Football: Harvard 34, Penn 24

Harvard bested Penn 34-24, ensuring at least a share of the 2014 Ivy crown.

With nary a Quaker in sight and the Harvard bench cheering him on, Paul Stanton Jr. ’16 cruised goalward on his 75-yard, second-period touchdown dash. The score, already Stanton’s second of the game, gave the Crimson a 14-10 lead.
Insurance points: Penn’s Ian Dobbins was no match for Stanton on the Harvard back’s fourth-quarter, 14-yard touchdown run that all but sealed the verdict.
Hail and farewell: After the game, Harvard coach Tim Murphy (left) saluted Penn’s Al Bagnoli, who had just coached his final game at Franklin Field after 23 seasons and nine Ivy titles. His Quaker rival, said Murphy, “is the standard by which they’ll measure all Ivy coaches in this era.”
Wide receiver Anthony Fischer ’15 made a key 27-yard reception to help set up the fourth-quarter field goal that sparked the Crimson comeback. Fischer led Harvard receivers with five catches and 63 yards gained.

It was, as pigskin pundits like to say, gut-check time. The light was dying and the Harvard football team was being pushed all over frigid Franklin Field by a lowly Penn squad playing its collective heart out for the retiring Al Bagnoli, who was coaching his final home game after 23 seasons. In the last minutes of the third quarter the Crimson was trailing 24-17 and its visions of an Ivy title, to say nothing of a perfect season, were vanishing in the gloaming.

Then Harvard did what it has done so often in this magical year: hand it to Paul Stanton Jr. When the junior running back had finished his work, he and his teammates had scored 17 unanswered points and were cavorting on the sideline. For the third time in four years, Harvard was Ivy champion. Congratulations, fellas, and take a rest—for about five minutes.

Because next Saturday, Eli’s coming.

The 34-24 triumph by the Crimson (9-0, 6-0 in Ivy play) over Penn (1-8, 1-5), coupled with victories by Yale (8-1, 5-1) over Princeton and by Dartmouth (7-2, 5-1) over Brown, set up an Ivy League version of Showdown Saturday. A Bulldogs win in The Game will hand Yale a share of the title (and maybe just as satisfying, mottle Harvard’s perfection). Meanwhile, Dartmouth will be trying to win at Princeton and rooting for the Elis to provide the Big Green a chance for a share of a three-way tie for the championship. Who cares about the Football Bowl Subdivision’s new four-team playoff? Ours, featuring ancient and honorable rivals, is better. In recognition of the game’s significance and pedigree, the Stadium will be host to ESPN’s Gameday, the must-watch Saturday-morning preview on which analyst Lee Corso famously dons the costume of the team he thinks will win. Will Corso be putting on a Bulldog mask or donning a pilgrim hat? Football America holds its breath.

Harvard has a guaranteed title share largely, if not exclusively, thanks to Stanton, who is a meld of an Abrams tank and a turbocharged Porsche. In one of the most overpowering performances by a running back in the 141 seasons of Crimson football, Stanton carried the ball 22 times against Penn for a total of 235 yards, the third-highest single-game total in Harvard history. (The two that top it: the 323 yards by Matt Johnson ’92 at Brown in 1992, and the 261 by Chris Menick ’00 versus Holy Cross in 1997.) For good measure, Stanton caught three passes for 41 yards, giving him 276 all-purpose yards, the second-most in Harvard history behind only Johnson’s 1992 haul against Brown.

“We were lucky to get out of here alive,” said Crimson coach Tim Murphy afterward. “We talk a lot about testing adversity. Our kids willed this into the win column.” In doing so, they gave Murphy his eighth Ivy title in a 21-year tenure, and put him on the precipice of a third perfect season to add to those in 2001 and 2004. Harvard also has won 13 straight games across the last two seasons.

Though not without its agita-inducing moments, the come-from-behind victory over Penn might have been a better character-builder for The Game than a blowout, in that it brought to the fore a resolve the Crimson has rarely needed to display during a season in which it has trailed in the second half only twice before (and early in the season at that, against Holy Cross and Brown). Strangely, Saturday’s game started out as if it would be a breeze. On Penn’s first series, Harvard deflected a punt by the Quakers’ Hunter Kelley and took over at the Penn 42. It took exactly one play and 12 seconds for the Crimson to score; that was all the time Stanton needed to take a handoff from quarterback Scott Hosch ’16 (starting in place of injured Conner Hempel ’15), blow through a big hole on the right side, and rumble the distance to the end zone. Andrew Flesher ’15 kicked the point. With 1:20 gone, Harvard led 7-0. (And just like that, the Crimson had extended its Ivy record streak of not being shut out to 167 games.)

Then came a stunt that backfired: the Crimson tried an onside kick. Penn recovered at the Harvard 49 and eventually capitalized with a 24-yard Jimmy Gammill field goal. This cut the lead to four but, more significantly, Harvard’s momentum had vaporized. On the Crimson’s next series, a Hosch pass intended for tight end Ben Braunecker ’16 was tipped and intercepted by Penn’s Jack Madden, who took the ball to the Harvard 40. The Quakers drove inside the five, where the Crimson defense made a valiant stand until, on fourth down from the one, Penn’s Adam Strouss (a nominal wide receiver) took the snap, ran toward the line of scrimmage and flipped a nifty jump shot to Ryan O’Malley for the score. Penn 10, Harvard 7.

More trouble lay just ahead. Hosch threw a medium-range pass right into the mitts of Penn’s Ian Dobbins, who took it back 39 yards to the Harvard 29. But this time, Harvard dodged a bullet when Gammill missed a 37-yard field goal.

After an exchange of punts, Harvard took over at its 12. On first down, Hosch got the Crimson to the 25 with a pass to wide receiver Andrew Fischer ’15. Next play, Hosch handed it off to Stanton. The lad from Kenner, Louisiana, burst through another big hole and sprinted down the middle, continually widening his margin over the vainly pursuing Quakers. The 75-yard run gave the Crimson the lead again, 14-10. After the game, Stanton characteristically and justifiably credited his offensive line, saying of his two long runs, “I was never touched.” Not even halfway through the second quarter, he had 161 yards and two touchdowns, a career day for any back.

Later in the period, after a stalled drive, Flesher booted a 21-yard field goal to widen the lead to 17-10. At halftime, Harvard seemed in control.

After the intermission, however, came seven minutes that threatened to undo the work of eight and a half weeks. On its first possession of the second half, Penn covered 56 yards for a touchdown, topped off by quarterback Alek Torgersen’s 12-yard pitch to tight end Mitchell King. 17-17. On Harvard’s next possession, Hosch fumbled twice. Though he recovered both times, the ensuing punt by David Bicknell ’15 made it only to the Harvard 37. From there it took three plays for the Quakers to get into the end zone, the capper being Torgersen’s four-yard run. Penn 24, Harvard 17.

Harvard then went three downs and out, and things were looking rather grim. Penn took over on its 29 and got in range for another Gammill field-goal attempt. But the snap was balky and the kick fluttered harmlessly over the goal line: another bullet dodged. Still, the Quakers seemed to have the fresher legs. Afterward, Harvard’s star defensive end Zack Hodges (who had one sack on the day) said his unit was unworried: “We didn’t feel like we needed to change schemes.”

Hosch found some rhythm. He hit Fischer for 27 yards and wide receiver Seitu Smith ’15 for 17. On third-and-four at the Penn 13, Harvard was flagged for a facemask penalty. On fourth down, Flesher was called on for a 38-yard field goal attempt. Such kicks have proved anything but faits accomplis this season, but—as he did in a big spot against Dartmouth—Flesher delivered, making it 24-20, Penn.

More than 13 minutes remained, and now, thanks to the pressure of the Harvard defense, the Quakers offense began to crack. On second down, Torgersen let a snap slither through his hands, resulting in a loss of 17 yards. The subsequent punt by Kelley was downed at the Crimson 41.

The Quakers were getting wise to Stanton’s runs up the gut. So, on second down from the 43, Hosch flipped one into the right flat—to Stanton. Taking the ball, he wove, dodged, evaded, and bulled his way to the Penn 38. You can watch football for a long time and you’ll never see a more thrilling 19-yard run.

Two plays later, after a personal foul on Penn, the ball rested at the Quaker 28. Tight end Tyler Hamblin ’15 told Murphy he had seen something in the Penn coverage. “They were giving us a look I thought we could capitalize on,” said Hamblin afterward. When the play began, “I was able to get a release [to get open straight down the field]. Scottie [Hosch] trusted me.” The quarterback delivered the ball to Hamblin at the five, and the tight end dove between Penn defenders into the end zone: 27-24 Harvard. Said Hamblin, “I have never made a bigger catch in my life.”

Now it was Penn that needed to play catch-up. From his own 30, Torgersen faced a third-and-one. He tried the same kind of run that had worked on his touchdown. This time, though, defensive lineman Obum Obukwelu ’15 and linebacker Jacob Lindsey ’16 greeted him at the line of scrimmage. Torgersen was stoned—no gain. (On its three fourth-quarter possessions, the Quakers would not make a first down.) Penn had to punt. Kelley flubbed one 14 yards.

Now Stanton moved in for the kill. He gained six, and then, on a reverse, handed off to Fischer for 10. Next, he blasted for six, then for eight and a first down at the 14. On the next play he bolted off right tackle, picking his way and not stopping until he reached the end zone. Five plays, and he had handled the ball on every one, gaining 34 yards on his four rushes. It was one of the most enthralling series of downs ever by a Harvard back. Stanton had carried his team to a 34-24 lead—and victory.

“We always talk about finishing strong,” he said afterward. On Saturday, Stanton and his teammates will have a chance to do just that—in fact, to finish perfect.

 

Weekend roundup

Yale 44, Princeton 30
Dartmouth 44, Brown 21
Cornell 30, Columbia 27

 

Coming up: The 131st renewal of The Game! Next Saturday, in the 2014 finale, Harvard plays Yale at the Stadium. Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. (The game will be televised on the NBC Sports Network and the Ivy League Digital Network.) The Elis are 8-1 overall and 5-1 in Ivy play. The first game between these rivals was played in 1875 (Harvard 4, Yale 0); Harvard trails the series 57-65-8, but since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, the Crimson is 33-24-1 against the Bulldogs. (The tie, of course, is 1968’s “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.”) Last year at the Yale Bowl, Harvard prevailed 34-7, its seventh straight victory in The Game (the longest-ever Crimson winning streak, one behind the Elis’ 1880-89 dominance) and its twelfth in thirteen years.

The 2014 Game has the potential to be an instant classic. It pits the Irresistible Force versus the Immovable Object. Yale, which has its own star runner in Tyler Varga, leads the league in scoring, averaging 39.8 points in Ivy games. Harvard is tops in scoring defense, yielding 10.7 points in league contests. The Bulldogs’ coach, Tony Reno, is a former Murphy aide in Cambridge, and he appears to have turned the Elis’ program around, with the help of three other former Crimson assistants he lured to New Haven.

Harvard fans should hope that this Game is a rerun of the first ’14 Game, albeit in a different setting. In 1914, the Yale Bowl was inaugurated at the season finale. Harvard, under Percy D. Haughton, A.B.1899, came in at 6-0-2 and riding a 28-game unbeaten streak; its seniors had never lost a varsity game. Yale was 7-1; its coach was Frank Hinkey, one of its former great ends and a renowned wild man.

The Bowl, built at a cost of $450,000, was the Cowboys Stadium of its day and would serve as the template for huge campus stadiums. Writer Albert Barclay described how a group of Yale graduates, foreshadowing skyboxes, arranged to cover the exorbitant $450,000 cost: “After the committee had tried every other scheme to raise money, they adopted a plan of selling privileges to subscribe to seats for the Bowl, which will guarantee the holder seats for a period of 15 years. Subscription for a single seat costs $200.” (Hmmm...personal-seat licenses…a concept that could have sprung only from the diabolical brain of a Yalie….)  

Architecturally, the Bowl literally broke new ground by scooping a giant hole and putting half its seats below ground, with the remainder resting on the embankment made by the excavation from the lower half. The Bowl would be the model for Michigan’s Big House and Georgia’s Sanford Stadium, among other campus football palaces.

When the receipts were totted up, the records of the Harvard Athletic Association put the 1914 Game crowd at 68,042, paying face value of $2 a ticket for a colossal gate of $136,084. (Harvard sold 24,119 tickets.) The throng saw the Crimson administer a 36-0 massacre, a startling whipping equivalent, perhaps, to a 73-0 blowout today. The backbreaking play was a 98-yard fumble return by Harvard end T. Jefferson (Jeff) Coolidge, A.B. 1915. “As the third period came to an end, the Yale team was a pitiable wreck,” said The New York Times the next day, noting that “the glum and silent [Yale coach] Hinkey sat on the side lines with his black velour hat pulled down over his eyes as he held his long black cigar between his clenched teeth.” Afterward, the gibe was “Yale supplied the Bowl, and Harvard the Punch.”

 May it be ever thus.

 

Score by quarters

Harvard          7          10           0          17          34
Penn              10            0         14            0          24                         

Attendance: 5,386

 

Text updated 11-17-14 to incorporate the original Crimson victory gibe as it appeared in The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine of December 1914 (on page 366, under “Varia”). Our thanks to “Cleat” for tracking down this reference.

 

 

 

Read more articles by: Dick Friedman

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