Wide Left, Just Short: The Pain and Promise of Harvard Football’s 2000 Season

In the fall of 2000, the Harvard football team lined up on the University of Pennsylvania’s 16-yard line. If the team hoped to keep a record-breaking offensive season alive, it would need to do something it had struggled with all season: make a field goal.

All eyes went to the goalposts, but the ball sailed wide to the left. Here died Harvard’s Ivy League title hopes.

The loss was just another close defeat in a season characterized by such disappointments. Only four years later, perhaps the most notable squad in Harvard history would put together an undefeated season and launch the career of future NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05.

While the 2000 season did not end with tangible greatness, it was haunted by what could have been. And the team’s often forgotten story was part of building the unforgettable years of Harvard football that lay ahead.

As one of the most electric offenses in the Crimson’s history, the players in 2000 came so close to immortality that they could almost touch it, but could never fully grasp it. A porous defense led the team to a 5-5 record and three losses by two points or less.

The season began with a narrow two point loss to local rival Holy Cross that would foreshadow the devastation of later Ivy League play. The Crimson split its other two non-conference games with a blowout win against Lafayette and loss against Lehigh.

Ivy League play began with a five point victory over defending champion Brown.

The positive results continued for Harvard in the first half against Cornell at home two weeks later. Then, the team suffered what former Crimson Sports writer Alexander M. Sherman ’04 referred to as “one of the most devastating losses” in Harvard history. The Big Red scored 29 unanswered points to stun Harvard at its own stadium. The Crimson had a chance to win with a last second field goal, but the attempt was blocked. After this, Former Head Football Head Coach Tim Murphy all but abandoned the kicking game until the fateful Penn game.

Harvard’s title hopes remained still alive despite the loss and even seemed to be thriving after a three Ivy League game stretch where the Crimson outscored its opponents 118-28.

The loss against Penn, though, made winning the Ivy title impossible.The matchup against Yale didn’t go much better. A year after a controversial touchdown catch had handed Harvard a loss, the team couldn’t manage to get revenge on the Bulldog squad. After holding a seven point lead early in the fourth quarter, turnovers caused Harvard to fall 34-24. In the final two games of the season, the Crimson surrendered the ball 12 times.

Harvard’s offense in 2000 was fueled by its dynamic passing attack. At the heart of that passing attack was the duo of junior quarterback Neil Rose ’02 and freshman wide receiver Carl Morris ’03. Both are now members of the Harvard Hall of Fame. Murphy, who coached at Harvard for 30 years and was the coach of that 2000 team, had lofty praise for Morris.

“He’s arguably the greatest wide receiver in Ivy history,” said Murphy.

Morris, only a sophomore during the 2000 campaign, put his name in the record books early, setting the Harvard single season reception record with 60 catches on the year. His 60 catch season included a single game reception record tying performance against Yale, a game in which Morris had 13 receptions.

There are two parts to every catch: the reception and the pass. Quarterback Neil Rose may have been over 5,000 miles from his hometown in Hawaii, but he looked right at home every Saturday in the pocket slinging the ball with a golden-armed, west coast flare. Rose would regularly throw for over 200 yards in a single game.

While Morris was Rose’s most notable weapon that season, Rose was not without other talent to work with. Senior fullback Grady Smalling provided Rose with a weapon in and out of the backfield. Looking back, Smalling said he remembered the joy of winning the Ivy League during his first year on campus and the desire his class felt to reclaim that throne their senior season, but he views the disappointment of the 2000 season as a learning opportunity.

“Our freshman year was the first all Tim Murphy recruited team,” said Smalling, pointing out the added significance of the championship. “When we didn’t win [in 2000], it was crushing. If we’d won the championship my senior year, I think I may have gone through life telling people that I was a pretty good football player on a great team. But to lose by such a tight margin left me much more humble and hungry.”

“Win or lose, playing football at Harvard is the most positive character and friend building experience someone like me could ever ask for,” he added.

In the end, Murphy sums up the 2000 team best.

“The 2000 team, led by quarterback Neil Rose and wide receiver Carl Morris was, at times, unstoppable, but we were young defensively and turned it around in 2001 for an Ivy Championship,” he said.

Part of that young defense was freshman linebacker Dante Ballestracci, another member of the Harvard Hall of Fame and player that Murphy says is among the best ever at his position in the Ivy League.

Ballestracci, the first ever Ivy League football player to earn first team all-conference honors all four years, was at the heart of that young defense and its growth.

Growth by the Crimson’s defense allowed the team to go undefeated during the 2001 season, including three wins in one-score games.

While the 2001 team may be the one memorialized forever as conference champions, the 2000 team learned the lessons that allowed Harvard to improve as a complementary football team and at closing out games.

– Staff Writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com.