Tenacious D: Defense Wins Championships

In the waning hours of a presidential campaign in which each side has been feverishly trading clichs, the Harvard football team decided on Saturday to switch an old clich for a new one.

With the dominating defensive effort that led to a 34-0 shutout win over the Columbia Lions, it appears as though the Crimson is no longer relying on "the best defense being a good offense." Instead, with the elevated play of Harvard's defensive cadre of players, it seems that the team now feels that "defense wins championships."

It wasn't always pretty or by the book, but the defense performed well-- especially under pressure. Columbia penetrated the red zone four times and twice had the ball within Harvard's 10-yard line. Yet the Lions came away empty-handed as the Crimson played its best with its back against the wall.

"We felt like we had something to prove, because we struggled early in the year," said junior defensive end Marc Laborsky. "I think a lot of our young players matured a lot out there."

Although the younger members of Harvard's defense contributed a great deal to the shutout effort, it was the upperclassmen who had the standout plays.

On Columbia's first drive of the game, the Lions went for it on fourth-and-inches. As soon as running back Johnathan Reese accepted the hand-off, senior linebacker Michael Green burst into the backfield and tackled him for a loss of five yards. The turnover on downs allowed the Harvard offense to march down the field and put the game out of reach with its second straight touchdown.

Later in the game, after a seemingly costly Crimson turnover left the Lions at Harvard's 11 yard-line, the defense firmly held its ground. On the third play of that drive, junior defensive end Phil Scherrer intercepted an errant Columbia pass to end the Lions scoring threat.

The rest of the game provided examples of not only individuals stepping up and having major impacts on specific plays, but rather a cohesive unit coming together and resiliently resisting any attacks by the Lions. In short, it was tenacious "D."

It was easily Harvard's best defensive game all year. More importantly, the recent success of Harvard's defense hasn't been a fluke. Rather, the Crimson defense has steadily improved and learned to compete as a unified ensemble of skilled players. On Saturday, the defense matched the success of the offense, and now the Crimson can be considered a balanced team.

The dramatic progress made on defense has, as the clich indicates, made Harvard a serious championship contender.

"Our development as a team, and the fact we're alive in the title picture, is directly correlated to how our defense has improved," said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy.

To keep hope alive, however, the defense will have to continue to improve and save its best performances for a tough Penn team on the road and a perennially competitive Yale team at home. Based on what I've seen, the Crimson is up to the challenge.

In addition to praising the developing strength of the defense, I should devote some time to discussing another area essential to a final run at the Ivy Title - the placekicking situation. Two weeks ago, when the Crimson special teams specialists were anything but special, I wrote a sarcastic column lamenting our field goal kicking woes.

Well, I'm glad to be able to take back my good-natured cynicism. On Saturday, freshman Robbie Wright kicked two solid field goals on two attempts, snapping a streak of eight straight missed opportunities and silencing me and anyone else who made light of the kicking problem.

In fact, in honor of the two field goals (which was double the entire season output up to that point), I would like to dedicate this column to Robbie "He finally got it" Wright.

And since I'm feeling the placekicking love and want to atone for my prior label of Anders "Oh no, he" Blewitt, I'll take back what I wrote and try to put a more positive spin on it. How about Anders "I'm sure he's a great guy, so it's ok that he occasionally" Blewitt?

Anyway, mild kidding aside, it is a promising bonus that Harvard can now count on some production from its kicking game and not be an exclusively "four down" team. If the games against Penn or Yale end up being close, I have faith that the placekickers will be able to contribute to the team's offensive efforts and provide the decisive edge.

So, what's the verdict for the final two weeks of the 2000 season? Well, things are looking good for the Crimson. With an offense that is more potent than any in recent memory, a defense that has substantially ratcheted up its level of play and a kicking team which is gaining confidence, Harvard certainly has the tools to walk away with the Ivy hardware.

Although the toughest competition is yet to come, I think that our team will continue to impress and play as well, if not better, than it has in the last few weeks. This team has been through adversity and it has withstood the growing pains of a young roster. The Crimson is for real, and is ready to prove the preseason pollsters and pundits wrong.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they get a piece of the [Ivy] title, or win it outright," Columbia Coach Ray Tellier said.

The signs all point to it. The last time the Crimson defense was dominant enough to shutout an opponent was in 1997. Remember what happened that year?

Neil Rose has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season. Only two other Harvard quarterbacks have ever done that--Tom Yohe '89 in 1987 and Rich Linden '00 in 1997. Remember what happened in 1987 and 1997? It may be brash, but it seems the writing is on the wall.

You read it here first: Harvard Crimson, 2000 Ivy League Champions.