Injury Forces Penn's Freshman QB To Start

PHILADELPHIA—As the seconds ticked down before kickoff, the Quaker quarterback situation was still unclear. Starter Pat McDermott was on the sideline, fully dressed. But backups Bryan Walker and Joey Boaen were both equally visible, taking warmup snaps and jogging around as though either one could dash out on the field when the call came.

Harvard won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Quakers returned the kickoff to the 25-yard line, and the moment of truth was at hand.

Out onto the field trotted No. 17 Bryan Walker, a freshman who had never before thrown a collegiate pass. And thus ended a week of rumors and speculation about who would be under center for Penn for the most important game of the season.

McDermott, the league leader in per-game passing and offense, had absorbed a bone-crunching hit on Penn’s final play against Princeton last week, leaving his availability for the Harvard game in doubt. As Saturday’s title bout with the Crimson neared, various diagnoses sprang up on websites and newspapers from Philadelphia to Cambridge. A bruised collarbone. A broken collarbone. An injury to his non-throwing shoulder. McDermott wouldn’t play. He’d play, but not start.

“We didn’t think Pat was even going to be an option,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli admitted. “We didn’t really know until just before kickoff that he was going to be cleared to play.”

But for all the flurry about who would be at the helm for the Quakers, in the end it didn’t really make a difference who started or who played. The Crimson defense overshadowed its league-leading Penn counterpart, holding the Quakers out of the end zone until the last minutes of the game.

“I kind of goaded our defense the last week and all week kept saying, ‘How ’bout that Penn defense?’ because they’ve had such a tremendous defensive team in general,” Murphy said. “And our guys really rose to the occasion and played extremely hard and extremely well.”

Walker didn’t look too shabby for an inexperienced freshman, completing 18 of 30 passes for 178 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was quick on his feet and didn’t seem intimidated by his collegiate debut in the highest-pressure environment the Ivy League has to offer.

“I felt as prepared as I possibly could have been,” Walker said. “I got a lot of reps in practice and the coaches made a pretty simple game plan to follow.”

On the first Quaker drive, the McDermott-less offense was certainly effective, gaining yards on every play as Walker repeatedly handed off to tailback Sam Mathews or dumped the ball off quickly to his receivers. The Quakers made it as far as the Crimson seven-yard line and came out with a field goal and an early 3-0 lead.

Those points were all the Harvard defense would allow until the last three minutes of the game. Walker was, after all, the textbook definition of a rookie quarterback, and it would have taken a perfect game from an experienced signal caller to combat a ferocious Crimson defense. “We knew if we were able to stop Penn’s running game and force them into a passing game with a younger quarterback that would give us an advantage,” senior linebacker Bobby Everett said.

Penn finished with 263 yards of offense, including just 68 on the ground. With Mathews effectively neutralized by an oppressive rush defense—he gained just six net yards in the second half—Penn had no choice but to rely on the young arm of Walker and, for a time, the wounded one of McDermott. After the Crimson stung the Quaker secondary on its first drive of the second half with a 43-yard touchdown from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to sophomore wide receiver Corey Mazza, McDermott came into the game. He was in for three series, just long enough to affirm that there would be no dramatic comeback.

With a popped and aching collarbone, it wasn’t likely. Either way, Everett’s defense wasn’t about to let the game get out of Harvard’s control, regardless of who was throwing the football.

“Obviously those are very difficult circumstances to deal with and I’m sure that contributed to [the win],” Murphy said of the quarterback situation. “But I think our defense was up to the task no matter what.”

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