Brown 0, BU 1

Entering last week’s game against Boston University, the Brown Bears were 6-0-1 and ranked #14 in the country. They had won their own tournament, they had beaten two ranked opponents, and they had played a lot of good football. They had also beaten BU each of the last two seasons. So what exactly was going to motivate them for this non-conference, midweek game in the middle of midterms?

The answer, sadly, was nothing.

BU outplayed, outhustled, and outclassed the Bears and, in the end, handed Brown a much-deserved 1-0 loss. There was, however, a silver lining: the loss might also have been much-needed, the way a good beating can make a boxer fight with more heart.

The highlights were few and really far between, so instead of the usual minute-by-minute summary, I instead offer this report on the twelve hours after the game, as provided by Assistant Coach Ryan Levesque.

“We didn’t think we had played WELL but we thought we had at least played OKAY. Then, the next morning, Coach Noonan walked into the office looking really pale, like he was sick or had seen a ghost or something—he had just watched the film. Then we watched the film together, along with footage of Princeton, and we concluded that, if we played like that against Princeton, we would definitely lose.”

Princeton, the school that puts the “P” in “H-Y-P” and the “I” in “I am better than you” usually provides motivation naturally. But just to be sure the boys avoided another lackluster performance, Coach Noonan and Co. thought they should watch some film. So watch some film they did. And by “some” I mean a lot.

And, like a battered fighter, the motivation returned.