The Harvard football team enters this weekend's Lafayette on a high note after a 42-37 win over defending Ivy champion Brown. The Crimson (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) prevailed last week on the strength of sophomore wideout Carl Morris' 220 yards receiving, junior quarterback Neil Rose's 412 yards passing and five second-half touchdowns.

Harvard's offensive performance not only gave it the win against Brown but also catapulted the team in the Division I-AA statistical rankings.

In Division I-AA, the Crimson has the ninth-best passing offense in the nation, averaging 303 yards per game and 16 yards per completion. Rose is the seventh-best passer in the country with a 170.3 quarterback rating, and Morris is the second-best receiver nationwide with 143 yards receiving per game.

Unlike Brown last week, Lafayette comes into this game looking to contain Morris and Rose.

"Lafayette will try to defend the pass." Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "And we're going to throw the ball."

Harvard will have to throw the ball in order to be successful offensively because injuries have seriously depleted the running back position.

Senior tailback Chuck Nwokocha, the starter coming into the preseason, was injured on the third play of the season opener against Holy Cross.

Sophomore Matt Leiszler and junior Jared Lewis filled in capably for Nwokocha, but both went down against Brown in the second and third quarter, respectively. Another Harvard running back, sophomore Brent Chalmers, suffered a concussion against Holy Cross while playing on special teams.