Crimson Looks To Run over Rival Princeton

The Harvard football team’s practices this week had the feel of uncharted waters.

Coming off its worst loss in three years—a rather shocking 35-18 home defeat at the hands of the Patriot League’s Lafayette College, the Crimson (3-2, 2-0 Ivy) looks to rebound tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. as it takes on Ivy League rival Princeton (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) at Harvard Stadium.

The Crimson hadn’t lost a game by more than a touchdown since a 34-13 defeat at Yale on Nov. 18, 2006. But the players aren’t hanging their heads.

“Last Saturday is going to end up being a good thing for the team,” said captain and defensive lineman Carl Ehrlich. “We got hung up a little bit. It made us refocus on the basics and playing disciplined football.”

The team isn’t doing anything largely different this week as it prepares for the Tigers, which it beat, 24-20, in New Jersey last season. For the first time in 10 years, Princeton has lost its first two league contests.

“Despite their record, they’re a very good team,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “You can look at the way they played Colgate in that Thursday-night game earlier this month. We’re solid...but we need to improve in all areas to have a successful game this week.”

To win, the Crimson will have to improve its run defense, which gave up 133 yards in the loss to Lafayette. This will be no easy task, as Princeton comes in averaging nearly 120 rushing yards per game, good for third in the Ancient Eight.

In last season’s matchup, then-junior running back Jordan Culbreath ran for 154 yards against the Harvard defense.

“I can’t remember a game which we won where we came out more disappointed in our performance,” Ehrlich said of last year’s matchup. “Our defense still has a pretty bad taste [in its mouth].”

However, Culbreath is out for the year as he deals with health issues. This has forced freshman running back Akil Sharp and converted defensive back Meko McCray to carry the majority of the rushing load for the Tigers.

The duo has combined to average 4.7 yards per carry since Culbreath went down.

“It’s been a learning process,” Princeton coach Roger Hughes said. “I’m very pleased with the way Meko’s been improving this week, but if we’re going to win, we need them to step up.”

It’s not just the Princeton running backs that will need to elevate their game.

Last week, senior linebacker Scott Britton suffered a season-ending knee injury in a loss against Brown. Britton had ranked 10th nationally with 11.2 tackles per game and was coming off an Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week award when he went down.

“He provided a lot of energy on the team,” Hughes said about the impact of Britton’s loss. “It’d be naive to think you wouldn’t lose something.”

Britton’s injury will put even more pressure on Tigers’ junior linebacker Steven Cody, who leads the Ivy League and ranks third in the nation with 13.3 tackles per game. Murphy calls him one of “the best professional prospect[s] in our conference.”

To neutralize Cody and the rest of the Princeton defense, the Crimson will need to improve its own rushing attack. Last week, Harvard managed only 74 rushing yards on 34 attempts, a measly 2.2 yards per carry.

In terms of the passing game, junior quarterback Collier Winters will look to build on a strong fourth quarter against Lafayette, in which he threw two touchdown passes.

“We’ve got to get pressure on the QB, that’s a defensive back’s best friend,” Hughes said. “The only way to shut [Winters] down is to make sure the ball doesn’t come out.”

In the early part of the season, Winters has developed a rapport with junior wide receiver Chris Lorditch, who had his second-career 100-yard receiving game last week.

Defensively, the Crimson will look to shut down junior Princeton quarterback Tommy Wornham, who has developed into a double threat, with 788 passing yards and 224 rushing yards—good for first on the team.

“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Murphy said. “I’ve got to believe that they’re at least in the upper half of the Ivy League in terms of talent.”

Coming off a tough loss, Harvard should receive an extra adrenaline boost from playing a key rival on Homecoming Weekend.

With the exception of a 2007 Crimson 17-point victory, games between the two teams at Harvard Stadium have been historically close.

In fact, of the five games between 1997 and 2005, four were decided by a field goal or less, the other by a touchdown.

“Princeton’s a game our kids always get excited about,” Murphy said. “From an emotional standpoint, it’s a good game to play right now.”