Dawson Inches Towards Record Book

Even Clifton Dawson is entitled to an occasional off day.

One week removed from his first sub-100-yard showing in 10 games, Harvard’s sophomore tailback returned to form, eclipsing the century mark yet again en route to two touchdowns.

Was he anxious for the chance to redeem himself?

“Definitely,” Dawson said. “A win is a win. But it feels a bit better when I’m able to contribute rushing the ball.”

The scores push his mid-season tally to 12—11 of which have come on ground. Both totals are just two short of single-year marks set by Chris Menick ’00 in 1997.

Though Northeastern prevented Dawson from breaking one of his characteristic 70-plus-yard touchdown bursts—he came close only once, dragged down while attempting to split two defensive backs after a 24-yard gain—the Huskies lacked the dominance at the line of scrimmage exhibited by Cornell one week earlier. Frequently taking handoffs out of the shotgun via the halfback draw, Dawson ground his way through the front four and into the linebacking corps for four or five yards at a time to balance the Crimson passing attack.

PLAYING THE FIELD

Though Harvard’s offense was certainly aided by the soft coverage provided by Northeastern’s cornerbacks, the field position afforded by the Huskies didn’t hurt either.

On average, the Crimson took possession at its own 41-yard line, a dramatic improvement over its average-to-poor starting points in its first four games.

“For the first time in a long time, we had great field position in the game,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “I think that was the result of an outstanding job by our special teams and our defense to get us some short fields. And when you get some short fields, that’s how you put 40 points on the board.”

Thanks to three fumbles and pair of lousy punts, the Crimson started inside Northeastern territory on five separate occasions, subsequently scoring 13 points on the three series engineered by the first string. And on the three kickoffs Harvard received, returns of over 20 yards by Brian Edwards, Ryan Tyler and Corey Waller, respectively, assured solid field position.

The Huskies, on the other hand, took over past midfield just twice, on average beginning at their own 29-yard line. Though the Crimson again struggled on its kickoffs, junior punter Mike King frequently pinned Northeastern deep, lofting each of his three attempts inside the 20-yard line, two of which were downed inside the 10.

CONVERSION RATES

Harvard consistently capitalized in crucial situations on Saturday, while the Huskies regularly came away with nothing.

The Crimson cashed in on each of its seven trips to the red zone, racking up five touchdowns while booting two field goals. Northeastern was not nearly so efficient, twice pushing the ball past the goal line in the first two quarters before coming away empty handed in its two second-half attempts.

The third-down statistics were almost equally telling. With its first string in the ballgame, Harvard converted eight of 13 third downs—and its only fourth down—to keep its drives alive. The Huskies turned the ball over on downs once while gaining first-down yardage on third down just one.

“They had a lot of screens and draws, and they did a lot of counter plays with the pulling guard from the backside,” junior linebacker Matt Thomas said. “We were alert for a lot of that kind of stuff, and also we just wanted to put some pressure on them. Just one of the biggest things besides turning the ball over is to keep stopping them, three and out, three and out and that was the emphasis today. The offense was rolling. We just had to get the ball back in their hands.”

FOURTH AND THREE

Harvard is just one of three undefeated teams in Division I-AA following Saturday’s win. Cal-Poly and Jacksonville St. are both 6-0...Brian Edwards hauled in his first touchdown pass of the season on Saturday, a 13-yard score from Fitzpatrick. The senior wide receiver had already passed for a touchdown and returned both a punt and a kickoff for a score...Harvard’s 41 points are the most scored by the Crimson this season.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.