<p>Byerly, you've got some 'splaining to do!</p>
<p>Harvard: 4-0 so far, averaging 34.5 points a game.</p>
<p>Stanford: 0-6 so far, averaging 36 points a game <em>against</em> !</p>
<p>At Duke, also winless, a student newspaper editorial recently urged the school to schedule the Ivies:</p>
<p>"The Blue Devils lost to a Division I-AA team two weeks ago. How are we expected to play a competitive game against Alabama or Florida State?</p>
<p>A schedule dominated by Ivy League schools and other academic rivals would better serve our school's needs.</p>
<p>All in all, we don't aim to be in the BCS championship, but we should be able to compete.</p>
<p>And score some points..." </p>
<p>(Chronicle, October 3, 2006)</p>
<p>It looks as if the Crimson are succumbing to the dangers of becoming a football powerhouse.</p>
<p>Here's to Stanford scheduling the Blue Devils for 2007!</p>
<p>Here's the LA Times article at the other end of the link:</p>
<p>A Harvard Football Scandal? That Smarts
Many athletes at the prestigious school still believe the problems are exceptions to the rule.
By Chris Dufresne, Times Staff Writer
October 7, 2006 </p>
<p>CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The team captain, an all-league linebacker, is kicked off the team and charged with domestic assault after allegedly breaking into his girlfriend's dorm room.</p>
<p>The quarterback is suspended five games for violating team rules, but details of his transgression are kept secret by the school.</p>
<p>A senior running back is dismissed because of actions the coach calls "disgusting" during an annual preseason "Skit Night."</p>
<p>These are only a few of the story lines generated by a single football team during the last year, incidents that seem to go hand-in-hand nowadays with big-time college sports.</p>
<p>The link above was more than adequate.</p>
<p>Note that the other "powerhouse" in New Have seems unwilling, thus far, to deal with a similar problem. Its quarterback and its leading rusher were both arrested for fighting outside a storefront next to a student watering hole a week ago in which thousands of dollars of damage resulted. </p>
<p>The upshot? Both played Saturday and the party line seems to be that it was just a little "misunderstanding." A bit of situational morality, a la Levin's shifting line on early admissions? The old "sweep it under the rug" technique?</p>
<p>I think Harvard should schedule UC Berkeley, another academic powerhouse.</p>
<p>Not until the Cal football team raises its graduation rate to 50%.</p>
<p>Ah, nothing like the wall of silence. Order the coach and players not to talk, and have the communications director refuse to communicate. This is how rumors tend to explode, because clearly something bad happened and it looks like they're trying to hush it up and hope that it goes away. Maybe these guys will be the politicians of the future.</p>
<p>Byerly,</p>
<p>Then schedule Vassar in touch football.</p>
<p>the Yalie miscreants have their court date on Friday. </p>
<p>Presumably their attorneys (and Yale) have been using the intervening time to (1) $mooth things over with the store owner whose window was broken, to (2) concoct an explanation of how a silly "misunderstanding" led to blows, and to (3) either get the charges dismissed or continued without a finding. </p>
<p>Whether all of this will be sufficient to avoid the necessity for suspending the team's two best players for a game or three remains, of course, to be seen. </p>
<p>COMPARE: <a href="http://www.boston.com/partners/worldnow/nesn.html?catID=85024&clipid=1003131&autoStart=true&mute=false&continuous=true%5B/url%5D">http://www.boston.com/partners/worldnow/nesn.html?catID=85024&clipid=1003131&autoStart=true&mute=false&continuous=true</a> (BC player suspended for getting in a street fight, despite no arrest or police charges)</p>
<p>And ALSO: <a href="http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2006/10/11/pacers_jackson_is_happy_to_be_alive/%5B/url%5D">http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2006/10/11/pacers_jackson_is_happy_to_be_alive/</a> (UMass players suspended for getting in a street fight, despite fact that charges were continued without a finding)</p>
<p>My take on the Harvard football situation is that Coach Murphy tends to take particularly strong action on things that might receive lesser responses elsewhere (domestic assault excluded). Being kicked off the team for domestic assault is one thing; being kicked off for a skit that the coach didn't like is unprecedented. If we were to learn the nature of the team rule that cost the starting quarterback half the season, we'd probably know to what extent the coach's standards are a factor. But if the quarterback's offense had been a violation of the law, it would be a matter of public record and would have appeared in the press by now. The fact that an internal team rule equals half the season is a hint that the leash at Harvard is a short one.</p>
<p>Among "the informed" I've talked to, there has always been a feeling that eventually Murphy would be lured away to a bigtime slot at major $$$ . He was a possibility at Notre Dame before Weiss came onboard. A reputation as a no nonsense taskmaster who getds results will only enhance his appeal. </p>
<p>Anything can happen of course (like losing to Princeton, etc) but if Harvard were to go undefeated again he could probably write his own ticket. Stanford might throw a lot of money his way - since he's done better recently at recruiting west coast skill position players than it has. For example, the QB from San Clemente who's #5 or #6 on their depth chart turned down Stanford for Harvard, I believe. <a href="http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=18&p=8&c=1&nid=1770436%5B/url%5D">http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=18&p=8&c=1&nid=1770436</a> <a href="http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=153&p=2&c=424375&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fhscalifornia.scout.com%2f2%2f424375.html%5B/url%5D">http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=153&p=2&c=424375&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fhscalifornia.scout.com%2f2%2f424375.html</a></p>
<p>There is a limit as to how much Harvard will pay to keep him. It has this quaint notion that coaches should get paid less than the president!</p>
<br>
<p>Anything can happen of course (like losing to Princeton, etc)</p>
<br>
<p>it's not all that improbable. princeton won last year in harvard's house, this year's game is at home, and the also-undefeated tigers enter the contest as the higher ranked of the two teams.</p>
<p>Of course the difference-maker for Princeton last year is now gone. The only reason he was there last year, interestingly, is that earlier, along with two fellow stalwarts, he'd been suspended a year for ... ahhh ... academic deficiencies!</p>
<p>in your new "no-nonsense" pose, i imagine you regard that suspension as a laudable one.</p>
<p>Not at all. Princeton's getting to mothball those guys for a season cost Harvard a close victory (and a share of the Ivy title) last year. IMHO, Princeton should have shown more "compassion."</p>
<p>Nice recruiting ploy.</p>
<p>“Since the stadium has been resurfaced, we’ve been trying to make more of an effort to make facilities available to the community. It’s a way to basically get large numbers of people onto our campus,” Sullivan said. “This negotiation has an intrinsic value for our University.”</p>
<p>The football games would attract more visitors to the campus, better exposing the University to the community, Sullivan added.</p>
<p>“It’s always good to have high school football players, athletes, and students on campus,” he said.</p>
<p>also from the crimson, to your heart of hearts:</p>
<p>As to the latest rankings pending the clash next Saturday:</p>
<p>Interesting to note that the HYP football teams, using amateur players, all out rank the semi-professionals wearing the school colors at Stanford and Duke.</p>