Why Harvard Rules...

[Go Green]

WSJ blows some kisses to Harvard Football.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/how-harvard-became-the-harvard-of-football-1416499613

[Bisonator]

xlolx

" They dominated nonconference opponents Holy Cross, Georgetown and Lafayette. "

I would hope so.... xrolleyesx

[NoDak 4 Ever]

There are some pretty absurd comments in this thing.

[UNH Fanboi]

If Harvard wins, I'm waiting for the thread where a Patriot League poster (probably LFN) argues that Harvard should be in the top 10. To preempt that, I would note that Harvard beat Dartmouth 23-12, while UNH beat Dartmouth 52-19 (which was the score after 3 quarters). Similarly, Harvard beat 1-8 UPenn 34-24 (and was trailing after 3 quarters). Villanova beat UPenn 41-7, and Fordham beat UPenn 60-22.

While Harvard may have some NFL talent, they have nowhere near the depth needed to compete with top FCS schools, much less lower tier FBS teams, like their coach claims in the article. They could maybe compete with the basement of the MAC and Sun Belt, which doesn't say much.

[Sader87]

Is Harvard good this year? Yes. Are they really that much bettah than they were in the HC Joe Restic years of the 70s and 80s? Imo, no. The Harvard teams of the 1980s in the 1-AA/FCS era post 1981 were just as or nearly as strong as Murphy's teams have been at Harvard.

Harvard under Murphy have insulated themselves fah too much within the cozy confines of the IL, PL and Pioneer opponents.

[Bill]

Personally, I view Harvard the same way I viewed the best Lehigh teams of the late 1990's/2000's: Some years they have the ability, on any given Saturdayxthumbsupx, to actually hang with the better scholarship teams. However, they do not have the depth and level of talent to compete week in and out in a top conference...

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Is Harvard good this year? Yes. Are they really that much bettah than they were in the HC Joe Restic years of the 70s and 80s? Imo, no. The Harvard teams of the 1980s in the 1-AA/FCS era post 1981 were just as or nearly as strong as Murphy's teams have been at Harvard.

Harvard under Murphy have insulated themselves fah too much within the cozy confines of the IL, PL and Pioneer opponents.

Which makes the BCS comment utterly ridiculous.

[Go Green]

Harvard under Murphy have insulated themselves fah too much within the cozy confines of the IL, PL and Pioneer opponents.

This gets debated all the time on the Ivy board.

Unfortunately, the fact remains is that Harvard recruits don't seem to care that Harvard is playing a weak OOC. If they want to play UNH rather than San Diego, or Villanova instead of Georgetown, then they'd go to Dartmouth or Penn.

Until that changes, Harvard doesn't seem to have any incentive to upgrade the OOC.

Maybe Yale can shame them into it...

[Sader87]

Which makes the BCS comment utterly ridiculous.

Year-in, year out Harvard can't compete with BCS/Power 5 schools....too much speed/size all the way around. Imo though, they could play with a lot of the lower-third FBS teams. Not necessarily beat them but they wouldn't get their doors blown off either.

I think people here (AGS) have them ranked about right....in the #15-25 range of the FCS nationally.

My "eye-test" this year, having played both Fordham and Harvard, FU is more explosive offensively but they really aren't that much different in ability overall.

[Doc QB]

I watched them on TV vs Dartmouth and was very unimpressed by Harvard. Sure, a year with Fitzpatrick and Burk on OL they would look more impressive, but this year they are not; their performances versus UPenn and Dartmouth, and how bad UNH, 'Nova, and Fordham handled the same speaks volumes. And I have seen them all play this year on TV. I hope Yale smokes them. They looked pretty solid when they woke up late in the LU game and turned it into the Vargas show.

[Sader87]

Harvard is a much different team when Hempel plays at QB. He didn't play at Penn or against Brown, GTown, Lafayette and possibly one or two more games.

He did play at Dartmouth....lest we forget, Dartmouth is pretty strong this year, winning at Yale and beside losing to Harvard, have only lost at UNH this year.

[Rjones61]

Harvard needs to be let into playoffs just so they get their asses kicked and we can move on.

[Bill]

Harvard needs to be let into playoffs just so they get their asses kicked and we can move on.

Rjones - I'm no Harvard/IVY lover, but be careful what you wish for! People said the same about the Patriot League, and suddenly Colgate is playing for the National Championship and Lehigh is making a few runs as well....

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Rjones - I'm no Harvard/IVY lover, but be careful what you wish for! People said the same about the Patriot League, and suddenly Colgate is playing for the National Championship and Lehigh is making a few runs as well....

Nobody is keeping them out. If they want to live in a bubble, let them live in a bubble.

[Rjones61]

Rjones - I'm no Harvard/IVY lover, but be careful what you wish for! People said the same about the Patriot League, and suddenly Colgate is playing for the National Championship and Lehigh is making a few runs as well....


Why would I be scared of them in playoffs. Hell, my team can play them in the first round. If they are truly that good, then they should be in playoffs. Period. If they are pretenders (which they are) then they deserve to get their asses kicked.

[Ivytalk]

Nice publicity for our program! Thanks, WSJ!

[bonarae]

To think about the present state of the Ivy League... (with respect towards Sader87 and Go Green)

Ivies today have played a much weaker schedule than the teams of decades before. In my AGS poll, I prefer a scholarship team to crack the top 10 because that is for their playoff eligibility, whereas my ceiling for Harvard this year is in the #10-#15 range, just because of the SOS and quality of opponents.

The recruits need to be more realistic when they look at a school (particularly the Ivies). Imagine if Chicago got in to the Road to Salem this year with the type of recruits Maloney and Wilkerson took away from the Ivies... but the Maroons' schedule this year was rather soft also, along with their winning margins (plus one cancellation due to the control tower fire). Next year, the Maroons are in a new conference, and we'll see if they can compete with Centre (who is in the Road to Salem this year).

Pretenders? I'm sure that may be the case for the Ivy champ, where we currently see with the current PFL champ. Every now and then, a deserving team there gets pulled out from the playoff field due to self-reporting of violations... xsmhx

Regarding the depth and level of talent, most cases, I do not really see why the recruits still choose the Ivies even if they cannot have a shot at Frisco, which most other teams do. We have seen this with the SWAC isolating themselves from the playoffs - because of that and the more appealing FBS offers to recruits today, their talent level has gone way down.

[344Johnson]

Nobody is keeping them out. If they want to live in a bubble, let them live in a bubble.

FCS would be much better if they came out. Those schools can be as good as they want

[BisonFan02]

Who rules..............?

[IBleedYellow]

Apparently by their own testimony, they suck.

http://www.harvardsucks.org/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kai4FL0MQ

[Bisonator]

Apparently by their own testimony, they suck.

http://www.harvardsucks.org/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kai4FL0MQ

I would have expected better execution from an ivy then that. It wasn't even legible. xsmhx

[Gordon Shumway]

I've seen Harvard and Dartmouth play this year, and they have some pretty good players, but as mentioned numerous times, they don't have the depth. Dartmouth got smoked at UNH this year without facing the 1st team QB or RB. Put an Ivy in that situation, and the truth will come out as to their goodness very quickly. There is no question they could be competitive, if they came out of their shell. As 344 said earlier, they can be as good as they want to be. For some eclectic reason, they don't want to be.

[Pard4Life]

Lafayette should have beaten Harvard and we are mediocre.

[Skycop27]

Harvard is a much different team when Hempel plays at QB. He didn't play at Penn or against Brown, GTown, Lafayette and possibly one or two more games.

He did play at Dartmouth....lest we forget, Dartmouth is pretty strong this year, winning at Yale and beside losing to Harvard, have only lost at UNH this year.

If Harvard beat Dartmouth, and Dartmouth beat Yale, and Yale beats Harvard, I guess the IV League gets what they want, a 3 way championship where everyone gets a trophy and all of them suck so bad that Elon and Towson would beat them by 3 TD's.