Dave Zeitlin: No November miracle this time

BOSTON -- The play lasted five seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

As the football fluttered in the Boston wind, the packed crowd of 14,818 at Harvard Stadium held their collective breath.

The Penn faithful hoped against hope that the Quakers could pull out another last-second miracle. The Harvard faithful prayed the Crimson, back on their heels, could hang on for perhaps the sweetest victory in the history of the program.

The Quakers had the ball, down by a touchdown, at their own 42 yard line. The clock, representing the greatest enemy of all, snuck its way down to a mere five seconds.

Penn had already sliced the deficit in half in a matter of just 12 seconds with a brutally efficient, two-play, 51-yard drive. Could the Quakers do it again?

In this anticipated clash of the Ivy unbeatens, in a game that would all but decide the Ivy League title, could the Quakers pull of another miracle?

Not this time. Gavin Hoffman reached into his bag of tricks and came out empty-handed.

Hoffman did not complete a miraculous Hail Mary to stun the Crimson, as he did two years ago. He did not engineer a 48-yard game-winning touchdown drive with less than two minutes left in the game to beat Harvard by a point, as he did last year.

Not this time. Saturday at Harvard Stadium, there were no miracles. The spirits of Herman Edwards, Franco Harris and Doug Flutie did not rise from the gridiron and lift the Quakers from the claws of defeat.

This time, Hoffman's last-ditch Hail Mary attempt was knocked down short of the end zone -- short of an outright Ivy championship and short of a perfect season.

For the first time in three years, the Harvard Crimson thwarted Penn's fourth-quarter comeback attempt, and there was no better time to do it.

In front of a raucous home crowd, the Crimson dethroned the mighty Quakers and continued their own quest for a perfect season and their first Ivy title since 1997.

"Anything I say will probably be an understatement," Harvard head coach Tim Murphy said. "I couldn't be prouder of a group of young men. This group had the character, the ability and the closeness to be a championship football team."

And the 2001 Quakers, the invincible, efficient, superior clan of football players that have had such a phenomenal season, did what no one thought would happen this season -- they lost a football game.

It really was a surreal setting after Hoffman's Hail Mary attempt was batted away.

The Harvard student body joyously rushed the field, as the Quakers, with bowed heads, returned mournfully to the locker room.

But the one image that sticks out in my mind the most had nothing to do with a blissful celebration or a feeling of utter despondency.

It was an image of leadership, class and professionalism, values that have propelled the Quakers to the top.

After the loss, Mike Powers -- Penn's only underclassmen starter -- kicked his helmet in disgust. An angry Dan Morris -- a fifth-year senior captain and the oldest player on the roster -- then picked up the helmet, stuffed it into Powers' chest and proceeded to shake hands with the Crimson players.

For Penn, there's no time to sulk or drown in sorrow. A win next week coupled with a Harvard loss to arch-rival Yale will give the Quakers a share of the title.

"I don't want to say 8-1 is a disastrous year," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "That's not realistic."

Dan Morris and the rest of Penn's elder statesmen will not let the Quakers give up on the season.

This team will be back.

The 2001 season is far from over.

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