Don’t Bet on Repeat

It had the feel of one of those swimsuit magazine photo shoots, except the models—seniors Neil Rose and Carl Morris, plus junior Dante Balestracci—were glistening with sweat instead of tanning oil, and the set was the less-than-exotic concrete monolith of Harvard Stadium.

In any case, quarterback, wideout and linebacker were all making love to the cameras during last week’s football media day, playfully pitching a prop pigskin back and forth to each other as flashbulbs popped.

In a no-frills league with low attendance, modest television coverage and no possibility for postseason play, this is as glamorous as it gets.

Cover boys Rose, Morris and Balestracci—three of the conference’s four biggest talents, along with Brown’s Chas Gessner—have made Harvard the sexy pick for this year’s Ivy championship. The Crimson was overwhelmingly voted to repeat in last month’s survey of the league’s sportswriters in a likely bow to the big-play possibilities of Harvard’s Big Three.

But while Harvard may boast star power at its skill positions, there are serious question marks everywhere else. There was irony in the fact that while Rose, Morris and Balestracci were mugging for the camera and fielding interviews left and right Friday, the players who may prove most critical in determining Harvard’s fate this year were literally standing off in the shadows.

That’s where Harvard’s nondescript offensive and defensive linemen were milling—nondescript not only because of the nature of their position, but also because they’re almost entirely new.

Senior tackle Jamil Soriano is the only returning regular starter on a revamped offensive line. The defensive line returns no one from last year. Half of the secondary is gone, too.

With 13 of 22 starters lost—including six All-Ivy honorees on defense—the 2002 Crimson doesn’t even halfway resemble last year’s Ivy champions. Which, of course, makes the near-unanimous selection of them to repeat all the more puzzling.

“On one hand, I wasn’t shocked that we were picked first,” Coach Tim Murphy told reporters when the poll was released last month, “but on the other hand, when you lose most of your defense and still get picked first, you wonder what the heck is going on.”

Murphy, mind you, gains nothing from these inflated expectations. It tookthe best Harvard football season since 1913 to shut up the critics who grumbled over his teams’ history of late-game meltdowns. Now, in 2002, Murphy has no experience at several key positions, no gimmes on the schedule and, in the face of such odds, no room for error.

From pass protection to run blocking, pass rushing to rush defense, there are just too many things that need to conveniently fall into place for Harvard to be seriously expected to repeat, let alone revisit perfection. Not when there are teams out there like Brown, with an offense almost as explosive as Harvard’s and fewer holes to fill on defense, or, this reporter’s pick to take the crown, Princeton. The Tigers return 19 starters and may have the most accomodating schedule, facing Harvard, Penn and Brown all at home.

This isn’t to say that the Crimson can’t defend its title. In fact, for all of the chaos wreaked by graduation, some of the turnover may be for the better.

After a one-season hiatus, junior pass-catcher Kyle Cremarosa is back. In an offense that will need to overcome double-coverage of Morris, Cremarosa and sophomore Rodney Byrnes may pose even bigger distractions to opposing secondaries than last year’s serviceable tandem of Dan Farley ’02 and Sam Taylor ‘02.

Plus, there are enough familiar faces to provide stabilty on both sides of the ball. Junior tight end Matt Fratto, who showed great pass-catching potential in The Game last year, gives Rose yet another weapon. And, after flirting with a transition to linebacker, senior Niall Murphy will apparently remain at safety, shoring up the secondary. Also, John Perry will be back alongside Balestracci at linebacker.

In other words, barring disaster, Harvard will be very successful in 2002.

But if observers continue to make last year’s undefeated title squad the standard for this season, the Crimson will only be set up to fail.