2004 Harvard Crimson football team

2004 Harvard Crimson football
Ivy League champion
Conference	Ivy League
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 13
Record	10–0 (7–0 Ivy)
Head coach	Tim Murphy (11th season)
Offensive coordinator	Dave Cecchini (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Doherty (3rd season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Harvard Stadium

2004 Ivy League football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 13 Harvard $		7	–	0					10	–	0
No. 21 Penn		6	–	1					8	–	2
Cornell		4	–	3					4	–	6
Brown		3	–	4					6	–	4
Princeton		3	–	4					5	–	5
Yale		3	–	4					5	–	5
Dartmouth		1	–	6					1	–	9
Columbia		1	–	6					1	–	9
$ – Conference champion Rankings from The Sports Network poll

The 2004 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Harvard finished the season with an overall record of 10–0, winning the Ivy league championship with a conference mark of 7–0.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 18	12:30 p.m.	Holy Cross*		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA		W 35–0	9,513	[1]
September 25	12:00 p.m.	at Brown		Brown Stadium Providence, RI		W 35–34	9,278	[2]
October 2	1:00 p.m.	at Lafayette*		Fisher Field Easton, PA	LSN	W 38–23	5,365	[3]
October 9	12:30 p.m.	Cornell		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA		W 34–24	13,334	[4]
October 16	12:30 p.m.	No. 19 Northeastern*		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA		W 24–17	11,809	[5]
October 23	1:00 p.m.	at Princeton	No. 22	Princeton Stadium Princeton, NJ (rivalry)		W 39–14	14,304	[6]
October 30	12:30 p.m.	at Dartmouth	No. 21	Memorial Field Hanover, NH (rivalry)		W 13–12	6,030	[7]
November 6	12:00 p.m.	Columbia	No. 16	Harvard Stadium Boston, MA		W 38–0	10,046	[8]
November 13	1:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Penn	No. 15	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	CN8	W 31–10	15,123	[9]
November 20	12:30 p.m.	Yale	No. 13	Harvard Stadium Boston, MA (The Game)		W 35–3	30,308	[10]
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

See also: 2004 NCAA Division I-AA football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
The Sports Network	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	22	21	16	15	13 (1)	12 (2)	13

Personnel

2004 Harvard Crimson football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 2 Liam O'Hagan Fr WR 4 Corey Waller Jr QB 7 Garret Schires Sr WR 11 Danny Brown So WR 12 Todd LaFountaine Jr QB 13 Peter Wood So QB 14 Ryan Fitzpatrick Sr QB 16 Mike Jones So QB 19 Chris Pizzotti Fr RB 29 James Velissaris So RB 30 Charles Baakel Fr RB 32 Noah Van Neil Fr TB 33 Clifton Dawson So RB 36 Nick Carrington Sr WR 38 Peter Scully Jr FB 42 Will Bailey Fr WR 42 Ryan Tyler Jr FB 44 Kelly Widman Jr C 54 Andy Smith Sr OL 56 John Bechdol Sr OL 57 Will Johnson Jr G 58 Adam Kulczycky Jr OL 62 Beamer Eisele Fr OL 63 Dustin Stevens Sr OL 65 Tom Rodger Fr OT 67 Frank Fernandez So OL 68 David Paine Fr OL 70 Jon Medley So OT 71 Max McKibben Sr OT 72 Andrew Brecher So OT 73 Mike Frey Sr OT 75 Ryan Browne So OT 76 Nik Sobic Jr OT 77 Bennett Kowalk Jr OT 78 Brian Lapham Sr OT 79 Joe Kawczenski Sr WR 80 B. J. Merriweather Fr WR 82 Brian Edwards Sr WR 83 Corey Mazza So WR 84 Ryan Darnell Fr TE 84 Dan Lane So WR 87 Clayton Gibson So TE 88 Mark Higgins So WR 89 Matt Lagace Fr TE 98 Adam Jenkins Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 5 Keith Howell Jr LB 6 Dylan McCrory So DB 8 Gary Sonkur Sr DB 9 James Harvey Sr S 10 Brian Niemczak Sr DB 18 Joe Murt Fr DB 19 Daniel Turner Fr DB 20 Ricky Williamson Sr DB 21 John Scott Jr DB 22 Mike Finch Fr LB 23 Doug Hewlett Fr DB 24 Sean Tracy Sr DB 25 Steven Williams Fr LB 26 Robert Balkema Jr LB 27 Joaquin Sanchez Jr DB 28 Tep Royster Fr LB 28 Neil Sherlock So DB 31 Keegan Toci So DB 34 John Hopkins Fr LB 35 Adam Miller So S 37 Ryan Tully So FS 39 Russel Schober Fr LB 40 Matt Thomas Jr LB 43 Bobby Everett Sr LB 45 Mike Lucas Jr LB 46 Alex Lewis Fr LB 47 Gary Garcia Jr DB 48 Geof LeBus Jr DT 49 Coesen Ngweun Sr DE 51 Michael Plumlee Fr DT 52 Eric Kester Fr DT 53 Wainwright Wint Jr DT 55 Luke Lippai Jr DE 59 Sam Workman So DT 60 David Kunst So DT 60 Dave McDonald Fr DT 61 Matt Drazba Fr DT 64 Felipe Heiderich Fr DT 66 Matt McBurney Sr OLB 71 Alex Obrecht Fr DE 81 Brad Bagdis Fr DE 90 Desmond Bryant Fr DE 91 Matt Farbotko So DE 92 Jason O'Neill Jr DE 93 Doug Bennett Sr DE 94 Grant Jacobs Jr DE 95 Erik Lawler Fr DT 96 Michael Berg So DE 97 Erik Grimm Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K, P 1 Matt Schindel Fr P 15 Clem McDavid So P 17 Mike King Jr	Head coach Tim Murphy Coordinators/assistant coaches Dave Cecchini Offensive coordinator/Quarterbacks/Wide receivers Kevin Doherty Defensive coordinator/Associate head coach Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: January 11, 2024

Game summaries

Holy Cross

See also: 2004 Holy Cross Crusaders football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Crusaders	0	0	0	0	0
Crimson	7	22	6	0	35

Statistics	HC	HARV
First downs	9	17
Total yards	131	325
Rushing yards	61	246
Passing yards	70	79
Turnovers	5	0
Time of possession	25:15	34:45

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Holy Cross	Passing	John O'Neil	10/26, 70 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Steven Silva	5 rushes, 31 yards
	Receiving	Brian Gavin	3 reception, 19 yards
Harvard	Passing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	7/15, 79 yards
	Rushing	Clifton Dawson	21 rushes, 184 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Brian Edwards	3 receptions, 28 yards

At Brown

See also: 2004 Brown Bears football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Crimson	3	7	18	7	35
Bears	21	10	0	3	34

Statistics	HARV	BRWN
First downs	19	25
Total yards	447	563
Rushing yards	184	250
Passing yards	263	313
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	27:03	31:08

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Harvard	Passing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	18/25, 263 yards, TD
	Rushing	Clifton Dawson	23 rushes, 142 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Corey Mazza	9 receptions, 140 yards, TD
Brown	Passing	Joe DiGiacomo	18/33, 313 yards, TD
	Rushing	Nick Hartigan	34 rushes, 175 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Jarret Schreck	10 receptions, 253 yards, TD

At Lafayette

See also: 2004 Lafayette Leopards football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Crimson	6	15	7	10	38
Leopards	7	3	7	6	23

Cornell

See also: 2004 Cornell Big Red football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Big Red	0	14	10	0	24
Crimson	6	15	6	7	34

Statistics	COR	HARV
First downs	15	22
Total yards	412	495
Rushing yards	127	160
Passing yards	285	335
Turnovers	0	2
Time of possession	31:31	28:29

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Cornell	Passing	D. J. Busch	16/38, 285 yards, TD
	Rushing	Andre Hardaway	28 rushes, 130 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Chad Nice	4 receptions, 122 yards, TD
Harvard	Passing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	19/35, 317 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	17 rushes, 102 yards, TD
	Receiving	Corey Mazza	9 receptions, 194 yards, 2 TD

No. 19 Northeastern

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Huskies	7	7	0	0	14
Crimson	7	17	14	3	41

At Princeton

See also: 2004 Princeton Tigers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Crimson	3	19	0	17	39
Tigers	14	0	0	0	14

Statistics	HARV	PRIN
First downs	22	18
Total yards	416	204
Rushing yards	244	85
Passing yards	172	119
Turnovers	3	3
Time of possession	31:22	28:38

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Harvard	Passing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	14/31, 172 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Clifton Dawson	31 rushes, 201 yards, 3 TD
	Receiving	Brian Edwards	9 receptions, 129 yards
Princeton	Passing	Matt Verbit	12/24, 119 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Jon Veach	15 rushes, 69 yards
	Receiving	Greg Fields	3 receptions, 27 yards

At Dartmouth

See also: 2004 Dartmouth Big Green football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Crimson	0	10	0	3	13
Big Green	0	0	6	6	12

Columbia

See also: 2004 Columbia Lions football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	0	0	0	0
No. 16 Crimson	14	7	17	0	38

At No. 17 Penn

See also: 2004 Penn Quakers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Crimson	7	7	17	0	31
No. 17 Quakers	3	0	7	0	10

Statistics	HARV	PENN
First downs	23	18
Total yards	447	263
Rushing yards	243	68
Passing yards	204	195
Turnovers	2	3
Time of possession	34:07	25:53

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Harvard	Passing	Ryan Fitzpatrick	13/26, 186 yards, 2 TD, INT
	Rushing	Clifton Dawson	33 rushes, 160 yards, TD
	Receiving	Brian Edwards	4 receptions, 66 yards, TD
Penn	Passing	Bryan Walker	18/30, 178 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Sam Matthews	21 rushes, 57 yards
	Receiving	Dan Castles	6 receptions, 62 yards, TD

Yale

See also: 2004 Yale Bulldogs football team and 2004 Harvard–Yale prank

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	3	0	0	3
No. 13 Crimson	7	14	14	0	35

References

1. Chamberlain, Tony (September 19, 2004). "Harvard Wastes No Time". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C21 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Dell'Apa, Frank (September 26, 2004). "Harvard: Never Give Up". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C15 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Chamberlain, Tony (October 3, 2004). "Dawson Drives Crimson". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C19 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Chamberlain, Tony (October 10, 2004). "Victory Makes Balanced Crimson Beam". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C14 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Indrisano, Ron (October 17, 2004). "Harvard Is Perfectly Fine Once More". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. F14 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Blaudschun, Mark (October 24, 2004). "Crimson Find the Range". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. C19 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Chamberlain, Tony (October 31, 2004). "Clock Runs Out on the Big Green; Harvard Hangs On for Win". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. D9 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Harber, Paul (November 7, 2004). "Crimson Have 0 Tolerance for Columbia". Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. E18 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Reid, Ron (November 14, 2004). "Penn's Ivy Streak Snapped by Harvard". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa. p. D20 – via Newspapers.com.
10. Hine, Tommy (November 21, 2004). "Perfect Game: Long Returns Help Harvard Finish 10-0". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Conn. pp. E11, E12 – via Newspapers.com.