ITHACA, N.Y.—It may have been Homecoming Weekend for Cornell, but the most notable returnees at Schoellkopf Field this past Saturday were not any Cornell alumni—they were two hobbled Harvard starters.

Harvard senior tailback Josh Staph rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown, and sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci had a team-high 10 tackles as the Crimson held Cornell (0-4, 0-2 Ivy) to -3 net yards rushing and trounced the Big Red 26-6.

It was the first game for both players since each of them hurt their ankles in the Crimson’s season opener against Brown.

With the win, Harvard (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) has now gotten off to its best start since the 1980 season.

Senior quarterback Neil Rose turned in another efficient performance Saturday, completing 15-of-24 passes for 292 yards without an interception. It was Rose’s fourth game without getting picked off, and the Crimson’s third game of the year without committing an offensive turnover.

“The one thing we asked of our offense at the beginning of the year was to be a good team protecting the football,”said Murphy, whose team entered the weekend with the second-lowest turnover ratio in Division I-AA. “The kids have really bought into it and that’s the biggest difference in our offense.”

Rose’s steady play helped Harvard overcome the latest episode in the Robbie Wright saga. The sophomore placekicker missed two field goal attempts in the first half and botched an extra point.

Wright’s two field-goal misses—the first wide right, the second wide left—spoiled first-quarter drives of 70 and 69 yards.

The Harvard offense, though, was unfazed, plowing 80 yards on its next possession and capping the drive off with an 6-yard TD catch by sophomore tight end Matt Fratto.

Harvard’s running game—which featured both Staph and junior running back Nick Palazzo—figured prominently into the first-half game plan. Staph finished thehalf with 74 yards rushing, Palazzo with 45 as the Crimson ended the half ahead by a crooked 12-0 score.

But the 12-point edge edge was hardly safe against Cornell, who last season overcame a 28-point halftime deficit to post an improbable 29-28 win at Harvard Stadium.

There would be no miracle comeback on this day, however.

Cornell went three-and-out on the opening drive of the second half, as a third-down sack by Harvard senior defensive end Phil Scherrer—who was also playing in his first game back since injuring his ankle against Brown—forced Cornell to punt.

Harvard took the ensuing possession and required just four plays to go ahead 19-0. The scoring series featured back-to-back catches of 21 and 39 yards by junior split end Carl Morris and culminated in a 5-yard touchdown run by Palazzo.

“The thing I was most pleased with was the first series of the second half,” Murphy said of the 67-yard drive. “A 12-0 lead against this bunch is like 0-0, as we’ve seen in the past. To come out and get a big stop on defense... and get a nice controlled drive and stick it in [the end zone] obviously gave us momentum.”