Uphill Fight: Another league loss would probably spell end for Crimson, which sits tied at No. 5 in the Ivies

On Saturday at 12:30 p.m., Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens will make his first appearance at Harvard Stadium in 14 years. This game, however, will be quite different from any of his three previous times coaching against the Crimson, since he will go up against his long-time friend, Harvard coach Tim Murphy.

“I consider Buddy family,” said the coach of the 3-3 (1-2 Ivy) Crimson. “When I was 12 years old and we were buddies in the seventh grade, I spent a lot more time over at their house than I did at my own. I ate and slept at their house probably more than I did my own.”

Their relationship has not been weakened as the two have grown up.

“I am the godfather of his first-born,” said Murphy. “He was the best man at my wedding. He is the godfather of my daughter, Molly. It doesn’t get any closer than that, so it will be in some ways strange to go up against him. It’s like going up against your brother.”

Murphy’s “brother” was hired in the offseason to lead a Dartmouth program that has fallen on tough times ever since Teevens’ first tenure with the Big Green ended in 1991. Before that, he led Dartmouth to back-to-back Ivy League titles. The Big Green has struggled since then, especially last year when it went 1-9, the worst record in school history. As a result, the program fired coach John Lyons and rehired Teevens.

Prior to returning to Hanover, Teevens was the head coach at Stanford, in the powerful Pac-10 conference. The team only went 10-23 in his three seasons, but it last year came as close as anyone to beating undefeated national champion USC.

Teevens has more ties to Dartmouth then just coaching there. He was the Ivy player of the year in 1978, a year when he quarterbacked the Big Green to the Ivy League Title. In 1979, he graduated with a degree in history.

Although Dartmouth is still struggling this year, it has already won one more game than last year and always gives Harvard trouble—including last year, when the undefeated Ivy League champs squeaked by with a 13-12 win in Hanover.

“Dartmouth always plays us really tough no matter where they are in the league,” said captain defensive lineman Erik Grimm. “Last year they finished 1-9, but we were two or three plays away from losing that game. So they always come ready to play and we love playing them—it’s a really physical game.”

The Crimson has won seven of its last eight games against Dartmouth, but everybody knows how difficult it has been, especially the coach.

“This is a very tough team for us to play for whatever reason,” Murphy. “Our guys really understand that despite their record and despite their record in 2004, 2003 that this is as tough a game as Princeton or Brown or Penn—really they’re as tough as anybody in the league”

Coming off a devastating 27-24 home loss to the Tigers last week that severely damaged its title hopes, Harvard has been busy trying to fix what went wrong against Princeton.

“This week in practice we have been going back to the basics, focusing on the fundamentals,” Grimm said. “On defense, we need to eliminate big plays, that’s what’s been killing us these past couple games.”

Last week, the Tigers scored on a 72-yard run and returned a kickoff ninety-three yards for the winning score. Dartmouth also has a dangerous kick returner in senior Steve Jensen, who is also the Big Green’s all-time leader in kickoff return yards.

Dartmouth has other solid players, such as running back Jason Bash, who rushed for a touchdown in the Big Green’s 17-6 win over Columbia last week, and wide receiver Ryan Fuselier, the team’s leading receiver with 30 catches.

“(Fuselier) does a good job for them,” Grimm said. “He is solid all around, makes good plays. You can always go to him for the first down.”

Like Harvard, Dartmouth has a new quarterback this year in freshman Joshua Cohen. Cohen threw for 290 yards in his first career start. And in his second start last weekled the Big Green to a win.

The Crimson’s own quarterback, sophomore Liam O’Hagan, has been playing well the past two games, with two straight turnover-free performances.

“Liam’s development is progressing nicely,” Murphy said. “He has given us the indication that he can be not just a solid quarterback but an outstanding quarterback. He seems to have a combination of drive and toughness and a willingness to learn from his mistakes. I think he can be in the mold of a Neil Rose or a Ryan Fitzpatrick.”

Rose ’03 and Fitzpatrick ’05 were the staring quarterbacks before O’Hagan, each of them leading the Crimson to an undefeated season.

Harvard knows that to beat Dartmouth, and the other teams on its schedule, it needs a well rounded game.

“Lately we have had good games on offense or good games on defense or good games on special teams,” Grimm said. “But not all at the same time. We are trying to put together a complete game.”