Tortured Past

From 1976 through 1999, Columbia and Harvard began their seasons against each other every year. The fact that those 25 years were the worst quarter century of Columbia football certainly played in the Crimson's hands and laid the foundation for many successful seasons. The Lions won a grand total of four of those 24 games; a 21-19 stunner at Harvard Stadium in 1978, (by the way, if any readers would like to share memories of the '78 game in the comments section, I'd love to hear them), a 28-24 thriller also in Cambridge in 1995, a 20-13 overtime win in 1996, and the surprising 24-0 shutout at Baker Field in 1998.

When the schedule changed in 2000, I thought the football gods were smiling on us by pushing the Harvard game to week seven. But the same pattern is emerging. Columbia has won just one of the post-1999 contests against the Crimson, a 16-13 win at Wien Stadium against a Crimson squad forced to play without injured star QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. In the six games since the schedule change, Harvard has won by an average score of 35-10.

A lot of this has to do with the resurgence of Harvard football under Head Coach Tim Murphy, who relieved the oft-maligned Joe Restic in 1994. Restic was not a terrible coach, but Murphy seems to get more out of his players, especially in the big games against Princeton and Yale every year.

Last year Harvard beat Columbia more convincingly than any time I can remember, wiping us out 55-7 at Baker Field. I don't think this Lion defense will come close to giving up 55 points but a Harvard victory seems assured, especially with Columbia's nearly non-existent offense. Realistically, another closely-fought loss would be a nice result for the Lions, but those kinds of losses usually don't feel much better than a 48-point rout.