The Harvard football team blew three games last year by surrendering touchdowns in the final minutes. As the game waned, the pass defense collapsed and Harvard's championship hopes died.

The lowlights: Cornell's Ricky Rahne rebounded from fourth-and-13 with no timeouts to produce a pair of touchdowns in the last 2:49. Gavin Hoffman purloined a win for Penn with a 50-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10. And most painful of all, a fever-stricken Joe Walland set records for Eli proficiency and Crimson futility, posting 437 yards through the air to lead Yale to a come-from-behind triumph in The Game.

"I've never been through a season like last year before," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "The Cornell loss was the toughest to take. Those things happen."

The painful memories resulting from the Harvard pass defense's failure during crunch time last season have left the Crimson secondary with no direction to go but up.

There is good reason for optimism, however. The secondary--which returns two of four starters--has emerged as one of the most talented units on the Harvard team.

"Only our secondary is really solidified," Murphy said. "If I had to try to gauge an early strength in our football team it would be the offensive line or the defensive secondary or both."

The outlook didn't look so rosy last spring, when sophomore Ryan Dickerson--the expected replacement of All-Ivy right corner Kane Waller '00--went down with an ankle injury. But Murphy solved the problem with a radical position change, plucking excess depth from his receiving corps.

Junior Andy Fried, the second-string wideout whose four catches and two touchdowns ignited Harvard's offense in a 63-21 win over Dartmouth last year, will now be counted on to provide game-breaking receptions--for the defense.

"I was pretty excited when Coach Murphy asked me to make the move," Fried said. "It was a total surprise. I didn't see it coming."

Like many of the talented athletes on the Harvard football team, Fried had played both ways in high school. If Murphy needed any evidence that Fried could handle the rigors of a defensive position at the college level, he merely had to look at the Crimson-best 17 tackles Fried made on special teams last year.

"It wasn't hard for Andy to make the transition because I believe he was a natural defensive player all along," Murphy said. "He was a quality wide receiver for us last year, but he has a defensive mentality, being a guy who would rather hit somebody than catch the ball, which is why he did so well on special teams."

Now that he has switched sides, Fried's chances of matching his three touchdowns from last year--tops among all returning players--have been reduced. But his 4.22 speed makes him a serious threat to return interceptions into the end zone.

"I feel I have decent speed," Fried said. "The position is a lot of technique, getting your feet down in the right places. I feel I can keep up with anybody."

Playing alongside Fried is the man who knows more about defensive scoring than anyone else. Last season, senior strong safety Mike Brooks lived the consummate dream of every Harvard defensive player--returning a 66-yard blocked field goal for a touchdown to put the Crimson up 14-3 in The Game.

Unfortunately, the Harvard defense disintegrated after that play. It will be up to the senior leadership of Brooks--one of the Crimson leaders in pass break-ups and forced fumbles last season--to ensure that such a collapse does not recur.

"Are we mature enough to win a championship? I don't know, but that's our goal," Murphy said. "On defense, R.D. Kern and Mike Brooks, being the only two seniors, have to bring leadership."

The other returning starter in the backfield is junior Willie Alford, the Crimson's top returning tackler and the only member of the Class of 2002 to letter his freshman year. Alford showed off his quickness that season with a critical 58-yard kickoff return in a 23-22 win over Princeton.

The final open spot in the secondary will go to sophomore Niall Murphy, a local player from Central Catholic who has drawn the highest words of praise from Coach Tim Murphy (no relation).

"Even though he's young, he could be one of the best safeties in the league," Coach Murphy said. "Niall Murphy is just amazing, the number of plays he's made--a great tackler and hitter with great field sense. He's as good as we can recruit at this level in my humble opinion."

It is ironic that Murphy's first collegiate start will come against Holy Cross, a school where his family's legacy dates back to the days of World War II. His grandfather was an All-American tight end in 1943, his father was a three-year starter at wingback in the '70s, and his uncle was a three-year starter at quarterback in the '80s.

After dominating Division 1-AA football in the early '90s, Holy Cross football has fallen on tough times. With Harvard on the rise with an Ivy Title in 1997, donning the Crimson uniform had to be the right choice for Murphy.

"It was down between Holy Cross and Harvard, but I felt that Harvard was the best fit for me," Murphy said. "My grandparents said they will sit right in the middle of the stadium, but my parents will be squarely on the home side."

Murphy's tremendous athletic ability will be a great boon to the secondary. Although he didn't get much playing time as a freshman, he proved himself as a well-rounded athlete in high school, quarterbacking his high school to back-to-back Massachusetts Super Bowl victories and winning state titles in the 55-meter and 300-meter hurdles.

Murphy's versatility makes him fit right in with the rest of the Harvard secondary. Brooks was also starting quarterback of his high school football team, and Alford was the starting point guard for his high school's nationally ranked basketball team.

"I think that brings a lot to a program when you bring in guys who are successful in more than one area besides football," Coach Murphy said. "They have that competitiveness and sense that you know what it takes to win in any situation."

Performance under adverse last-minute conditions is what the Harvard secondary will need to erase the demons from last season. Although one of the Crimson's main goals in the off-season has been practicing the two-minute drill, in the end, it is that desire to succeed that will be necessary for this team to perform in the clutch.

"We definitely have something to prove as a secondary," Niall Murphy said. "But we feel we have the players this year to stop any passing game."