Is Lafayette the "Worst Team Ever?"

The Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons would have approved of the Lafayette Leopards football team. After watching Saturday’s game, I could almost hear him scoff with satisfaction, “Worst Team Ever.”

Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Lafayette did score 14 points and managed to hold Harvard’s potent rushing attack to “only” 165 yards. Still, this game was over by the opening kickoff. A busted fake reverse compounded with an offensive holding penalty pushed Lafayette back to their own eight yard line to begin the ballgame. Harvard went on to score 24 unanswered points to put the game out of reach by halftime.

Some would point to last year’s Cornell game as evidence that a 24-point lead at halftime is not necessarily secure. However, the circumstances on Saturday were very different than last year’s stunning defeat at the hands of the Big Red. Most significantly, Cornell was a much better football team than Lafayette. Put bluntly, Lafayette would have trouble scoring 24 points against Harvard’s freshman team.

“I’ve said many times: it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game,” Leopards Coach Frank Tavani said. “We battled hard today and made some progress. Obviously we still have some work to do, but we had our opportunities today.”

You know that when a coach reverts to the “it’s not whether you win or lose” line, the team is in deep, deep trouble. Despite Tavani’s optimistic attitude, Lafayette played a game full of mistakes and miscues from beginning to end. Sure, much credit should be given to the Harvard defense. Senior defensive end Marc Laborsky played the game of his life, recording a sack, a forced fumble, an interception and numerous pass hurries. Yet, Lafayette shot itself in the foot time and time again.

Lafayette failed to advance into Harvard territory until the very last play of the first quarter. A major reason for the squad’s failure to make any progress was the team’s poor field position at the start of each drive. The Leopards ran the same kickoff return play throughout the game. It never worked. It was almost painful to watch, as Lafayette would either run or fake a reverse, losing yardage or (once) turning the ball over in the process. Tavani would not change the return strategy, as if determined to demonstrate to his young football team that his special teams game plan could work if performed correctly. His players just could not execute.

“We’ve worked on that return strategy for a few games now, but I guess once you get into games two and three, other teams will defend it better,” Tavani said.

I guess so.

Whenever Lafayette took a step in the right direction, the Leopards killed their own momentum seconds later. On a fourth-and-goal just before the end of the first half, Lafayette quarterback Marko Glavic seemed to be stopped short of the goalline. However, Glavic used his strength to break a tackle and lunge toward the end zone. Unfortunately, he lost the football on his extension. Laborsky picked the ball up for a touchback to end the half.

“If we had scored at the end of the half, it would have been a whole different ballgame,” Glavic said.

He was probably right. Harvard would have won 38-21 rather than 38-14. Actually, Harvard would not have taken out their starters quite as early, so it may have been 38-14 regardless.

In the third quarter, the Leopards ran a beautifully executed fake punt that turned a 4th-and-long into a first down near midfield—except a holding penalty negated the play. Later in the third, after a 45-yard pass play from Glavic to wide receiver Andrew May, Lafayette had a first down at the Harvard 19-yard line. It looked as though the Leopards may cut into Harvard’s lead until Laborsky’s interception at the Crimson 11-yard line put an end to Lafayette’s hopes.

The Leopards actually controlled the ball for three minutes longer than Harvard did. Lafayette had two more first downs and thirty more passing yards. Yet, the team’s general ineptitude after a positive set of downs was pathetic.

“I’m really content about the way the offense played compared to last week,” Glavic said. “This is a real step in the right direction. Overall, we played much better.”

It is scary to think that Lafayette was proud of its performance. Granted, the team is very young, has little talent with which to work, and has admitted to being in a rebuilding mode. Nevertheless, the general consensus among the coaching staff after the game was that the Leopards had performed monumentally better against Harvard than against Penn the previous week in a 37-0 defeat.

“We’re just not getting the breaks,” Glavic said.

Harvard should be ecstatic about its 2-0 start to the season. Penn nearly lost to Dartmouth on Saturday, squeaking out a one-point victory after blocking an extra point in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. The Crimson have a legitimate chance to win the Ivy League this year and could conceivably finish the season undefeated. Yet, let’s make sure to see this win for what it’s worth. Lafayette is unfortunately a team not ready to play Ivy League-calibre football.

“It was really amazing that our three freshmen offensive linemen were able to step right in there today and contribute at such a high level,” Glavic said. “It looks good for us.”

Oh, it’s never looked brighter in Easton, Pennsylvania. Perhaps next year, the Leopards will defeat the Crimson when the game returns to Lafayette’s Fisher Field. If you happen to be in the crowd watching, just make sure you say hello to Snow White and Rumplestiltskin for me.