Undefeated Crimson Ready for Big Red Challenge

The Harvard football team has dominated Cornell in each of its last two meetings, but you may not remember them. That’s because the games have been out of hand before most Crimson Crazies stumbled their way from the pre-game tailgate to their seats.

The final scores of the last two contests—26-6 in 2001 and 52-23 in 2002—reflect a Big Red team more fit to face a Harvard intramural football squad than the varsity unit.

Once again, Harvard (3-0, 1-0 Ivy) comes into this year’s game against Cornell riding a wave of confidence. After disposing of No. 10 Northeastern last weekend and cracking the Top 25 in the Sports Network Division 1-AA poll, the 23rd ranked Crimson would appear to be in perfect position to hand the Big Red its annual drubbing.

But this may not be your customary Cornell team.

After losing its Ivy opener to Yale two weeks ago, the Big Red (1-2, 0-1) bounced back from a 24-7 halftime deficit against No. 19 Colgate to tie the game at 24, only to lose on a last second field goal, 27-24.

Despite Harvard’s early success and its recent conquests over Cornell, this is not a game the Crimson can overlook.

“They’re very physical on both sides of the ball,” coach Tim Murphy said of the Big Red. “They played the top team in the Patriot League very tough last week and are probably the most improved team in the Ivy League.”

Still, Cornell does not have the reputation of a football powerhouse, and the game has not received the hype that surrounded last week’s contest with Northeastern—increasing the risk that the Crimson might look past the Big Red.

“We’ve addressed it as a team,” Murphy said of a possible letdown. “It’s naturally something a coach is worried about, but we’ve addressed it and we should be ready.”

Harvard comes into this game as one of four teams still undefeated in Ivy League play—Penn, Yale, and Columbia are the others. With six of the last ten Ivy League Champions having gone undefeated in league play, the Crimson looks at every conference game as a must-win.

“We know we have to take every Ivy game seriously,” junior quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “It’s pretty much one loss and you’re out in this league so every game is important.”

Meanwhile, Cornell will look to build on its good effort last week against Colgate, hoping to upset favored Harvard.

“The team is in a great mood,” Big Red coach Tim Pendergast said. “We took the positives from last week and moved past [the loss]. The way our team works is we just look ahead to the next game. This week we’re looking forward to Harvard.”

Cornell’s offensive attack will rely on sophomore running back Joshua Johnston, who last week solidified his position as the starting tailback with 109 yards on 12 carries against Colgate.

Defensively, Big Red senior free safety Neil Morrissey was honored with both Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week and I-AA Football Defensive Player of the Week awards after he recorded 24 tackles last week.

Nevertheless, Cornell still has a lot of work to do on that side of the ball. If a free safety makes the majority of a team’s tackles, the defensive linemen and linebackers are probably not doing the job.

“Right now we’re still looking for our strengths on defense,” Pendergast said.

This bodes well for a Crimson offense that will have to overcome the latest in a series of injuries. Junior Max McKibben became the fourth offensive lineman to sustain an injury this season when he sprained his right MCL in practice this week. He will be inactive for tomorrow’s contest.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries to our line,” Murphy said. “It’s kind of unprecedented.”

Duplicating the routs of the last two years would be ideal, but as with every game, all Harvard wants is a ‘W’.

“This is a little different Cornell team,” Murphy said. “We just want to keep going with a win.”