HAMILTON, N.Y.--As might be expected in a 20-point thrashing, almost everything Colgate tried to do on Saturday worked, while Harvard seemed three drives behind with its adjustments.

Colgate quarterback Ryan Vena killed the Crimson defense with his legs as well as his arm. Vena ran the option with almost surgical precision, amassing 97 yards on the ground to complement his 254 yards in the air.

Harvard cornerbacks and linebackers routinely made poor decisions at the corner of the field, and Vena's confidence and athleticism made Harvard pay for misplays.

"They run the option very well," said junior inside linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski. "They had the wide receiver blocking back on our corner. When we tried to adjust, they just read the linebacker [and contained him]."

The Red Raiders, on the other hand, had an air of confidence and poise.

"We just wanted to pound it at them," Vena said. "We wanted to take it at them and see if they could stop us."

Wilske Stands Out

Among the most encouraging signs offensively for the Crimson against Colgate may be the play of sophomore flanker Josh Wilske. The relative newcomer to the receiving core beat out senior veteran Jake Heller for the starting spot in spring practice, then came out and took on most of the receiving workload on Saturday.

Wilske finished with five catches for 77 yards, tops for Harvard. He made several nice grabs on crossing routes, and showed good presence and confidence in traffic.

"I'm still very confident in our passing game," said junior quarterback Rich Linden. "This is [Wilske's] second game, but we still consider his a veteran receiver."

Patterson Absent

The inability of the Crimson to get junior wideout Terence Patterson involved in the offense was a huge part of the complete offensive meltdown on Saturday that produced not a single drive of 50 yards on the day.

Last season, despite being largely overshadowed by the outstanding then-senior tandem of Colby Skelton and Jared Chupaila--who are numbers one and four on Harvard's all-time receptions list, respectively--Patterson was likely the most dangerous big-play threat on offense.

Last season the 6'0, 195-pound receiver caught 45 balls for 455 yards, and was involved in the offense in several ways, including a 62-yard reverse that accounted for one of his four touchdowns on the year. Patterson also completed one-of-two pass attempts for 34 yards.

Despite making five grabs on Saturday, Patterson was largely a non-factor. He was usually hit by a host of defenders as soon as the ball arrived, and had only 18 yards on four catches through the first three quarters, while the game was still in doubt. The Crimson was able to do little in the way of setting up interior screens or the like to get Patterson the ball in the broken field.