Leopards-Crimson: The Livestats view wasn't very pretty

My wife thought I was crazy. At times, I agreed with her.

I didn’t travel to Cambridge, Mass., today for the Lafayette-Harvard football game.

I didn’t see the Ivy League Network feed because for some reason, the username and password didn’t connect and I was eventually locked out.

When I saw on Twitter that Lafayette president Alison Byerly was listening to the game on internet radio, I tried to get it. I failed and failed and finally gave up.

So, I didn’t hear the game, either.

I READ the game. That’s correct, through the Livestats feature on the Lafayette and Harvard websites, I was able to sit in the quiet of my family room, in front of my computer, and READ a play-by-play account and keep up with running statistics at the same time.

Nuts, right? Well, maybe not.

What I read about the Leopards’ 38-10 loss to Harvard – the 17^th Lafayette loss in a 20-game history with the Crimson and the sixth in a row – wouldn’t have given me much to write about. But, I found following the plays and the stats more interesting than I ever would have believed.

Here are some of my thoughts.

First, the positive ones.

• A 22-yard run by DeSean Brown on Lafayette’s second series was encouraging. His longest run from scrimmage all season.

• A 65-yard kickoff return by C.J. Amill to set up Lafayette’s first – and last – touchdown of the game. It was the second longest play of any sort this season. He also had the game's longest pass reception for LC: 24 yards.

• The KO return and the Brown run led to Rocco Palumbo’s fourth touchdown of 2017. Nice for him.

• Phillip Parham intercepted his fifth pass of the season and stopped an early Harvard scoring drive. He now has equaled the number of interceptions he had in his first three years combined.

• Brandon Bryant continues to rip up opposing ball carriers. He had 19 tackles – 8 solos and 11 assists – against the Crimson.  That puts him at 91 for the season. He’s not likely to be named Patriot League defensive player of the week for a third straight week, but he easily could be. Nothing he does surprises me anymore.

• The defense made a gallant effort near the end of the first half. Harvard got a first down on the Lafayette 1. The Leopards stuffed the Crimson four times down there, but because a pass interference penalty on a third-down play gave Harvard an automatic first down, the Crimson final scored on its fifth attempt.

Unfortunately, the Lafayette offense, while it didn’t finish in the red with its ground game, did manage just 12 net yards. It was pretty much a given going in that if the running game didn’t get into gear, the Leopards’ chances were greatly diminished.

They won two games in a row without a running attack, but Harvard has a reputation that wouldn’t be broken on Saturday.

In listing the negative things that stood out even in print, I’m not sure whether to put at the struggling offense or the not-very-special teams at the top of the list.

• Lafayette undoubtedly knew the reputation of Harvard wide receiver-kick returner Justice Shelton-Mosley.  He came into the game ranked fourth in the country in punt return average, and on the first chance he got on Saturday he took a Michael Turk punt 85 yards for a touchdown.
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• The Livestats didn’t tell me if Shelton-Mosley was on the field for the second-half kickoff or if maybe Lafayette was trying to kick away from him – which would have been smart. But I do know the ball went to Adam Scott, and what did he do? He took it back 90 yards for another special-teams six-pointer. Both Harvard scores were the longest of the season against the Leopards.

• And, while the final stats will show that Turk had a hefty 45.3-yard average on his six punts, the stats won’t show that one of those kicks went only 30 yards and gave Harvard the ball on its 48-yard line. From there, the Crimson drove for a touchdown.

Those three special-teams lapses hurt the Leopards big time, no matter how you try to spin them.

• Now for the offense. The Leopards wound up with just 161 total yards. Worse, in five consecutive second-half possessions, they were able to run no more than four offensive plays; and they held the ball a total of only 4 minutes, 54 seconds in those five possessions combined.

• Harvard didn’t seem concerned about scoring a lot more points. Instead, the Crimson worked on the clock. When it was over, Harvard had rushed the ball 61 times and passed only 14. The Crimson went through the entire third period without throwing until the final play of the quarter.  The final time of possession was 37.28 for Harvard, 22.32 for Lafayette. The Crimson had 292 rushing yards. It was smashmouth football – at least it looked that way by the numbers.

I don’t know if Lafayette suffered any injuries during the game, but I’m pretty sure there will be some hurtin’ dudes in the training room on Sunday morning.  Thankfully, the non-conference segment of the schedule, in which Lafayette is winless, is over. The Leopards will welcome the return to the Patriot League, where they are 2-0 and at the top of the standings.

It's Bucknell and Lafayette at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Fisher Stadium. It's Homecoming, and I'm sure the Leopards will be ready. It's a strange season.

The parting comment Saturday from Lafayette Sports Fan Forum poster Bogus Megapardus said it all: "This is just so deflating."