Harvard To Face Brown Tonight Under the Lights

After a loss last week against Holy Cross, Harvard football looks to even its record under the lights.

The Crimson (0-1) plays its home opener tonight at 7 p.m. against Brown (1-0) in the first Ivy contest for both teams. But Harvard may have to do it without senior quarterback Collier Winters.

Winters appeared to suffer a minor hamstring injury towards the end of last week’s game, and whether he plays will be a game-time decision.

Junior Colton Chapple, the team’s second-string quarterback, has been taking snaps in practice all week and would start if Winters does not.

Though Brown won last year’s game in Providence, recent history favors Harvard against the Bears, as the Crimson has won six of the last eight meetings between the two squads.

Harvard will have to maintain consistency throughout the game—something it failed to do last week in its 30-22 loss. Brown came into the season as a dark-horse Ivy League favorite, and the team has gained ground in recent years, splitting second place with Harvard and Yale last season.

But Winters feels confident in the team’s ability to rebound from its recent disappointment.

“The Holy Cross loss was really tough,” Winters said. “I feel like when we came into that game, we were pretty confident we would come out with the victory. But one thing I’ve seen being at Harvard the last four or so years ... is that after a loss, we’ll come back next week and play at a very high level ... Two years ago, we lost to Holy Cross and came back and won this same game against Brown.”

Harvard football’s history of resurgence stretches beyond its rebound in 2009.

Since 2007, the Crimson has not lost two games in a row, and recorded a victory in eight consecutive games after a loss.

“Brown’s a good opponent,” said captain middle linebacker Alex Gedeon. “To win, we’ve got to play to our abilities ... play a physical game and make fewer errors.”

Fixing those errors—like allowing a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown or fumbling a punt in last week’s loss—is a critical step coming into tonight’s game. Several breakdowns in field coverage helped the Crusaders take the game away, by scoring 27 straight points last weekend.

“We need to limit the mistakes we’re killing ourselves with,” said junior running back Treavor Scales. “We gave that game to them ... offensively, ball security is something that’s echoed throughout the entire offensive unit.”

The team understands that Brown is an offensive threat. This year, the Bears started of their season last weekend with a tight opening win over Stony Brook, 21-20.

Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero returned from an injury that lasted the better part of the 2010-2011 season, throwing for three touchdowns and 292 total yards to secure a win for the Bears in that contest.

The Crimson has spent this week refining fundamentals that proved costly last week and analyzing Brown’s game, both offensively and defensively.

But the recent loss has not weakened the team’s spirit, and the Crimson looks to come into tonight’s contest against the Bears with heightened confidence in both offensive and defensive lines.

“Getting the running game going is obviously always a primary [concern],” Scales said. “But we’ve got to make sure to have a balanced attack ... so [we’re] just making sure we’re maintaining that balance—firing on all cylinders offensively would be a very helpful thing for us.”

If Winters is injured and doesn’t start tonight’s game, Harvard will have to rely more on Scales and its running attack.

The squad is perfect under the lights at Harvard Stadium, winning every night home game since the lights were first installed in 2007.

Harvard also had success at home last season, boasting a 4-1 record in 2010, and the Crimson looks to continue its success on its own turf in order to push its season in a new direction and get into the win column.

Based on Brown’s performance last weekend, it will be a tough but manageable contest for Harvard.

“We’re definitely making adjustments, but the adjustments are just about doing a better job with our assignments, our fundamentals, and our techniques,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “If you don’t improve those, specific scheme adjustments aren’t going to matter.”

Many of the schemes rely on Winters, and although the starting quarterback’s status is day-to-day, he still hopes to make it into tonight’s game.

“It’s definitely a big game, so I’m going to try and do everything I can to play in it,” he said.