Linden had another stellar game, completing 21 of 37 passes for 272 yards with one touchdown against one interception. He also displayed his athletic ability, running the ball for 33 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Completing passes to seven different receivers, he distributed the ball well. S Four of them, sophomore Terence Patterson, senior Jared Chupaila, senior Colby Skelton and Mattson caught passes for 20 yards or more. Chupaila led the team with 56 total reception yards. "Although our offense had a good game, all the credit goes to the offensive line," Linden said. "I had plenty of time to throw and Chris [Menick] had some nice holes to run through." Though the spotlight shines on the offense in this game, the defense deserves credit as well. When it seemed that the Crusaders were coming back, the defense closed the door. After the Crusaders scored at 6:17 of the third quarter, the Crimson defense held them scoreless the rest of the way. They also forced four fumbles. Holy Cross did have two magnificent plays in the second quarter. On its second touchdown, sophomore John Aloisi made a gorgeous one handed catch over the middle to complete a 32-yard pass. And with time running out in the second half, junior placekicker Dana Fiatarone boomed a 45-yard field goal. The day though clearly belonged to the Harvard offense, most notably Menick. "Chris is a warrior," Murphy said. "The intangibles he brings are something you don't see until he plays. He's indefatigable and getting better." After Harvard's opening scoring drive, the Crimson struck again with 31 seconds left in the first quarter on another 1-yard rush by Linden. At 11:43 of the second, Linden completed his lone touchdown pass to senior tight end Tom Giardi. Two straight Holy Cross scores were followed by Linden's third rushing touchdown from the three yard line which was set up by a 52-yard run by Menick in which he ran left and after ten yards cut back to the middle. "I knew I was getting a lot of carries," Menick said. "I tried to take it one carry at a time. I knew I could give up because the second I gave in, they would come back." On this day though, the Crusaders did not come back. "This was the best job of execution we've done since I've been here." Murphy said, "When you play hard and plan well good things happen."