COLUMN: Harvard has been the best all along

Marc Edelman, Commentary With the Quakers still awaiting their annual meeting with Harvard -- scheduled for November 15 at Harvard Stadium -- Penn fans carry renewed optimism about their team's chance at an Ivy championship. The Big Green's loss on Saturday means that all Penn has to do is beat Princeton this weekend and Harvard next weekend -- just two simple steps -- to move into a tie for first place in the Ancient Eight. Despite that positive outlook, it's not quite that simple. The Big Green's falling hasn't changed things in the Ivy League as much as it may appear. While the Quakers have regained control of its own destiny, a Penn championship still calls for victory at Harvard. And considering that the Quakers' victories the past three weeks have come against the second-tier teams in the conference -- Columbia, Brown and Yale -- there is no reason to believe Penn will fare as well against the division leader. That the Crimson beat up on Dartmouth this Saturday shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. Harvard has been the better team all season. Even though both teams headed in with equal 3-0 Ivy marks, Harvard had manhandled its opponents, while Dartmouth often barely squeaked by. Saturday's victory didn't transform Harvard into the Ivy's best team -- it just ceremonially consecrated what has been true all season. From week one's 45-7 thrashing of Columbia right through Saturday's 24-0 blanking of Dartmouth, the Crimson have simply thumped their way through the Ivy schedule. The Crimson's top-ranked offense, averaging 33.3 points per game, is the quintessential complement to its dominating defense, which allows an Ivy League-low 267.9 yards per game. Offensively, Harvard displays the league's finest multi-dimensional attack. Sophomore quarterback Rich Linden boasts honors as the Ivy League's most efficient passer with a 133.27 rating, including a 57.31 completion percentage, 1,344 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. While running back Chris Menick -- who replaced graduated All-Ivy back Eion Hu -- is leading the conference with 771 yards rushing, 5.1 yards per carry and nine touchdowns. On the defensive end of the ball, the Crimson are loaded, with All-Ivy seniors Tim Flaiszer, Chris Smith and Jeff Compas controlling the tempo. If there is a single characteristic in common among recent Ivy League champions -- Dartmouth in '96, Princeton in '95 and Penn in '94 -- it is that each team's defense has returned a disproportionate number of starters. The Crimson returned all 11 from last season. That was the most in the Ivies. So why were the Crimson ignored in most preseason football polls? That was more likely a function of Harvard football's perennial ineptitude than any judgments coaches and reporters have made about the '97 squad. Because the Crimson have not won an Ivy title since 1987 and are a mere 23-40 in the league since 1988, choosing them to win the Ivies may have sounded as impractical as forecasting Brown coming out on top in men's basketball or Columbia winning the Ivies in anything. But the tides have turned for the Crimson. After 10 years of failure, Harvard football has come of age. The growing pains of a 2-5 1994 and a 1-6 1995 -- when the Crimson started a defense made up of mostly underclassmen -- are paying dividends now with experienced seniors dominating opposing offenses. And coach Tim Murphy's decision to stick by Linden in his interception-plagued '96 season has helped the sophomore grow into an offensive leader throughout this season's championship campaign. So what does this mean for the Quakers? Right now, there's no certain answer. To state that Penn has zero chance of beating Harvard on the road would be foolish, especially considering the Quakers' recent offensive improvement -- most notably Matt Rader's emergence at quarterback and Jim Finn's evolution in the backfield. But by the same token, to expect Penn to earn a share of the Ivy League title would be just as narrow-minded. Harvard is the team to beat. The Crimson have been all season. And unless the Quakers come out November 15 and put on one heck of a show, Murphy's boys will seal Harvard's first football championship in a decade.