Due to the death of a family member, offensive coordinator Jay Mills will not be with the team this weekend, but there are no indications that this will slow down the Crimson offense.

When Harvard has the ball, it will always need to be aware of where Sussman is. The outside linebacker has been the real difference-maker for the Big Red defense this year, leading the team with 27 tackles.

“There have been two different Cornell teams this year,” sophomore wide receiver Rodney Byrnes said. “Last week they were fired up and came to play...and they looked really good, but Yale ran all up and down the field on them.”

Clearly, which Cornell team shows up this weekend will be vital to what kind of battle is waged at Harvard Stadium tomorrow. If Cornell comes out like it did against Towson, it should be a competitive game. But two weeks ago, Yale pummeled the Big Red 50-23 in Ithaca, N.Y.—needless to say, the powerful Crimson offense will have a field day if Cornell comes out flat.

“In the Ivy League, there aren’t any real outliers, and we are expecting to see the best Cornell team that anyone is going to see this year,” senior free safety Xavier Goss said. “Each year that they come here or we go there, they always put up a big fight.”

It’s been two years since Harvard has played coming off a loss, and this weekend will be a big test of how the Crimson reacts against a tough league opponent. The freshmen and sophomores on the team have yet to experience the game after a loss in a Harvard uniform.

“The upperclassmen have been trying to talk to us younger fellows...and give us some encouragement,” Byrnes said. “I haven’t lost in a while and it hurts, but I’m ready to bounce back.”