One Hundred Years Later, Same Result

It was an unhappy, yet historically fitting 100th birthday for Harvard Stadium. In the inaugural game at the Crimson’s home venue in 1903, Dartmouth beat Harvard 11-0. One hundred years later, the Stadium saw a similar outcome, much to the disappointment of the crowd gathered for the Centennial Celebration.

Saturday marked the first time the Crimson had fallen to Dartmouth since a 6-3 loss at Harvard Stadium in 1996. It was not only the first Harvard loss of the season but also the Crimson’s first to an unranked team since a 34-24 loss to Yale in 2000. Ranked No. 16 this week, Harvard will likely drop out of the polls with this weekend’s defeat.

No One to Blame but Themselves

The final 30-16 margin does not come close to revealing how ugly the Crimson’s defeat was.

The score fails to betray how badly Harvard was burned on penalties that killed Crimson drives just as they gained momentum and extended Dartmouth drives that should have died at three-and-out.

Harvard was tabbed for nine penalties amounting to 100 yards, including two for unsportsmanlike conduct. Both of those calls were followed by Dartmouth scores, including one resulting from celebration after a Crimson touchdown that gave the Big Green a 15-yard boost in field position on the kickoff.

More than once, Harvard clawed its way within a yard or two of a first down, only to be bumped back five and ten yards on a holding or procedure call.

Throwing it Away

Turnovers were costly for the Crimson, undermining Harvard drives just when they seemed about to pick up steam. Junior quarterback Garrett Schires had the Crimson, which trailed by seven at the time, threatening on the Dartmouth nine-yard line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half. But on second-and-six, the usually cautious Schires, under pressure from the Big Green defenders, threw an interception to Dartmouth cornerback Mike Ribero on the two-yard line and ended the potential scoring drive.

Junior quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, returning to play after a two-game hiatus due to a broken hand, fared little better, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble—all in the fourth quarter. Two of those turnovers came deep in Dartmouth territory, giving the Big Green possession when Harvard was frantically trying to make up a 14-point deficit.

Kicked to the Curb

Once again, the kicking game was less than perfect, although Harvard coach Tim Murphy did not offer his kickers many opportunities to prove it otherwise.

“I’d be less than honest if I said I had confidence in our kicking game,” Murphy said.

Sophomore kicker Jim Morocco missed Harvard’s first extra-point attempt as a result of a bad snap. Morocco did nail a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter that gave the Crimson an early 9-6 lead. He also made the extra point on Harvard’s only other touchdown.

Morocco finished one-for-one on field goals on the day, as Murphy opted to try to convert on fourth down for the rest of the game.

Even when the Crimson faced fourth-and-goal on the Dartmouth two-yard line with the game tied at nine, the kicking team remained on the sidelines as Schires’ pass to senior tight end Matt Fratto fell incomplete and Harvard ended the drive empty-handed.

The Crimson finished the afternoon three-of-eight on fourth-down conversions, as well as getting only one field goal in three trips into the red zone.

“We may have had 545 yards, but we were inconsistent,” Murphy said. “We had too many turnovers, too many penalties, we couldn’t capitalize in the red zone and those are the sort of things that are going to get you beat against a good team.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.