Today's game with Yale according to pre-season opinion was going to be a showdown between two unbeaten teams for the Ivy League championship. That was before Ravenel got hurt.
As it turned out, the Princeton-Yale game in New Haven last week decided the outcome of the title. In winning 43 to 22, Yale clinched a tie for the championship. Even if Harvard upsets Yale and Princeton beats Dartmouth today, the Blue would still share the title with the Tigers, both teams finishing with 6-1 Ivy records.
Princeton, still the league's top team on offense, churned out 292 yards on the ground (Hugh Scott contributed 145, John Sullivan 89) and 94 in the air (Sullivan completed five for six for 65 yards, Scott passed for the other 29) for an incredible total of 386 yards in its losing effort against Yale. Previous to that game Yale's bulwark defense, rated second only to Harvard's, had allowed only 6.4 points and 206.2 yards per Ivy game.
Undeniably a juggernaut, the Tiger eleven should roll over Dartmouth today, thus putting all the pressure on Yale.
Overcome Harvard Jinx
Coach Jordan Oliver's Bulldogs will be after more than the school's first Ivy title since 1956 and its first undefeated, untied season football record since 1923, though. They want to overcome the "Harvard jinx." Including freshman games, the juniors and seniors on this year's Yale team have never beaten a Harvard football club. For the 17 seniors in their last game for the Blue-the same men who formed the bulk of the winless team of 1958-today's contest will especially be a revengeful affair. In their freshman year they lost to Harvard 20 to 13, and in the following two varsity games they suffered defeats from the Crimson to the tune of 28 to 0 and 35 to 6.
The men of '61 in the starting lineup for Yale are Captain and left tackle Mike Pyle, left end John Hutcherson, left guard Ben Balme, center Hardy Will, right tackle Jim King, and the entire backfield-quarterback Tom Singleton, left halfback Lou Muller, right halfback Ken Wolfe, and fullback Bob Blanchard. (The other two men in the starting lineup are right guard Bill Kay, a sophomore who is filling in for Paul Bursick, the victim of a knee injury against Princeton last week; and right end Jim Pappas, a junior.)
Pointing out that none of the seniors had ever played in a winning football game against Harvard, a Yale news release earlier this week said: "The big reason? A gentleman from South Carolina by the name of Charles D. Ravenel."
"All of the Eli elder statesmen agree that in winning the greatest satisfaction comes from beating the best. They realize that a fine Harvard team is at its best with Mr. Ravenel at the controls. That's why Yale's 17 seniors would like to see Ravenel recovered from his early knee injury on Saturday," the press release added.
They want Harvard, Ravenel, and a win. But they are not going to get everything they want.
For Harvard, it is still a time for remembrance of things past. The last time Yale beat Harvard (in 1957) the Bulldogs unmercifully humiliated the Crimson, 54 to 0. In the 76-game Harvard-Yale series dating back to 1875, Yale has won 43 times to Harvard's 26. There have been seven ties.
Although Harvard's defensive record is still better than Yale's (the Crimson has given up a total of 1591 yards in eight games, Yale has allowed 1917 yards), Yale will be very hard to stop.
Here's what to look out for from the Bulldogs, one of the four major teams in the country still unbeaten and untied (along with Missouri, New Mexico State, and Utah State) and presently ranked 14th in the nation by the Associated Press.
On the kick-off: If Yale kicks, end John Stocking will boot the now-famous Yale "squib-kick," an on-side kick that starts bouncing around crazy-like on the opposing team's 40 yard line. His kicks are usually off to the right in which case Crimson left end Bob Boyda will be fielding a lot of grounders today.
If the Crimson kicks off, hope that right halfback Wolfe for the Blue doesn't get the ball. Against Penn two weeks ago he returned five kick-offs for 250 yards-the major reason why he was chosen Ivy back of the week after that game. Against Princeton Wolfe showed that he is a menace in this respect, running a kick-off 52 yards from his own goal line to the Princeton 48. On that return, he faked a reverse (not usually done on a kick-off) to Muller.
Blanchard and Singleton
If Yale is on offense, look out for Blanchard and Singleton. Fullback Blanchard runs the ball more than any other Yale player, and he, along with a rugged forward wall, has given the Bulldogs their reputation as a bread and butter "grind-it-out-up-the-middle" team. Singleton will probably start the game with the regular straight hand-offs to the 6'2" 203 pound fullback, who favors the stronger left side of the line over Pyle and Balme. When Blanchard isn't plugging away, Ted Hard, a 6' 190 pound junior, will do it for him. Both fullbacks run with a vengeance and eat away at the middle until the defense starts to stop them (which hasn't been very often).
If Blanchard and Hard find the going rough, Singleton will take the ball for himself. And he has a right to. In his last home game last week, the 6'1" 200 pound senior played his best game ever, and earned the distinction of Ivy back of the week. He ran the ball seven times for 83 yards and completed six out of seven passes for 119 yards and a grand total of 202 yards. He threw three touchdown passes and one extra-points pass, and ran for another TD for 26 points-not a bad one-man performance.
His roll-outs around either end keep the defense honest, also causing a lot of destruction. One of his TD passes last week was the result of a roll-out to the left. On two other plays, Singleton rolled out to the right and ran for 28 yards and 25 yards deep in Princeton territory to set up two of the Yale TD's.
In short, when Singleton rolls out around either end, hope that he doesn't run or pass.
Don't try to put yourself in the shoes of the Harvard defensive halfbacks, or you'll end up drinking your troubles away and miss most of the game. The defensive back will have to come up to the line of scrimmage quickly to help the linebackers stop Blanchard when he gets the ball. Some of the time, however, when it looks like Blanchard is getting the ball, he won't. Instead, it will be a pass, and the defensive backs will have to back-pedal fast to botch the play up. The play is the belly pass, with which Singleton threw two TD passes of 38 and 23 yards to Wolfe usually sets to the right, and while Singleton fakes the ball to Blanchard off right tackle, he sneaks down the right side of the field. These are the strong points of the Yale attack: the fullback up the middle, the roll-out around end, and the belly pass.
Occasionally Singleton calls his plays on a quick count, catching the defense off-guard (usually with Blanchard off guard). When held on downs, Singleton will punt. Last week he booted one time for 39 yards-the average distance for the 29 Yale punts this year. (The Crimson has punted 48 times for an average age of 35.5 yards). Two times week's game Will centered the If Harvard is forced to punt: When Yale is on defense, And when Harvard fades back pass, rushing just as hard as the interior linemen will be ends Second string quarterback It is too bad that only people the East will be able to see the game as the NCAA regional television game of the week. Many people the Chicago area would be watching with special attention. Nine players on this year's roster come from One Yale coach has a special reason for wanting Olivar to play the end team today. He is end coach Harvard players will be trying the damndest to deny Pa that pleasur
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