Mending 'Fences

When October comes around and playoff baseball is in the air, we all return to the proverbial cliché, “Defense wins championships.”

Cornell, however, may already be looking elsewhere to propel its run at the Ivy League title.

Predicted to make a strong showing this season, the Big Red defense—which led the league in rushing defense last season—has fallen short of those expectations. Now 1-2 after starting off the season with a 24-7 win against Bucknell, Cornell will have to turn things around tomorrow against the Crimson (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) if it is to live up to its reputation as a dark horse pick to win the title.

“We have to get into play with more confidence,” Cornell coach Jim Knowles said. “We have some veterans, but we’re struggling on the outside of our defense, in the corner position.”

Despite being led by four seniors, including 2004 second team All-Ivy pick safety Kevin Rex, the Big Red has allowed 10 touchdowns in three games, giving up an average of 26 points and 343 yards per game.

In a 34-20 loss to Colgate last weekend, Cornell was unable to contain any facet of the Raider offense, allowing big gains and once missing four tackles in a single rush.

“We have to defend better against the big play, long passes, long returns, and not giving up anything cheap,” Knowles said. “Our team is only two years old, and we’ve just had some things happen that are demoralizing to a team that’s not very mature.”

In its only league game thus far, the Big Red limited Yale to 100 yards rushing on 2.8 yards per carry.

But it could not stop quarterback Jeff Mroz and receiver Ashley Wright, who connected for three of the Bulldogs’ five touchdowns, including a 70-yard scoring grab. Cornell was plagued with penalties in the first half—eight for 60 yards—as well as three turnovers on the way to a 37-17 loss in New Haven.

Tomorrow’s home field advantage may be an opportunity to reverse that trend.

“We play our best football at home,” Knowles said. “It will give us a great chance to see how our program has matured.”

The Big Red will be climbing a steep hill, as Harvard has won its last nine Ivy League games, seven straight road games, and the last four meetings between the two teams.

“Every year is different, but the meaning of this game is that Harvard is one of the premier programs in the Ivy League,” Knowles said. “We’re trying to do the best we can and see where we measure up.”

The Crimson hopes to recover from a disappointing 49-24 loss against Lehigh last weekend and continue the charge towards back-to-back Ivy League titles and a fifth year of Big Red domination.

“We expect to rebound and battle through the adversity of a loss. And a difficult loss,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “That’s what we expect—but we have to do it, you can’t just say you’re going to do it.”

With top wide receivers junior Corey Mazza and senior Rodney Byrnes still out with injuries, the burden will once again rest on sophomore quarterback Liam O’Hagan to create passing room, especially with tailback Clifton Dawson not playing at full strength.

Last weekend Dawson—entering the game the Division I-AA rushing leader—spent much of his time on the sideline and was held to just 59 rushing yards on 15 carries.

Wide receiver Alex Breaux, this week’s Ivy League rookie of the week with 135 yards on seven catches and a touchdown in the loss to Lehigh, will continue to see increased playing time.

“We’re expecting him to make big plays. That’s what he did last week, so we hope he’ll do it again,” O’Hagan said.

The best rushing offense in the league stands in Harvard’s way. With the help of preseason All-American tackle Kevin Booth, quarterback Ryan Kuhn finished last week with 68 yards rushing. Rising freshman tailback Luke Siwula rushed his way into the Cornell record books with a 165-yard game and a touchdown last week, his third 100-plus game to start his varsity career.

“I think the key for us is going to be we’ve been relatively strong against the run and we’ve got to stay that way,” Murphy said. “We can beat this team but we can’t do it with any mistakes. There just isn’t enough margin for error.”