FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2005: Pushovers No Longer

If he had his druthers, Harvard head coach Tim Murphy probably wouldn’t begin his season against Holy Cross (2-0).

In years past, the Ivy League kicked off the season with intra-Ivy pairings between similarly untested league foes—not against teams with actual games already under their belts.

“It’s probably not a perfect scenario,” Murphy admits. “We’d rather play someone [playing in] their first game than go into a buzz saw in midseason form.”

Well, unfortunately for Murphy and the Crimson, if the Crusaders were a buzz saw before, they’re certainly something worse now.

This season, Holy Cross has demolished its first two opponents—Sacred Heart and Georgetown—by scores of 56-21 and 48-6, respectively.

Of course, the Pioneers and Hoyas are not exactly luminaries in the college football universe. And Harvard still owns a current three-game winning streak in the annual in-state match-up (the Crimson is 35-21-2 against Holy Cross all-time).

But to start the year outscoring opponents by 77 points in just four halves of football?

To Murphy, that’s no accident.

Last year, Harvard easily shut out the Crusaders 35-0 to set the tone for its historic 10-0 campaign. Saturday could be a different story.

“Holy Cross may be the most improved I-AA team in the nation,” Murphy says.

That is thanks, in large part, to the Crusaders’ thunderous running game thus far.

Senior tailbacks Steve Silva, Gideon Akande, and freshman Terrance Gass have already accumulated 351 yards on the ground and eight touchdowns among them.

The versatile Silva—whom Murphy says “may be the best player in the Patriot League”—is the focal point of the Holy Cross offense. Remarkably, in the season opener against Sacred Heart, he alone ran for three touchdowns, then caught a touchdown pass and threw for two scores (both to quarterback John O’Neil, thanks to some creative play-calling).

He followed that up the next week against Georgetown with 181 yards of total offense, while Akande was able to scamper for three touchdowns on the ground.

“The bottom line is, you have to be aware where Steve Silva is on the field,” Murphy says. “If they’re going to beat us, we’ve got to make sure it’s not Steve Silva beating us.”

In last year’s rain-drenched opener, Harvard more than achieved that mission, handcuffing Silva to 31 yards on five carries while holding Akande to 29 yards for good measure.

This week, however, Holy Cross head coach Tim Gilmore sees a noticeably different team overall—a squad that isn’t like the one that the Crimson downed by scores of 35-0, 43-23, and 28-23 in 2004, 2003, and 2002.

“I think a lot of things have changed since last year. We’re playing with a lot more confidence,” Gilmore says. “But we understand they’re a top-ranked opponent, and we respect the level of talent and coaching Harvard has here.”

That talent in Cambridge is somewhat different this year, though. The Crimson will feature youth at the quarterback position between two sophomores, Tulane transfer Richard Irvin—who will start this weekend—and heralded recruit Liam O’Hagan. Neither has started a game for Harvard.

And as for the defense and captain Erik Grimm, this will be the first true test of the year.

Their buzz saw will be waiting in Worcester at 1 p.m.

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.