Harvard Dominates Woeful Columbia

A game like this begs the question—why hasn’t a slaughter rule been instituted in the Ivy League?

The Harvard football team (5-3, 3-2 Ivy) scored 41 points in the first half—more than any Crimson team since 1985—on the way to a rout of Columbia (2-6, 0-5) 55-7 at Wien Stadium on Saturday.

Sophomore quarterback Liam O’Hagan, assisted by backup Richard Irvin, led the team up and down the field, scoring six offensive touchdowns. But the real standout plays came from the defense, which added three interceptions and recovered two fumbles.

With its third victory in the last four games, Harvard has gotten back on track after falling to league foes Cornell and Princeton. But with Brown’s 38-21 victory over Yale and Princeton’s 30-13 win over Penn, the chance for the Crimson to make it back-to-back Ivy titles is unlikely. Both Brown and Princeton would have to lose at least one of their final two games for the Crimson to have a shot to tie.

“The first three or four games of the year it felt like we were playing uphill the entire time,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “We’ve seemed to turn that around pretty quickly.”

The Crimson defense has been a big part of this reversal.

Going into the game, Harvard was ranked fifth in the league in overall defense. Saturday, in addition to forcing five turnovers, the Crimson tallied 10 tackles for loss, including seven sacks for a total of 72 yards. The Lions finished with minus-14 yards total rushing and only 215 yards in the air.

“It’s a combination of experience, continuity, and good health and development,” Murphy said. “We hope that we can continue this trend.”

The Crimson were led by big plays from senior linebacker Matt Thomas, who recovered a Columbia fumble and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown, and senior safety Robert Balkema who took an interception eight yards into the endzone.

—For complete coverage, please see Monday’s issue of The Crimson.