Doing Themselves One Better: Rose, Morris Shatter Records at Dartmouth With Pass-Happy Attack

HANOVER, N.H.—Forget about the SI Jinx.

His first game after being featured in Sports Illustrated, senior All-American Carl Morris turned in arguably the best performance of his career to lead Harvard to a 31-26 victory over Dartmouth at Memorial Field on Saturday.

The win—the Crimson’s 11th straight against Ivy opponents—kept Harvard (5-2, 4-0 Ivy) firmly atop the Ivy League standings and left the Big Green (3-4, 2-2) looking toward next season.

On a day when the Crimson’s running and kicking games were atrocious, the aerial attack was as good as it has ever been.

Morris teamed up with senior quarterback Neil Rose—who made the most of his return to the starter’s role—to break seven school records and provide an unforgettable offensive performance.

“We said going in, we’re going to have to ride [Morris],” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “Even when he’s double-covered, he finds a way to come up with the ball.”

Perhaps the only person who won’t forever remember Morris’ 21-catch, 257-yard day is Morris himself.

With seven minutes remaining in the game and Harvard leading 24-19, Morris sustained a blow to the head while hauling in an eight-yard reception. He departed with a mild concussion and did not return.

But by the time sophomore Rodney Byrnes capped the same drive with a three-yard plunge with 3:49 to play, Morris was bouncing happily on the sidelines and the Crimson had a 31-19 lead. The Crimson’s lead—and its star receiver—were healthy again.

Harvard received one final scare on a late but furious Big Green comeback attempt.

Needing only a first down to run out the clock, sophomore back-up tailback Ricky Williamson fumbled to halt a game-sealing drive on the Dartmouth 18-yard line. With 1:47 remaining in the game, Big Green senior quarterback Brian Mann engineered an 11-play, 82-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard strike to junior wide receiver Jay Barnard.

The touchdown pulled Dartmouth within one score with 16 seconds remaining, but when the onside kick attempt bounced straight into the grasp of the always sure-handed sophomore Dante Balestracci, the comeback came to a close.

“Coming in we felt that they are a very good, young, aggressive football team,” Murphy said. “They had a furious comeback. We never felt like we had put them away.”

Leading 18-13 at the half, Harvard had a chance to ice the game in the third quarter, when the usually potent Dartmouth offense was checked.

The Big Green began each of its first three drives of the second half near midfield, needing to drive only 50 yards to take the lead. But the Crimson defense put together an impressive stretch of stinginess, forcing two three-and-outs and a fumble.

Despite yielding 492 yards to the Dartmotuh offense, Harvard did not allow a first down until 1:45 remained in the third quarter.

“It’s not frustrating that we were playing well and didn’t win,” said Dartmouth senior tight end Casey Cramer. “It’s frustrating that we didn’t capitalize and get the first down when we needed to.”

The Harvard offense, looking more one-dimensional that it has all season, struggled much of the third quarter as well. The lone exception was a seven-play, 87-yard drive highlighted by flawless execution from Rose.

Rose completed five-of-five passes for 69 yards on the drive, including three consecutive completions to Morris. The drive culminated in an 11-yard touchdown reception by Byrnes, the last of three TD passes for Rose.

“They would give me a couple of plays, two or three plays at a time,” Rose said. “It takes a lot of thinking and a lot of practice [to make the right decisions]. But the good thing about this offense is that if you can get the system down, there isn’t a defense that can stop it.”

Rose was close to unstoppable on the day, breaking his own single-game school records for passing yards (443), total yards (449) and completions (36). Morris broke four of his own records, including single-game yards and receptions and single-season yards (1,068) and receptions (73).

“I had no idea the numbers we were putting up,” Rose said. “I realized Carl was having a huge game sometime in the third quarter when I realized all the balls he was getting.”

All of this came just one week after a healthy Rose didn’t start for the first time since the second week of the 2000 season in favor of sophomore Ryan Fitzpatrick.

On Saturday, Fitzpatrick’s only snaps at quarterback came in mop-up duty. The quarterback controversy seems to be over.

Murphy said Fitzpatrick will continue to take snaps at quarterback during practice, but that he will also attempt to find another way to utilize the sophomore who played an integral role in every game this season prior to Saturday.

Against Dartmouth, Fitzpatrick lined up as a receiver several times during the game but never had a pass thrown his way.

“We always try to get the best 11 athletes on the field, and we feel that he’s one of those athletes,” Murphy said.

Perhaps Fitzpatrick could play running back or kick field goals.

With senior tailback Nick Palazzo sidelined with a shoulder injury, instead of grinding out yardage the Harvard running game ground to a halt.

Byrnes, playing both receiver and running back, struggled to find holes and picked up only 39 yards on 18 carries. When Byrnes lined up at receiver, freshman Ryan Tyler—who leap-frogged senior Rodney Thomas and sophomores Williamson and Nick Carrington on the depth chart—got the carries. But Tyler was ineffective as well, gaining only 13 yards on five carries.

The Crimson finished with only 85 yards on the ground, and its longest rushing play came on a 17-yard reverse by Fitzpatrick during his only series at quarterback.

The kicking game—one week after freshman Jim Morocco emerged as a potential solution—was as bad as it ever has been.

Harvard opened the game by efficiently driving to the Dartmouth six yard line, but Morocco’s 23-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. Then Morocco capped Harvard’s first score by shanking the extra point attempt, leaving Harvard with only a 6-0 lead. The first half concluded with an ugly attempt at a 42-yard field goal by Morocco, which landed near the base of the uprights.

Harvard only attempted one kick in the second half, a successful extra point by senior Anders Blewett.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.