Yale falls to Harvard after ghastly fake punt faux pas

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November 22, 2009

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Harvard 14, Yale 10. When New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick went with the numbers instead of the conventional wisdom by going for it on fourth down with the lead and the ball in his own territory last Sunday in his team’s eventual loss to Indianapolis, it led to a fascinating round of debate over probabilities, "gut feelings" and how to think about risk-taking in more unorthodox, effective ways.

I think it’s safe to say Yale coach Tom Williams’ ill-fated fourth down gamble in the Bulldogs’ loss to Harvard today won’t be inspiring any of those debates (emphasis added):

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)—Yale’s first-year coach Tom Williams says he’s ready to take responsibility for the Bulldogs’ eighth loss in the last nine games to rival Harvard.

Yale was ahead 10-7 Saturday with just 2:25 left when it failed to convert a fake punt on fourth-and-22 from its 26, and wound up losing 14-10.

"The whole idea was to keep our foot on the pedal, and not play scared," said Williams in trying to explain the call. "If anyone is looking for somebody to blame, blame this guy right here."

Presumably, Williams was referring to himself, and not some poor freshie doomed to be forced to cite a Euclidian proposition while being trimmed by would-be initiates of Skull & Bones. (Which would be fine if he didn’t have to rely on townies for his ride back into New Haven.)

Harvard turned the fake — a 15-yard run by safety John Powers — into the go-ahead points less than a minute later, on a 32-yard touchdown pass from the very Harvardly-named Collier Winters to Chris Lorditch, which effectively shut the door on Yale and lifted the Crimson to 7-3 for the season. And still, I’m not sure that it’s any crazier than the fourth-and-10 fake from his own 15 that Florida coach Urban Meyer busted out with his team trailing against Arkansas in the 2006 SEC Championship game — except that play worked for a first down and led to a touchdown that put the Gators on top for good en route to the national championship. Like they say: If it works, you’re a genius. (And in this case, a filthy rich genius. It was worth a shot, Coach Tom.)

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