Despite the Big Red victory, the Crimson outplayed Cornell for most of the afternoon, with spectacular performances by senior running back Chris Menick, who gained 115 rushing yards, and explosive junior tailback Chuck Nwokocha, who zigzagged his
way for 110 yards.
The Harvard offensive line didn't give up a sack--although it committed several holding penalties to make sure Wilford didn't take the beating he did last week--and consistently created holes for the running backs. Harvard gained 236 total yards rushing for the game, with Cornell (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) earning only 83 yards on the ground.
Kacyvenski, from Endicott, N.Y., had approximately 100 friends and family members in attendance Saturday and led the Harvard defense with 10 tackles and one interception. Senior linebacker Jeff Svicarovich and senior free safety Ben Green each added one interception, and the line sacked Rahne twice and knocked him down several other times.
"Let's face it, our kids played hard, and at times we played extremely well,"
Murphy said. "It looked like with [four minutes] remaining in the fourth quarter, we were in control of this football game."
However, in spite of the Crimson's superior performance on paper, Harvard's defense inexplicably crumbled at the end of the fourth quarter. With Harvard cradling a tender 23-17 lead with 1:14 left in the game, the Big Red began its drive from its own 42-yard line and obliterated the Crimson's defense.
"I don't know if we put enough pressure on the quarterback," Kacyvenski said. "We handled the run pretty well, but we couldn't handle [Rahne's] passes."
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