Football Battles Penn for Share of Ivy Lead

Three teams are currently tied atop the Ivy League standings with a 4-1 record--Cornell, Harvard, and Penn. Two of these teams will meet this weekend with undefeated records on the line.

Coming off its first home victory of the year, Harvard (5-3, 4-1 Ivy) takes to the road in an attempt to maintain its undefeated away record. Penn (5-3, 4-1), after its first road victory of the season, returns home to its own stadium, where it has posted an undefeated record so far this season.

After this weekend, one record will remain unblemished, while the other will be tarnished.

When the two Ivy brothers clash on the gridiron this Saturday in Philadephia, potentially much more is at stake than undefeated records--this game could decide the Ivy League champion for this season.

While Harvard shut out Columbia at Soldier's Field last week, Penn defeated a quality Princeton team, 40-24, at Princeton Stadium.

Depending on Cornell's success against Columbia this weekend, a Big Red loss could grant the winner of Harvard's game at Penn at least a share of the Ivy League title.

To call this game important is an understatement.

"It's the biggest game of our lives," senior cornerback Willie Alford said. "For all intensive purposes it's our championship game. We've been practicing this week the hardest we've ever practiced."

For the Crimson, a championship would be their first since 1997, when most of the current seniors played only minor roles as freshmen.

"For us seniors, this is even more exciting than our ivy championship during freshman year because this time we're really contributing to the success," said captain Mike Clare.

Last season, Gavin Hoffman rallied his team back from a late fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Crimson 21-17. On fourth down with two minutes left in the game, Hoffman connected with Brandon Carson on a 50-yard touchdown pass to give the Quakers the victory at Harvard Stadium.

With two of the most explosive offenses in Division I-AA, the buildup to the game Saturday has centered around a matchup between Harvard's junior quarterback Neil Rose and Penn's counterpart in Hoffman.

Rose heads into this game with 2,079 passing yards this season, just 56 yards shy of Tom Yohe's '89 (2,134 yards) single-season school record. By halftime, Rose should have his record.

Meanwhile, Hoffman enters this weekend already holding not only the single-season record for Penn, but also the school's single-game and career passing records, all in less than three seasons.

For the Crimson defensive backfield, its priority will be stopping Hoffman.

"We've got something for Gavin Hoffman," Alford says. "We know Hoffman's going to get his yards, but we're confident that we can contain him."

Penn presents an explosive set of wide receivers for Crimson defensive backs. Junior wideout Rob Milanese is fifth in Division I-AA in receptions, averaging 7.4 grabs per game. On the other side of the field, senior Doug O'Neill has 43 catches on the season, averaging over five per game. This powerful combination forces the opposing defenses to concentrate on both receivers, rather than just smothering one of them.

"They're both great receivers, but we're just going to do the same thing we've done all season," Alford says. "We're going to stop them by a bump-and-run coverage and contain their passing game."

With Harvard averaging 42.0 points per game away from home and Penn scoring above 40 points in each of its home wins, both defenses, especially the secondaries, will face strong challenges.

Playing games in the high-scoring Ivy League, Penn and Harvard hold the second and third best defenses in the league statistically, with the Quakers allowing 342.6 yards per game while Harvard gives up an average of 358.9 yards each game.

One wild card in Saturday's matchup could be Harvard's running game, where the Crimson average 185 yards per game on the ground, ranked second in the Ivy League, substantially higher than Penn's 112.8 yards per game average, seventh in the Ivy. Matt Leiszler and Nick Palazzo, neither one the starter at the beginning of the season, give Harvard a potent one-two rushing attack to complement the passing game. Harvard's balanced attack could provide the slight edge necessary for a victory between these almost identical teams.

"We've got to come out and just establish the run," Clare says. "We've got to control the line like we've done the last couple of games."

Even with The Game against Yale looming on the horizon, do not expect the Crimson to be looking ahead.

"All week we've been really focused," says sophomore running back Matt Leiszler. "It's been a really good week for us during practice. No one needs to be reminded of this game's significance. We know we're on the edge of something special."

In the end, the players believe that executing the fundamentals will key a Crimson victory.

"It's going to come down to who makes the plays, who forces the turnovers, who holds on to the ball," Leiszler says.

The Crimson hopes their practices predict victory on Saturday.

However, one thing practice cannot provide for the Crimson is the real Gavin Hoffman, the real Penn offense, and the real atmosphere of a stadium of hostile fans in the most important game in the players' football lives.

This may be the true "Game" this season.