Muddy Conditions Can't Stop Harvard

EASTON, Pa.—The field looked bad. It played worse.

A week ago, Lafayette, Columbia, and a torrential downpour combined to turn the Fisher Field turf into a veritable swamp. Constant rainfall and a broken drainage system hadn’t improved the conditions by kickoff Saturday, despite clear skies.

Fortunately for the Crimson, the weather in Boston rivals that in Pennsylvania.

“I think it rained almost as much up at Harvard,” senior fullback Kelly Widman said, “and we had a whole practice field of mud, just like out there.”

“This is better than our field,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy added.

The layer of mud masked a good six inches of water that splashed up as the players scrambled for a foothold. Several times it proved costly to the Crimson—quarterback Liam O’Hagan sacked himself for a loss of seven yards in the second quarter as he slipped in the backfield. Lafayette’s Joe Ort was able to take a pass from quarterback Pat Davis 83 yards down the sideline for a touchdown after freshman cornerback Andrew Berry lost his footing.

Still, O’Hagan said, “we absolutely prepared” for the unfavorable conditions.

“We did that purposely,” Murphy said. “We got as muddy as we could and we just slopped it up for two days.”

PASS THE BUCK

A week after Lafayette tailback Jonathan Hurt won Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors with a 149-yard, two-touchdown performance, the Crimson defense held him to just nine yards on five carries. The Leopards, who averaged 170.5 rushing yards per game heading into Saturday’s contest, were limited to 43 yards on the ground and suffered 10 tackles for loss.

“We have a lot of pride in our run defense,” Murphy said. “We want to just at all costs force people to throw the football. In the second half it was one-dimensional, which makes it a little easier to defend.”

Lafayette did indeed turn to a pass-oriented defense in the second half, with more success. Quarterbacks Brad Maurer and Pat Davis combined for 326 yards passing on 48 attempts in the game—34 by Davis.

“At halftime we made the decision we were going to throw the ball more, we felt we’re not running it very well,” Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. “And the other thing I’m looking at is our pass protection was pretty good, so let’s start throwing the ball.”

Thirteen of Davis’ attempts came on the Leopards’ final drive after Lafayette received the ball with 2:57 remaining and tried to force overtime.

Davis completed two do-or-die situations—one on fourth-and-six, one on fourth-and-15—helped by the height advantages of his receivers over a weary Harvard secondary.

But his final attempt to Ort on fourth-and-16 from the Crimson 28-yard line was batted away by a cluster of Harvard defenders near the goal-line.

The Crimson took the ball with 37 seconds remaining and ran out the clock.

THIRD AND THREE

Non-league play is completed for the 2005 season, leaving the Ivy League with a non-conference record of 14-10. Against the Patriot League, the Ancient Eight was 10-7....Harvard’s victory Saturday marked the second straight year the Crimson has spoiled Lafayette’s homecoming weekend. The Leopards will play at Harvard Stadium in the 2006 and 2007 seasons....Harvard was three-of-four on fourth-down Saturday. The Crimson’s sole missed conversion came at the start of the second quarter on the Lafayette goal line, when O’Hagan’s fourth-down sneak attempt was stopped just short.

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