Analysis: Turnovers key Football win at Harvard

In a game filled with 10 turnovers and several special teams mistakes, the Quakers came out on top, 21-17. BOSTON -- Brandon Carson's miraculous game-winning 50-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-10 never would have been possible on Saturday had Brett Chalmers, Harvard's sixth-string tailback, not collided with Crimson quarterback Brad Wilford with 2:19 remaining in the game. Wilford fumbled, Hasani White pounced on the pigskin and the rest will live on in Penn football lore for many years to come. "This won't go down as a pretty game by anybody's standards," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We're very fortunate that when push came to shove, we made a play on both offense and defense and it was enough to get us out of Dodge." The 70th meeting of the Quakers and Crimson was tattooed by 10 turnovers and innumerable special teams gaffes, each more important than the next. Fittingly, Harvard's final desperation drive ended when White hauled in the day's sixth interception with 19 seconds to play. "How many [turnovers] were there?" Bagnoli said. "I lost both sets of fingers and was starting to go to my toes to count. There were a lot of turnovers? but if you like hard-fought, close, big-play, turn-back-and-forth, give-and-take, up-and-down college games, then this is about as good as you're going to get." The barrage of turnovers and loony special teams plays in the game started with 2:23 remaining in the first quarter. Harvard faced fourth-and-22 and lined up to punt. Only 10 men clad in red and blue ventured onto the Harvard Stadium grass for the return. That was of no consequence to Quakers returner Fred Plaza, whose 30-yard return did not result in six points only because of Ben Green's tackle at the Penn 46. The Quakers then drove to the Harvard 19 but Jason Feinberg's field goal attempt was never made due to a fumbled long snap that Clint Burhorn appeared to send off his own leg. But on the very next play, Penn linebacker Jim Hisgen intercepted Wilford. When Penn failed to advance the football, Feinberg lined up again -- this time for a 46-yard attempt. Again, however, the junior kicker would not get a chance to swing his leg. The Quakers appeared to fake the field goal, but the Penn coaches' reaction to the play suggested that what really happened was a second consecutive abhorrent long snap. Holder Jason Battung -- a quarterback in high school -- scrambled but could not complete a pass downfield. A few minutes later, though, Penn got the ball again -- barely. Plaza muffed Mike Giampaolo's punt at midfield, and after the ensuing scrum, Harvard's 11 argued that it had come away with possession. The officials, however, gave the ball to Penn in brilliant position at the Harvard 45. But on the first play from scrimmage, Harvard would reclaim the ball. Penn quarterback Gavin Hoffman completed a pass to tight end Ben Zagorski, who was hit immediately upon catching the over-the-middle bullet. The Quakers junior did all that he could to try to hold onto the ball, including passing it between his hands behind his back. While the ball was back there, Green was busy again, knocking it loose. Harvard recovered at its own 35 but that possession was short-lived, too. Just 2:10 later, Wilford dropped back to pass yet again. He threw a perfect strike a diving receiver over the middle -- except that receiver was Hisgen, whose interception gave Penn the ball at the Harvard 47, making it the third straight Quakers drive to start inside Crimson territory. "Those [two interceptions] were awesome," Hisgen said. "I was just reading the quarterback -- I was in my zone and I was just reading my eyes. He just looked right at his receiver and I was just able to make some plays." This time, the Red and Blue cashed in, scoring on Hoffman's two-yard touchdown run. For a time, it seemed that everything was back to normal, but Joey Alofaituli's pick of Rich Linden to close out the first half was a sign of things to come. "It's hard to look at that as a real turning point," Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. "Obviously the chain of events down the stretch was much more critical factors in the game but obviously we did want to come away with points at the end of the first half." In the fourth quarter, with Harvard having already scored on a drive started by an Isaiah Kacyvenski interception, Crimson returner Terrance Patterson muffed a punt. But he picked it up at his own 23 and started running. One Quaker grabbed his leg, then another. Then, suddenly, Patterson was 77 yards away, gliding backwards into the end zone to tie the game with a touchdown that nearly doubled Penn's total punt return yardage allowed for the season. Penn got the ball back immediately, but then Kacyvenski forced Carson to fumble, setting up the field goal that gave the Crimson the lead. The next Penn drive ended with Hoffman throwing a ball to Harvard linebacker Jeff Svicarovich, who was nowhere near a Penn receiver near the Crimson sideline. With 2:51 to play, the game seemed in hand for Harvard. "Your kid hits a great punt and it goes over the kid's head and you think you have him deep, and he makes a great play and runs like 90 yards for a touchdown and you're reeling a little bit," Bagnoli said. "Then you make another turnover. We ran every emotion on both sides that were possible." But Penn's emotions swung up again when Chalmers ran into Wilford, Carson caught the pass from Hoffman and White came up with his interception. Somehow, the Quakers managed not to fumble when kneeling on the ball in the final 19 seconds, and they walked out of Harvard Stadium with a win for the first time since 1995.