Toughest Test Ahead for Football in Battle of Ivy Champs

Heading into the second half of the season, the Harvard football team finds itself in a familiar position. For the third-straight year, the Crimson (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) is undefeated leading up to the Princeton matchup.

But if history repeats itself, the Tigers (3-2, 2-0 Ivy) won’t let Harvard leave Princeton Stadium with its perfect record intact when the two teams face off on Saturday.

In 2012, the Crimson held a 24-point lead early in the fourth quarter. 13 minutes and four Tigers scores later—the last of which was a 36-yard Hail Mary pass from quarterback Quinn Epperly to wideout Roman Wilson—Harvard had its first loss of the season.

Fast forward a year, and the Crimson found itself entrenched in a triple-overtime battle with Princeton, this time at Harvard Stadium. Playing at home didn’t bring any luck to the Crimson, however. Harvard coach Tim Murphy experienced the painful version of deja vu when Epperly and Wilson connected in the third extra period to score and hand Harvard its only loss of 2013.

The good news for the Crimson is that Wilson is no longer around. The bad news? Both Epperly as well as Princeton’s other signal-caller, Connor Michelsen—who threw for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter in 2012—are still handling play-calling duties for the Tigers.

“[Michelsen and Epperly] both know the offense inside and out,” Murphy said. “They’re both athletic, improvisation guys, so you take away the jersey numbers and it’s the same stuff. [They are] two really outstanding quarterbacks, and they may have two of the best four quarterbacks in the league on the same team.”

Both quarterbacks—now seniors—have received significant playing time since their sophomore years, when Princeton took advantage of Harvard’s fourth-quarter meltdown. Their added experience since then serves only to make each more dangerous, according to Murphy.

Epperly sat out last week’s contest against Brown due to injury, but without Epperly’s status for Saturday, the Harvard defense has been preparing for both field generals, especially given the multi-quarterback schemes that Princeton likes to run.

“They throw out a lot of crazy formations that you don’t typically see in a football offense, but we’re ready for them,” junior linebacker Scott Peters said.

Despite returning most of its starters, Harvard’s offense has been plagued by injury and at times looked nothing like the scoring machine that put up an average of 37.1 points per game last year. The offensive unit that takes the field at Princeton Stadium should resemble the predicted preseason squad, however, with the return of senior quarterback Conner Hempel and a full backfield.

In the first offensive possession of the season, Hempel had to leave the game with a back injury after being hit hard on a scramble. Hempel finally returned to a full week of practice this past week and is expected to start Saturday.

“It was very tough,” Hempel said. “Senior year, [there are] lots of expectations for yourself, for the team, and then fourth play of the year, you go out with a back injury…. I’m just fortunate to have the opportunity to come back in and finish the season.”

Junior running back Paul Stanton returned to full playing time last week against Lafayette after missing much of the first half of the season from a preseason ankle injury. His return fleshed out a backfield that contained senior fullback Andrew Casten and freshman Semar Smith.

Stanton and company may have a tough time at Princeton, though, against the third-ranked rushing defense in the country. The Tigers lead the Ancient Eight, allowing just 61 rushing yards per game.

With past heartbreaking losses to Princeton in mind, the visitors might find it difficult to treat Saturday’s game as just another league contest, but Peters feels that the importance of the matchup in the grand scheme of the championship race outweighs any thought of the past.

“You have to treat every one of these games like an Ivy League Championship game, like our own version of the Super Bowl,” Peters said. “There’s definitely an element of revenge, but we don’t want that to be our mindset. We just want to be psyched up.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com.