"We felt it was important to get off to a good start and take the wind out of their sails," Murphy said.

After Palazzo's running set up the Crimson's first touchdown, Mann threw his first interception of the game to sophomore free safety Niall Murphy. Mann's pass deflected off of his intended receiver, tight end Casey Cramer, and settled right into the hands of Murphy at midfield.

From there, Leiszler carried the team into the end zone. The tailback figured in all but three plays of the ensuing touchdown drive. Leiszler rushed for 37 yards--all of them off the left side--before Palazzo finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

It only took one play for Dartmouth to give the ball right back. Mann dropped back on first down and overthrew a wide-open receiver. The ball settled into the arms of freshman cornerback Benny Butler, who returned the ball three yards to the Dartmouth 34.

On the ensuing drive, holding penalties overturned a 10-yard Leiszler run and a 13-yard reverse to sophomore wide receiver Carl Morris for a touchdown, but Harvard easily scored anyway. Rose, having adjusted to the wind, sandwiched nine- and 12-yard passes around a pretty 20-yard bullet to Morris, bringing the Crimson to the five. From there Leiszler walked through a huge hole behind Claire for the easy score.

That made it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Although Harvard, now itself driving into the wind, would struggle offensively for most of the second quarter, Dartmouth would be forced to throw the ball to catch up.

The Big Green's aerial efforts resulted in two picks, both setting up Harvard scores. Mann's first interception of the quarter led to Balestracci's first touchdown return. Late in the half, his first-down slant pass was picked off by junior free safety Eric LaHaie at the Dartmouth 31.

The wind against it, Harvard stayed mostly on the ground. A double-reverse--Rose to Palazzo to Morris to Nwokocha--gained 14 yards and brought Harvard to the 17. Morris barely got rid of the ball on the play, handing off to Nwokocha right as he was drilled by a Dartmouth defender.