after the game--shoulders hunched forward, staring straight ahead--was almost painful.

"I really can't disagree with any of that," he said when responding to criticism of his team's performance in a monotone that characterized all his remarks.

Harvard did come out with the fire and energy that has been lacking throughout the 1998 season. For 21:35, Harvard dominated play, going up 17-0.

Even after Lehigh marched down the field, consuming 4:48 for its first score to cut the deficit to 17-7, Harvard appeared to answer, taking just three plays to move across midfield with under four minutes in the half. But senior wideout Jake Heller fumbled the ball off a 20-yard reception that would have put Harvard within field-goal range, and Lehigh recovered.

On the scoreboard, Harvard escaped unscathed when Lehigh missed a field goal wide right in the final minute of play, but in the battle of momentum and confidence, the scales had shifted irreversibly in favor of the Mountain Hawks.

Last season the energy never waned. Down 12-8 in the fourth quarter in a bone-chilling rain against Princeton, then-sophomore Mike Giampaolo kicked two fourth-quarter field goals--including a career-long 43-yard game-winner--to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.

By contrast, this year's team cannot seem to find a reason not to roll over.

Injuries and losses have made it difficult to be confident in this year's team. Last year, the Crimson never faced adversity to the same extent as this year.

This season, it had better learn how to do justthat, or a very good football team is going tofind its season over before it begins.

It is as if 60 minutes of football is just toounbearably long to endure.

"Sometimes I think [junior quarter-back RichLinden] misses Colby and Jared out there, butthey're long gone now," said Murphy of graduatedreceivers Colby Skelton '98 and Jared Chupaila'98.

When something goes wrong, it is as if theCrimson have learned something--that they don'treally think they can win every game.

The Mountain Hawks, on the other hand, werefull of the requisite swagger.

"As ugly as we had looked [in the first half],our coaches and players believed in themselves,"Lehigh Coach Kevin Higgins said. "We knew we couldfind a way to make the big plays."

Forgetting its significance to the game, juniortailback Chris Menick's 15-yard personal foul inthe fourth quarter was indicative of the team'sattitude as well.

Menick lost his composure because he was notable to deal with being beaten on the gridiron,and he lashed out at the opposition.

Last week at Colgate, Harvard was beaten badlyin the trenches. Without Menick in the lineup andwithout sufficient time for Linden to release theball, the offense was doomed from the get-go.

Against Lehigh, the offensive line stepped upand markedly improved its play. It allowed only onesack during the second-half meltdown, and Lindenrarely found himself on his back after he releasedthe ball.

"Our men played hard today," Murphy said. "Ithink our offensive line was solid."

Instead, it was largely the veterans, the starsof the Crimson squad, that shot the offense in thefoot. Besides Menick's personal foul, Linden went6-of-18 for 47 yards in the second half, includinga fourth-quarter interception deep in MountainHawk territory on which he overthrew the intendedreceiver by fully 10 yards.

Heller is the lone senior in the wide-out corpswith playing experience and the team's number-tworeturning pass-catcher, yet it was he whocommitted the costly fumble late in the secondquarter that sparked Lehigh.

The players who have the most to gain from thisteam seem the ones who struggled most on Saturday.Menick already holds Harvard's single-seasonrushing record with two seasons left in hiscollegiate career, and barring injury, Linden willsurely become the top passer in Crimson history.

But rather than playing with the confidence,leadership and bravado of players who know theyare the best, Harvard's skill positions playedfrustrated, scared, and afraid.

Nothing has gone right for this team, but therecomes a point when you make your own luck. Harvardneeds to find a way to relish and revel in what itcan do well, and to stick to that bluster throughthick and thin.CrimsonPaul S. GutmanTHAT'S GOTTA HURT: Sophomoredefensive end R.D. KERN (right) delivers a hit onLehigh quarterback PHIL STAMBAUGH duringSaturday's game.

This season, it had better learn how to do justthat, or a very good football team is going tofind its season over before it begins.

It is as if 60 minutes of football is just toounbearably long to endure.

"Sometimes I think [junior quarter-back RichLinden] misses Colby and Jared out there, butthey're long gone now," said Murphy of graduatedreceivers Colby Skelton '98 and Jared Chupaila'98.

When something goes wrong, it is as if theCrimson have learned something--that they don'treally think they can win every game.

The Mountain Hawks, on the other hand, werefull of the requisite swagger.

"As ugly as we had looked [in the first half],our coaches and players believed in themselves,"Lehigh Coach Kevin Higgins said. "We knew we couldfind a way to make the big plays."

Forgetting its significance to the game, juniortailback Chris Menick's 15-yard personal foul inthe fourth quarter was indicative of the team'sattitude as well.

Menick lost his composure because he was notable to deal with being beaten on the gridiron,and he lashed out at the opposition.

Last week at Colgate, Harvard was beaten badlyin the trenches. Without Menick in the lineup andwithout sufficient time for Linden to release theball, the offense was doomed from the get-go.

Against Lehigh, the offensive line stepped upand markedly improved its play. It allowed only onesack during the second-half meltdown, and Lindenrarely found himself on his back after he releasedthe ball.

"Our men played hard today," Murphy said. "Ithink our offensive line was solid."

Instead, it was largely the veterans, the starsof the Crimson squad, that shot the offense in thefoot. Besides Menick's personal foul, Linden went6-of-18 for 47 yards in the second half, includinga fourth-quarter interception deep in MountainHawk territory on which he overthrew the intendedreceiver by fully 10 yards.

Heller is the lone senior in the wide-out corpswith playing experience and the team's number-tworeturning pass-catcher, yet it was he whocommitted the costly fumble late in the secondquarter that sparked Lehigh.

The players who have the most to gain from thisteam seem the ones who struggled most on Saturday.Menick already holds Harvard's single-seasonrushing record with two seasons left in hiscollegiate career, and barring injury, Linden willsurely become the top passer in Crimson history.

But rather than playing with the confidence,leadership and bravado of players who know theyare the best, Harvard's skill positions playedfrustrated, scared, and afraid.

Nothing has gone right for this team, but therecomes a point when you make your own luck. Harvardneeds to find a way to relish and revel in what itcan do well, and to stick to that bluster throughthick and thin.CrimsonPaul S. GutmanTHAT'S GOTTA HURT: Sophomoredefensive end R.D. KERN (right) delivers a hit onLehigh quarterback PHIL STAMBAUGH duringSaturday's game.