Turnovers Lead Crimson Effort Over Cornell

ITHACA, N.Y. — In a game most notable for the curiously eccentric musical stylings of the Cornell Marching Band—including a bizarre rendition of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at halftime and such favorites as the themes from “The A-Team” and “The Gummy Bears”—Harvard’s team effort against Cornell was beyond compare as the Crimson defense and various field goal attempts went bouncing here and there and everywhere.

Looking at the numbers from Saturday’s game, it is clear that the important factors were a lack turnovers and Harvard’s swarming defense. Also of note was the futility of both sets of kicking teams as all five field goals attempts were unsuccessful.

Despite all of this, it was a solid outing for a Harvard squad (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) that remains undefeated and has the best start to a season since 1980.

First-year Coach Tim Pendergast has his hands full in Ithaca, however, as Cornell (0-4, 0-2) is off to one of its worst starts in school history.

Turning Over a New Leaf

When asked about why the Crimson was 4-0 for the first time in a generation, Harvard Coach Tim Murphy summed it up succintly:

“If there’s one statistic that is responsible for us being 4-0, it would be turnover differential,” Murphy said.

It is easy to see what Murphy means.

Last year’s team coughed up the ball 36 times in 10 games. That 3.6 turnovers per game average has been drastically reduced to 0.5.

Senior quarterback Neil Rose has been a model of efficiency, throwing for six touchdowns on the season with no interceptions. The offense has been responsile for only one of the Crimson’s two turnovers this season—a Rodney Thomas fumble off a screen pass. Otherwise, Harvard has been flawless.

On the other side of the ball, the Crimson defense has forced 12 turnovers in four games. Harvard’s 2.67 turnover differential entering the Cornell game was the second lowest in the nation. When this week’s rankings are released, the Crimson has a shot at being No. 1.

Cornell learned the hard way on Saturday just how costly turnovers can be. In its first play from scrimmage after Harvard’s first score, Big Red fullback Brian Ulbricht was hit by senior linebacker Mike Cataldo and turned over the ball to the Crimson on the Cornell 24 yard-line

Two plays later, Harvard was up by two touchdowns.

Then, on Cornell’s next drive, senior quarterback Ricky Rahne drove the Big Red down to the Harvard 29 only to have the drive killed when Ulbricht lost another fumble.

Pendergast had the best take.

“Harvard has a damn good football team, but we really hurt ourselves with those turnovers,” he said.

Tenacious D: Healthy and Hungry

If not for a garbage-time touchdown pass from Rahne to junior Keith Ferguson, Harvard would have shutout the Big Red.

Instead, the Crimson defense had to settle for an utterly dominating performance.

All-Ivy sophomore Dante Balestracci returned to the lineup Saturday—apparently to the chagrin and amazement of the usually-competent sports staff of the Cornell Daily Sun—and picked up where he left off.

The 6’2 native of New Bedford, Mass. led the team with 10 tackles and assisted on a sack. Afterwards, Balestracci gave credit to preparation for the defense’s success.

“We watched their tendencies [on film] and we devised a scheme to stop the run,” Balestracci said. “We stopped the run and so it turned out to be a great game plan.”

That’s a huge understatement.

Factoring in sacks and tackles for losses, Cornell ended the day with minus-three rushing yards.

Coupled with six sacks, two forced fumbles, and 75 total tackles, the Crimson pieced together an extraordinary effort.

“This could be the best defensive effort since [I started coaching the team in 1994],” Murphy said.

That’s high praise considering the defensive talent that has come through this program in the last seven seasons.

Lonesome Kickers on “Special Teams”

Depending on your viewpoint, here’s an interesting or depressing statistic to mull over: of the five field goals attempted on Saturday; none went through the uprights.

This weekend’s game was a little dose of deja-vu for the Crimson faithful as sophomore placekicker Robbie Wright missed two field goals in the first twelve minutes.

True to his surname, Wright pushed his first attempt from 31 yards wide right. Two Harvard drives later, Wright threw in a little variety and missed wide left from 29 yards out.

“It was a solid effort all-around,” Murphy told the press after the game.

Except, of course, for the kicking game.

If you guessed that Wright was pulled at this point, you underestimate Murphy’s patience. In fact, Murphy replaced Wright with junior Anders Blewitt only after Wright missed a point-after attempt following the Crimson’s first score.

To his credit, Blewitt made both of his two point-after attempts. He did however, also miss a field goal when his 39-yard try sailed right and short on the last play of the second half.

And Harvard’s “special” teams should not be singled out. Cornell’s senior kicker Peter Iverson not only missed a field goal from 48 yards, he also had a 35-yard field goal attempt blocked in the second quarter.

Combined the teams went 0-for-5 on field goals and 2-for-3 on extra points. Unless of course, you count failed two-point conversions, in which case that latter number drops to 2-for-5.

Either way, nothing too “special.”