Offensive Line Turns Question Mark Into Exclamation Point

One might think that losing four all-Ivy offensive linemen, including two First-Teamers, would make that unit a question mark and a potential liability in the first game of Harvard’s football season.

Instead, the battle in the trenches turned out to be a decisive victory for the Crimson, which allowed the offensive playmakers to rack up nearly 500 total yards and four touchdowns.

The new line includes only one returning starter from last year, senior right tackle Jamil Soriano. Against Holy Cross on Saturday, Harvard Coach Tim Murphy entrusted the safety of his star quarterback, senior Neil Rose—as well as running backs Nick Palazzo and Rodney Thomas—to a bunch of players who were hardly unknown but definitely inexperienced.

The left side features junior Joe Traverso at tackle and senior Jack Fadule on the inside. Starting on Saturday at right guard was senior Lane Arnold, though junior James Bakken saw the balance of the time in the second half.

And standing right in front of Rose every play, looking between his legs and snapping the ball, was the youngest of the group—sophomore center Andy Smith.

Harvard’s offense relies on a balanced attack of power rushing and precise passing. The rushing game is vertical, and focused on going between the tackles. Many of the pass plays are timing routes that depend on the synchronicity of the line, the quarterback and his receivers. Pass protection is key. On Saturday, Rose had time to throw every time he dropped back, and was only sacked once. As a result, he completed 19-of-22 passes, including two touchdowns.

“The line did a great job,” Rose said. “They got to see the offensive line last year—how they operated, how they worked together. Being behind that line was just like being behind our line last year.”

That is no small praise coming from Rose. The 2001unit included First-Team All-Ivy selections Justin Stark and center Jason Hove. More than that, many of the seniors who saw time on the line last season were part of Rose’s blocking group or lived in his dorm—which meant that they were used to each other and intuitively trusted one another.

By contrast, with the exception of Soriano, Rose had very little work with the new line, since he spent the spring at home in Hawaii and injuries prevented him from practicing much of the pre-season. Sure, the linemen had worked together with the backups, but it was reasonable to assume that, at least in its first game, there might be a plethora of false starts or holding penalties. Instead, there was only one such penalty.

“I knew this was going to be the game they finally got to jell,” Rose said.

The most impressive performance against Holy Cross came from neophyte Smith. He had the extra pressure of having to deal with the Crusaders’ version of Gilbert Brown in the form of 360-lb. nose tackle Nick Soivilien.

Smith and the guards worked on double-teaming Soivilien and usually got him turned around and out of the play, while at the same time managing to pick up blitzing linebackers like Holy Cross’s David Dugan.

“[I give credit] for a sophomore center in our offense, which has a lot of shotgun,” Murphy said. “For what he did, you know every play he has to call out the protection, or shotgun the ball.”

Smith’s youth is a rarity in Murphy’s and offensive line coach Jim Turner’s philosophy, but playing the 6’4, 250-lb center from Ohio was a necessity. The preseason No. 1 center, senior Joe Price, injured his back and will not play again. Additionally, senior Nate Torinus, who can play at both center and right guard, injured his ankle earlier in the week and had to sit out Saturday’s contest. That meant Smith played almost the entire game, but it doesn’t mean the coaching staff knew exactly what to expect.

“I didn’t even know his first name [coming into camp],” Murphy said of Smith.

While much of what an offensive line does during the game is only visible when it screws up, the unit made itself very visible early in the game. Twice in the first half, Harvard decided to go for it on fourth down and one yard to go and both times, Rose simply took the snap and surged ahead with his line to get the necessary gain.

As the Ivy season begins and the contests get tougher while the weather gets rougher, Harvard will have to convert more and more of those crucial fourth downs or short yardage plays to keep drives alive and the opposing defense on the field. The new offensive line got an “A” on Saturday, but it’s still going to have to pass weekly tests to prove its worth.

—Staff writer Rahul Rohatgi can be reached at rohatgi@fas.harvard.edu.