Harvard faced Cornell at the Stadium on October 11 with three top receivers sidelined by injuries. No worries. On the third play from scrimmage, untried freshman Adam Chrissis caught a screen pass from quarterback Chris Pizzotti and sprinted 67 yards for a touchdown. The second quarter brought a 21-yard touchdown catch by another newcomer, sophomore Levi Richards, as well as Chrissis’s second score of the day, a 22-yard scamper on a reverse that put Harvard up, 28-7, at halftime. A short-yardage touchdown by running back Cheng Ho, Patrick Long’s 35-yard field goal, a short pass from Pizzotti to junior tight end Jason Miller, and Long’s five points-after completed the scoring in an impressive 38-17 win. Cornell had taken the field with a 3-0 record, including, as noted above, a 17-14 victory over Ivy League co-favorite Yale.
The Crimson compiled 423 yards in total offense, diversifying its potent passing attack with end-around plays and the deftly executed reverse that produced Chrissis’s rushing touchdown. “Our whole philosophy is to have a big cookbook and use a lot of things from game to game,” said coach Tim Murphy afterward. Matt Luft, the team’s number-one receiver, had four catches—one a 66-yarder that led to Harvard’s fifth touchdown—for 139 yards. With 28 catches for 460 yards, Luft leads the Ivy League in receptions per game.
The defense put heat on Cornell quarterback Nathan Ford, the league’s second-ranked passer. He hit on 32 of 53 attempts, but was intercepted twice and sacked twice. The sacks were the first allowed by the Big Red line this season.
For early season coverage, see "Bumps in the Road."
With league records of 1-1, Harvard, Cornell, and Yale trail Brown, Princeton, and Penn—each 1-0—in the Ivy standings. This weekend’s Brown-Princeton game will drop one of those teams from the ranks of the unbeaten. Harvard hosts Patriot League rival Lehigh (1-0 league, 2-3 overall) at the Stadium.
~“Cleat”
