Harvard 28, Princeton 26

In a scene eerily reminiscent of Harvard’s close losses last season, this year’s Crimson had to watch nervously as Princeton’s Taylor Northrup’s 49-yard field goal sailed wide left in the closing seconds giving Harvard a 28-26 victory.

The Crimson offense played by far its sloppiest football of the season in the first half, committing three costly turnovers after turning the ball over only twice in the first four games of the season.

Rose threw his first two interceptions of the year, which set up two Princeton scores, and senior receiver Sam Taylor lost a fumble at the Tigers’ one-yard line in the closing seconds of the half as the Crimson entered the locker room trailing 20-14.

Despite suffering a shoulder injury late in the first half, Rose returned after the break and scored on a three-yard touchdown plunge to put the Crimson up 21-20.

Rose reinjured his shoulder on the touchdown run and was replaced by freshman Ryan Fitzpatrick, who calmly led the Crimson down the field and hit Morris with a seven-yard touchdown pass to make the score, 28-20, early in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers responded on a 27-yard scoring run by Cameron Atkinson, but senior cornerback Willie Alford broke up a pass on the two-point conversion attempt to keep Harvard in front by two.

The Crimson offense couldn’t run out the clock, but Princeton couldn’t take advantage of its final possession as Northrup, an NFL prospect, misfired after nailing two long field goals earlier in the game.

Harvard 31, Dartmouth 21

A week after nearly seeing its hopes of an undefeated season dashed against Princeton, the Crimson needed to pull off the biggest comeback in the program’s 128-year history to beat last-place Dartmouth, 31-21.

Trailing 21-0 in the third quarter, the Crimson needed only four minutes to completely erase the deficit on scoring passes from Morris to Taylor and Fitzpatrick to Morris and a touchdown run by Palazzo. Just over nine minutes after the Crimson’s first score, Blewett drilled a 30-yard field goal to give Harvard a 24-21 lead and complete the stunning comeback.

The only other comeback of comparable proportion in Harvard history was a 22-point rally in the 29-29 win over

Yale in 1968.

The Crimson defense was kept off balance in the first half by a variety of formations by the Big Green and the solid play of backup quarterback Evan Love, tight end Casey Cramer and running back Michael Gratch. But the defense responded in a huge way in the second stanza, holding the Big Green to only 27 yards for the half.

Fitzpatrick made his first collegiate start in place of the injured Rose and put up solid numbers with 261 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The veteran Morris stepped up in the absence of Rose and Staph with 11 catches for 153 yards and a score to go along with his touchdown pass to Taylor.