Brown lit up the scoreboard in last season’s game. The Crimson returns

nine starters from last year’s young squad, which despite some early-season troubles developed into a respectable unit. Harvard led the Ivy League in run defense last year, allowing a meager 3.3 yards-per-carry.

The Crimson defense is led by a senior-laden line as well as

Belastracci, the first freshman to be named All-Ivy in league history.

Balestracci led Harvard with 94 tackles last year, 50 more stops than

the leading Brown linebacker.

Harvard’s secondary settled down late last season after looking awful

in the first several games. Three of the four starters return on what

should be a vastly-improved unit.

“We got a really good scheme going on defense. If we play our game,

there won’t be the shootout that there was last year,” Belastracci said. “We’re hoping to hold them to a lot fewer points.”

Yet despite defensive improvement from both teams, Murphy

said he expects the offenses to put a lot of points on the board.

“Both teams have high-powered offenses,” Murphy said. “This is not going to be a 14-13 game.”

Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. at Solider’s Field.