Calder Silcox | Football's defense coming together for Harvard

Each week this football season, the Quakers have added another piece to the puzzle.

After losing a significant chunk of talent to graduation last year, the Red and Blue have slowly but surely found their footing through the Ivy slate.

At Dartmouth, quarterback Billy Ragone finally shook off the early season rust and led the team to a last-minute victory. The running game also found its legs, racking up 206 yards.

At Columbia, the passing game came together as Ragone found wideout Ryan Calvert for big plays and again led Penn to a late win.

Two weeks ago against Yale, kicker Connor Loftus perfectly executed a pooch kick, which, combined with a recovery by Kyle Wilcox, swung the momentum into Penn’s hands for a fourth-quarter romp.

And finally Saturday against Princeton, it was the defense, highlighted by Ivy Defensive Player of the Week Erik Rask, that came up with big stops. Twice thrown into jams with Princeton taking over at Penn’s 11-yard line, the ‘D’ forced the Tigers to settle for inconsequential field goals.

With the defense finally in gear, you didn’t hear the words “come-from-behind” once this week. There was no hero nor a need for one. It was the kind of rout Penn fans came to expect last season.

The defense — the last piece of the puzzle — has fallen into place just in time. Harvard is on the horizon and a title lays in the balance.

The Crimson’s offense is easily the most potent in the league, and the Quakers will need their biggest stop to date if they hope to knock off undefeated Harvard.

After beating Columbia, 35-21, in New York on Saturday, Harvard leads nearly every offensive category.

The Crimson put up 36.5 points per game — 12.6 more than Penn — and through a good mix of run and pass, they total far more yardage than anyone else in the Ancient Eight. They did it the first half of the season without senior quarterback Collier Winters. In his return from injury, he’s proved why he should be the starter, out-performing talented backup Colton Chapple.

To sum up, Harvard’s numbers are reminiscent of the title-winning 2010 Quakers. Except better.

Princeton was an open-note quiz for the Penn defense — nothing too surprising that the Quakers didn’t have an answer for. Harvard is the final exam.

If Penn’s secondary, which has given up countless big plays and struggled in key third-down situations this year, can’t shut it down (oh yeah, Harvard leads the league in 3rd-down conversions too), the Ivy trophy will be headed back to Cambridge.

CALDER SILCOX is a senior science, technology and society major from Washington, D.C., and is Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His email address is silcox@theDP.com.

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