But sloppiness once again plagued the Crimson.
Facing first-and-10 on the Northeastern 28, Fitzpatrick was almost wrapped up in his own backfield. But the sophomore dodged a Northeastern defender and lofted a beautiful pass to sophomore James Harvey on the right sideline. A stretched-out Harvey couldn’t come up with the pass, and it bounced to the turf several feet from the endzone.
It was the last of 10 dropped balls by Crimson wide receivers.
“To put it in persective, in the ’97 season, we dropped one ball in 10 games,” Murphy said.
The 1997 season was the first of Murphy’s two Ivy championship years at the helm of Harvard. Both of Murphy’s title teams were characterized by their near-flawless execution and ball control.
Those strengths became weaknesses Saturday.
“We started throwing the ball like we’re used to throwing it, but if you drop eight balls it’s hard to beat a top ten team,” Murphy said.
—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.