AROUND THE IVIES: Athletes Throwing Punches, Not Passes

These are fighting words.

And by that I mean a few hundred words about fighting and the recent rash of it in college football, Ivy League included.

So what is it about football fights that we find so appalling?

Maybe it’s that the sport is essentially socialized combat to begin with, so any off-the-books brawling seems gratuitous.

It’s certainly not like tennis or golf, strictly non-contact sports in which fisticuffs would be so shocking as to border on comical.

In hockey, fights are not only acceptable, but arguably the most revered parts of the game. They are governed by a unique, unwritten etiquette that keeps the bout gentlemanly—no gloves, jersey over the head, that kind of thing.

A good old-fashioned bench-clearer, in order to defend your teammate or your pride, is a time-honored baseball tradition. Players like Billy Martin made a (good) reputation on being willing to mix it up on the diamond.

No such codes exist for the gridiron.

Then there is the important distinction between the professional and college ranks in football. In college, even as the athletes toil to line the NCAA coffers and pad the bank accounts of the universities they attend, they are held to stricter standards of conduct than their professional counterparts, all in the name of the amateur spirit.

This Saturday, college football witnessed two on-field melees. The scuffle between Miami and Florida International was particularly well-documented and gruesome, featuring a helmet-swinger and a head-stomping.

However, and however surprisingly, the Ivy League also got in on the act. Visiting Holy Cross pulled a collective T.O., dancing on the Dartmouth “D” at midfield following a hard-fought overtime win. The Big Green took exception, and the post-game handshakes devolved into various pockets of pushing and punching.

This decidedly indecorous behavior comes on the heels of a spate of off-the-field offenses by fist-first football players at Harvard and across the Ancient Eight, most recently at Yale.

These incidents have taught us: don’t fight your ex-girlfriend, don’t fight on the shuttle, don’t fight other athletes in oft-frequented late-night eateries, don’t do whatever it is that Liam O’Hagan did.

In no way do I excuse the violence, but it has always seemed to me a precariously fine line to expect football players to keep their gladiatorial rage precisely within the culturally-condoned confines of the sport—between the sidelines and between whistles.

That being said, all of this week’s Ivy games should be fights to the finish.

NO. 15 HARVARD (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) AT NO. 22 PRINCETON (5-0, 2-0)

This is too important a contest to not make myself abundantly clear. Princeton might be as good at defense as Harvard is at offense. Both units are ranked first statistically in the Ivy League under the total and scoring designations. But Princeton is not as good at offense as Harvard is at defense.

The Crimson proved that last Saturday, holding Lafayette to seven points by continuing its metallic run defense and relentless pass rush, and coalescing in the secondary to pick off Brad Maurer three times.

Against their three common opponents—Lehigh, Lafayette, and Brown—Harvard has prevailed by a total of 97-61, good for an aggregate 36-point margin of victory. Princeton, to give you an idea of its contrasting style but equivalent success, has won 57-27, clear by a collective (for the subtraction-challenged...) 30 points.

Those are the empirics, but there’s an emotional component, as well and as always, to this long-standing rivalry. The Crimson has not lost since dropping a 27-24 stunner to the Tigers at Harvard Stadium a year ago that, as its second league loss, effectively ended its bid to repeat as Ivy champs. Harvard is looking for retribution; Princeton, undefeated since being short-changed by the pundits in the preseason, is looking for recognition.

The wild card, of course, is Harvard’s quarterback situation. While the Tigers’ signal-calling is a model of consistency under senior Jeff Terrell, the Crimson can’t reliably say who is going to start from week to week. There was the induction, injury, and comeback of Chris Pizzotti, the Jeff Witt interlude, the abortive Richard Irvin experiment, and now Liam O’Hagan’s return from suspension.

If Pizzotti’s struggles last time out (17-for-40) move Murphy to insert O’Hagan, the offense could hesitate under its fourth different leader in six games.

Prediction: Harvard 22, Princeton 15.

PENN (4-1, 2-0) VS. YALE (4-1, 2-0)

It’s amazing how rapidly the Ivy League has divided itself into four tiers, and how the two squads from each tier are all playing each other tomorrow. Penn-Yale is obviously the second-best game of the weekend, with the resurgent Quakers hosting the upstart Bulldogs in Philly.

Yale is led by the Ivy League’s leading rusher. No, Clifton Dawson didn’t transfer to New Haven. That distinction goes to Mike McLeod, who leads the Clif Bar in yards, 741 to 686, with 402 of those coming in the past two weeks. He faces a solid Penn defense, currently allowing 119 rushing yards and just a shade over 14 points per game.

The clash also features two rapidly improving young QBs in the Bulldogs’ Matt Polhemus and the Quakers’ Robert Irvin, third and fifth in the league, respectively, in passing efficiency.

McLeod’s in the sky even on a clear afternoon.

Prediction: Yale 24, Penn 21.

COLUMBIA (3-2, 0-2) VS. DARTMOUTH (0-5, 0-2)

Don’t be mistaken by the order here, this is definitely the bottom-tier matchup.

The Cellar Bowl: loser’s likely in it for good. This game is both teams’ best chance of the season, by far, to earn an Ivy victory.

But, all this talk about throwdowns and we didn’t even mention the most wild assault of the weekend—Columbia head coach Norries Wilson’s verbal tirade following his team’s shutout loss at Penn. The Man made the big guy apologize (free speech is out, don’tcha know?), but he must have lit a fire under this Lions team, whose defense is hands down the best unit on the field.

Prediction: Columbia 16, Dartmouth 10.

CORNELL (2-3, 0-2) VS. BROWN (1-4, 0-2)

What can Brown do for you? Well, let’s see. It can’t average three yards a carry (2.69). It can’t hold opponents under 27 points per game (27.8). It can’t force turnovers (0 fumbles, 3 interceptions through five games). And it sure as hell can’t deliver packages.

For Cornell, reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Nathan Ford—can you really win that award as a quarterback when you complete nine passes?—is developing into a serious threat alongside workhorse tailback Luke Siwula.

Prediction: Cornell 27, Brown 14.

Record to Date: 18-14.

Against the Spread: 14-18.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.