On a day when Neil Rose, Carl Morris and Chuck Nwokocha broke school records, turnovers and an inability to convert in the fourth quarter prevented the Harvard football team from finishing off Yale yesterday afternoon at The Stadium.
Yale (7-3, 4-3 Ivy) handed Harvard (5-5, 4-3) its third Ivy League loss yesterday. In all three losses, Harvard held a fourth quarter lead, only to relinquish its advantage and lose control of the game by the final buzzer. Though yesterday's contest against the Elis did not end with a last-second field goal, Harvard held a 24-17 lead and was in the driver's seat with ten minutes remaining in the game.
But unfortunately for the Crimson, Harvard gave Yale more than enough opportunities to comeback, throwing three interceptions and fumbling twice in the last nine minutes. Yale scored the final 17 points of the game en route to its third consecutive victory against Harvard.
Too Many Turnovers
Harvard turned the ball over seven times, four of which occurred in the fourth quarter. Harvard committed five turnovers last week in a 36-35 loss at Penn, giving the team 12 in its last two games. This is a problem area where Harvard will need to improve for next season.
"We've got a lot of guys coming back for next year," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "Now, they are all trying to do their job out there, but quite frankly, they must understand that [in the future] I am not going to accept performances like this. There's a fine line between trying and executing, but twelve turnovers in two games is unacceptable."
After Neil Rose opened the fourth quarter with a beautiful pass to Carl Morris on a post pattern for a 19-yard touchdown, Yale answered with a seven-yard touchdown score to tie the game at 24-24.
Harvard had the ball at its own 25-yard line with 8:22 remaining on first down, but two straight incompletions by Rose forced a third-and-10 situation with the momentum on Yale's side. Rose rolled to his right, and, under heavy pressure, tried to force a pass into a slew of Yale defenders. Yale's free safety Ryan Loprotto picked off the pass as Yale took over at Harvard's 44-yard line.
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