The team mobbed the field and swarmed on top of Byrnes and Schires in the Princeton end zone as the Tiger players could only look on in disbelief.

“How hard is it to swallow? I can’t think of any taste in my mouth that would be worse that this,” said Princeton coach Roger Hughes.

It was by no means the prettiest game of the season, but once it was over all the miscues could fade into the background in favor of the more sparkling moments such as freshman Clifton Dawson’s second straight outstanding offensive performance. The tailback finished with three TDs and 183 yards on a whopping 40 carries—tied for the second most by a back in Harvard history—essentially bearing the entire rushing responsibility for the Crimson.

“I was just lucky to be given the chance to run the ball 40 times,” Dawson said, adding that at the end of the game he was surprised he had that many carries.

“Obviously, he’s an outstanding back and we are going to have to deal with him another three years,” Hughes said of Dawson.

In his second week filling in for Fitzpatrick, Schires again posted impressive numbers, finishing 18-of-30 with 261 yards, three TDs and one interception. He constantly hit up acrobatic junior wide receiver Brian Edwards for first-down yardage.

“I’ve got to give credit to our offensive coach Dave Cecchini and our quarterback coach, they just did a great job,” Murphy said. “We’ve got new guys in there on the offensive line and at quarterback, and to have the type of production that we’ve had the last two weeks really speaks a lot to Garrett and our assistant coaches.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.