Less than two minutes later, Kubacki again began to sprint, but instead of ending up in the endzone he ended up on his backside with a displaced transverse process, or a crack beneath the ribs in his lower back for those of us who aren't pre-anything.
"I was dropping back to pass," Kubacki said yesterday. "I took off up the middle, and a guy stuck his helmet in my lower back."
As for next week, "it's up in the air right now," he continued. "If there's any way I can play, I will."
If Kubacki can't play--and this is doubtful--then Tim Davenport, who took over in the second half along with a great many second-stringers, will. Davenport didn't do much offensively against the Quakers, the lone second-half points coming via a 26-yard Lynch field goal following a 34-yard Baggott interception return, but he's hardly played this season, and Saturday's game experience certainly didn't hurt.
Nor did a meaningless Penn touch-down and two-point conversion with 1:44 remaining in the game. The score did little more than create the final score and break what would have been a well deserved shutout by the Crimson defense, one which, in addition to the turnovers already cited, also produced two interceptions by cornerback Andy Puopolo, an interception and fumble recovery by Bill Emper and an interception by Bill Wendel.
The six Harvard swipes were the most by the Crimson since Potsdam and Yalta; to Penn's credit, however, it should be noted that rare was the play on which the Quakers committed more than one mistake.
Game Film
And so a contest which was taken from the 1975 game films and which meant more in terms of self-respect than league standing came to a successful conclusion for the Crimson, if not for Jim Kubacki.
It's not, you see, that Columbia can't beat Brown, it's just that the Red Sea can only open so many times for the same team each season, and it appears that Harvard has already used up its quota.
Nothing is definite ... yet. There's still a game at Columbia next Saturday, a game which must be won, but barring one of those upsets that can only occur when Michigan plays Purdue, it looks quite certain that Brown is about to gain at least a share of the Ivy championship, the first in its history.
By beating--make that punishing--Dartmouth on Saturday (the final of 35-21 is two touchdowns closer than was the game itself), the Bruins need but defeat a 2-4 Lions squad to assure themselves of a deadlock with Yale.
Which brings us to Harvard, for the Crimson could be Brown's best friend this weekend by knocking off the Elis for the third year in a row just when it appeared that Yale was title-bound.
Regardless of the outcome of the Harvard-Yale affair, though, the Bruins should be sitting pretty come next Saturday evening. Their comfortable position came at the expense of a Dartmouth team which hadn't lost to Brown since 1955, or before the Ivy League was officially formed.
The Bruins built a 28-7 halftime cushion, three of the scores coming on Paul Michalko scoring passes, increased it to 35-7 on another Michalko pass late in the third quarter, and then held their breaths as the Woodsmen (yes, that is Dartmouth's new nickname) mounted one of those "nice try, but it's much too late" comebacks in the final period.
Yale, meanwhile, was manhandling Princeton in New Haven, as John Pagliaro rushed for three touchdowns in a 39-7 rout. The Elis thus stand tied with Brown at 5-1; the best they can hope for is a first-place deadlock, and in light of recent history, they'd probably accept that right now and call off next weekend altogether.
And lest anyone go unmentioned, it should be noted that Columbia warmed up for its encounter with Brown by defeating a helpless Cornell outfit, 35-17 in New York. Cornell, incidentally, has one league triumph in the last two years: for those of you who have been on vacation, that victory explains why Harvard will be playing for second on Saturday.