Football Looks for Consistency Against Cornell

The last time a Cornell football team started a season 3-0, Barack Obama had yet to be elected president. Instagram hadn’t launched, Michael Jackson was still alive, and LeBron James was a Cleveland Cavalier (he left for South Beach in 2010.) And the school’s last undefeated start prior to its 2008 campaign? 1999. The last time the Harvard football team did not start a season 3-0 was in 2011. So for the first time this millennium, Harvard and Cornell square off this weekend in a battle of the unbeatens.

“This team comes in with a lot of momentum,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They’re a very good team…. I think they’ll be...one of the top three teams we’ll play all year. What’s going to make them particularly challenging is [that] they believe.”

The preseason pick for Ivy League champion has played as well as expected to start the season. So far, the Crimson has averaged nearly 500 yards of offense a game. With the addition of a mobile quarterback in senior Joe Viviano, the Crimson is averaging 203.3 yards on the ground to go along with the Viviano-led passing attack that averages nearly 294.3 yards a game.

Senior halfback Anthony Firkser. has led the offense. Last week against Georgetown, Firkser had five catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns including a 75-yard pitch and catch from Viviano in the second quarter.

His season totals nearly match his 2015 production—he only needs 36 yards to surpass his 2015 total. Currently, the senior has 336 yards and four touchdowns.

“I think he’s as good a football player as any of the kids that we’ve had,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t have the length of a Cam Brate, he probably doesn’t have the strength or explosiveness of a Kyle Juszczyk, but he’s every bit as good of a football player as any of those guys.”

Firkser’s play has been complemented by the rushing attack of Viviano and junior running back Semar Smith. To go along with Viviano’s 127 rush yards and two touchdowns, Smith is averaging 89.3 yards per game.

“I think we’re doing well,” Firkser said. “There’s definitely some places we can improve…. I think we’re making some big plays, but I don’t think we’re as consistent as we can be.”

While the high-powered Harvard offense looks to continue to average 38 points per game, Cornell’s defense will be a stiffer test than the Georgetown defense the Crimson faced last Friday.

Although two of Cornell’s three wins have been by eight points or fewer, the Big Red defense limited Yale to just 13 points two weekends ago. Following a shootout win against Colgate, Cornell is allowing 22.3 points per game. However, the points per game statistic isn’t particularly indicative of the defense’s play. The defense has allowed nearly 160 rushing yards per game and has conceded five rushing scores. The pass defense has been more reliable, only allowing 276 yards per game and three touchdowns. Regardless, the defense as a whole is surrendering an average of 435.7 yards per game.

Last week against Colgate, the Big Red scratched back from a 19-point deficit in the third quarter to take down the Raiders. Colgate led by as many as 23 points in the contest, rocketing to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

However, Cornell mounted a huge comeback, winning 39-38 on a 19-yard pass with 28 seconds left in the game. It’s interesting to note that Cornell has been outscored by 14 points in the first quarter this season while outscoring opponents in every other period.

Offensively, the Big Red is third in the Ivy League in points per game to go along with 433.7 yards per contest. The rushing game has been reliable, with 475 yards and four touchdowns over three games, but the passing game is the focal point of Cornell’s offense.

Quarterback Dalton Banks is averaging 306.7 yards a game to go along with seven touchdowns. Clearly, Banks likes to spread the ball as no receiver has more than 180 yards for the season and only senior wideout Collin Shaw has more than one touchdown.

“They’ve got a couple good running backs, their left tackle is pretty good,” said senior defensive lineman Miles McCollum. “Their quarterback has been doing really well... so we’ve really got to shut that down.”

The Harvard defense has been stingy this year, though. Twenty points per game stingy. Five interceptions and three fumble recoveries in three games stingy. So the Cornell offense will have its hands full this weekend against the Crimson D.

“Cornell’s one of the best teams I think we’re going to face this year,” said McCollum. “First and foremost we want to stop the run, that’s what we’ve been focusing on, that’s what Harvard football does.”

The defensive line has been integral in Harvard’s success this season. Led by seniors McCollum, Doug Webb, and James Duberg along with sophomore DJ Bailey, the Crimson defensive line has helped limit opponents to fewer than 100 yards per game on the ground and the unit has combined for six sacks. Of those six, Bailey has three and a half.

“We’ve been really happy with the d-line’s production,” McCollum said. “We’ve got a veteran group [and] DJ Bailey had a great game last week.”

Staff writer Wade G. Player can be reached at wplayer@college.harvard.edu.