Pendergast had the best take.

“Harvard has a damn good football team, but we really hurt ourselves with those turnovers,” he said.

Tenacious D: Healthy and Hungry

If not for a garbage-time touchdown pass from Rahne to junior Keith Ferguson, Harvard would have shutout the Big Red.

Instead, the Crimson defense had to settle for an utterly dominating performance.

All-Ivy sophomore Dante Balestracci returned to the lineup Saturday—apparently to the chagrin and amazement of the usually-competent sports staff of the Cornell Daily Sun—and picked up where he left off.

The 6’2 native of New Bedford, Mass. led the team with 10 tackles and assisted on a sack. Afterwards, Balestracci gave credit to preparation for the defense’s success.

“We watched their tendencies [on film] and we devised a scheme to stop the run,” Balestracci said. “We stopped the run and so it turned out to be a great game plan.”

That’s a huge understatement.

Factoring in sacks and tackles for losses, Cornell ended the day with minus-three rushing yards.

Coupled with six sacks, two forced fumbles, and 75 total tackles, the Crimson pieced together an extraordinary effort.

“This could be the best defensive effort since [I started coaching the team in 1994],” Murphy said.

That’s high praise considering the defensive talent that has come through this program in the last seven seasons.