Jim Hofher Finally Finds Father Mike

After his squad absorbed heavy losses to Colgate and Bucknell, Cornell Coach Jim Hofher was searching the heavens for answers.

"We hadn't been getting any breaks," Hofher mused. "Maybe we hadn't been going to church enough or living right. Where's Father Mike when you need him?"

Father Mike, whoever he is, never showed up last Saturday at The Stadium. But Father Gerry did. With 30 seconds left to play, Big Red strong safety Gerry Willinger came up with a miraculous 19-yard sack to preserve Cornell's 20-17 victory.

Is there a God? Does he bleed Big Red? Cornell thinks so.

"We were on the sidelines praying," running back John McNiff said. "The defense came up big. It was a bit lucky, but we'll take it however we can get it."

More Signs From Somewhere: On the subject of omens and heavenly intervention, Harvard fans walking to the game sure saw a bad sign when they were passing on the side of Kirkland House.

There, for all to see, was the 1990 Harvard poster--with a picture of Captain Tom Callahan--impaled on the top of the fence encircling Kirkland and Eliot. Presumably, the act was perpetrated by an over-zealous Big Red fan in an attempt at voodoo, but maybe a frustrated Harvard fan was also responsible.

If it was voodoo, it worked, because Callahan missed his second consecutive game with a back injury.

Callahan is questionable for Saturday's game against Fordham. The Crimson has never faced the Rams and could use its Captain's blocking talents to reverse its two game skid.

All Infantry, No Air Force: It's clear that Harvard Coach Joe Restic's main concern in preseason, finding a quarterback to run the Multiflex, is no longer a problem. Adam Lazarre-White is the Harvard QB.

But while Restic has settled on his field general, the battles are being lost on the field. Against the Big Red, the Crimson was able to pass for only 92 yards and lost 59 yards in sacks.

Meanwhile, Lazarre-White and Co. were winning the battle on the ground, rushing for over 225 yards (if you discount sack yardage in rushing totals).

"I'm pleased with our run offense, but we need to get a pass offense going or else they'll close in on us," Restic said. "We couldn't get the ball downfield. We can't live off a short game and we can't take all those losses."

Both Holy Cross and Cornell pinned back their ears and sent everybody and his grandmother after Lazarre-White. Without a dangerous passing attack and with Restic having failed to take advantage of blitzes by running draws or screens, Lazarre-White has been a sitting duck for blitzers. Half of the Big Red's six sacks were recorded by safety Willinger, including the game-winning 19-yard sack in the final minute.

"Unless you've got some serious horses, you can't expect to play a one-dimensional football game and win," said senior halfback Andy Bell, who led the Crimson with 89 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

I hear Eric Dickerson doesn't have much to do these days.

Bitter Pill to Swallow: How meaningful was the Big Red's victory over Harvard for McNiff?

"Well, they didn't let me in," the league's leading rusher said.

Too bad--McNiff would be what Bell refers to as a "serious horse."

Ivy? Bad? Awful? Can't Win?: It was another black-and-blue week for the Ivy League, which was swept in interconference play again. Columbia was shellacked by Lafayette, Yale was clobbered by Colgate, Dartmouth was held off by Holy Cross, and Penn was nipped by Lehigh on a fourth-quarter score.

In the last two weeks, the Ivy League is 0-11-1 in interconference play.

The only other Ivy game this week found Princeton coming from behind to beat Brown, 27-23 and improve its Ivy record to 1-1. The Tigers are the Crimson's next Ivy opponent, in two weeks in Princeton, N.J.