Perfection Sought in Imperfect Place

One way or the other, Harvard will make history this weekend.

Beat Yale in the 118th installment of the Game, and the Crimson would cement this season as one of the best ever. Harvard (8-0, 6-0 Ivy) would win the Ivy League title outright and complete its first perfect season since 1913.

Lose, and this year’s senior class will become the first ever to lose all four years to the hated Elis (3-5, 1-5) in nearly a century. Harvard would almost certainly have to settle for a share of the Ivy championship with Penn, unless Cornell pulls off a giant upset against the Quakers.

“If we lose The Game, the season would be a disappointment,” senior tailback Josh Staph said. “We want to end the season undefeated—it would be terrible for us to go out on a losing note.”

Harvard enters the game ranked No. ??? in the country in Division I-AA after last week’s thrilling victory over Penn. It’s the team’s highest ranking ever. The Elis enter the game on a four-game losing streak.

While the Crimson is the clear favorite over a struggling Yale squad, recent years have proved that—like in any rivalry—nothing is certain when these two teams play.

In 1999, an undermanned Harvard team took league champion Yale to the brink in New Haven, losing only on a disputed touchdown with just seconds left to play.

Last year the Elis flustered the Crimson into committing seven turnovers—five in the fourth quarter—en route to a 34-24 upset win.

“They have nothing to lose,” Staph said. “In these games, you throw out all the records—anything can happen.”

Yale is but a shell of the team that beat Harvard last year and shared the Ivy title in 1999. Gone from last year’s squad are the top playmakers on offense and seven defensive starters.

Perhaps the key loss from last year is wide receiver Eric Johnson, best known to Harvard faithful for catching a team-record 20 passes against the Crimson in 1999. A 21st “catch” off of the endzone turf with seconds left to go gave Yale the come-from-behind 24-21 win that year.

Johnson is now the starting tight-end with the San Francisco 49ers.

The uncertainty for Yale starts at quarterback, where, at press time, no starter had been named for tomorrow’s game.

After throwing every pass last season, Peter Lee began this season as the starter and played reasonably well, throwing 10 touchdown passes to only one interception, including a streak of more than 200 attempts without a pick.

However, Lee struggled with accuracy, completing barely more than 50 percent of his passes, and his pass efficiency rating is one of the lowest in the league.

A series of injuries to Lee has forced Yale to turn to backup quarterback T.J. Hyland the past two games. After an impressive performance against a weak Fordham team earlier in the season, Hyland has struggled mightily of late, and has thrown for only two touchdowns against nine interceptions.

On the other hand, Hyland has done damage with his running ability, gaining more than 100 yards on the ground last week against Princeton.

At press time, no starter had been named for Saturday’s game, but Lahaie said the defense should be ready for both.

“You always hate scramblers because they’re a pain, but we’ve done well containing these types of quarterbacks so far,” Lahaie said. “Either way we’ll be able to handle them.”

Whoever takes the snaps Saturday will have a quality target to throw to in Billy Brown. One of the better receivers in the league, Brown is third in the league in receptions, averaging more than 100 yards per game.

“He’s quick and he has size too,” Lahaie said. “We’ve definitely got to keep an eye on him.”

Brown can be shut down, however—a usually-porous Brown Bear secondary held the Yale receiver to just one catch for 11 yards en route to a 37-34 victory.

While the Elis possess a strong pass offense, their running game has struggled all year. Due to a combination of injuries and ineffective play, no Yale running back has established himself as a legitimate threat. In fact, Hyland is the team’s third leading rusher despite playing in only three complete games all season.

Jay Schulze has been Yale’s featured back since an impressive performance against Fordham. Schulze, however, has yet to gain more than 70 yards in an Ivy game.

Yale will have to move the ball against the league’s second-best scoring defense in Harvard. After containing the balanced, high-powered Penn offense last week, Harvard figures to have an easier time with Yale—at least on paper.

Despite returning only four starters, Yale’s own defense ranks second in the league in yards allowed. However, the unit has struggled keeping the opposition out of the endzone in recent weeks, surrendering 37 points to Brown and 34 to Princeton, the worst offense in the league.

Harvard’s offense has been virtually unstoppable the last two games under quarterback Neil Rose. Two weeks ago, Rose led the Crimson to 38 first-half points against Columbia before leaving the game with a mild injury. Last week against Penn, the quarterback turned in perhaps the finest performance of his career, completing 18-of-26 passes for 270 yards, three touchdowns and—again—no interceptions. These numbers came against the nation’s top-ranked scoring defense entering the game.

Rose will undoubtedly look early and often to junior receiver Carl Morris on Saturday. A frontrunner for Ivy Player of the Year, Morris’s nine catches for 155 yards were crucial in last week’s upset win. The star receiver now holds eight of nine Harvard receiving records. He has more than twice as many catches and receiving yards as any other Crimson player.

Harvard’s league-leading running attack is now rounding into form after struggling early in the season. Speedy junior tailback Nick Palazzo leads the team in rushing, averaging more than five yards per carry. The return of Staph from an ankle injury has given the Crimson an effective one-two combination of speed and power. The two combined for 142 yards on the ground against a stifling Penn rushing defense that had allowed just 43 yards per carry.

Whatever happens, Harvard is unlikely to give the game away. The Crimson has turned the ball over only seven times all season—best in the nation. Taking care of the ball has been a point of emphasis for the Crimson all year, after giveaways cost the team several games last season.

Despite the Crimson’s obvious advantages on paper, nothing is certain against Yale.

“We definitely feel like we should win,” Lahaie said. “But we should’ve won last year too. We want to go out on top, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we win.”

“We don’t want any co-championship, we want the championship outright,” Staph added. “This is our championship game.”