“That wasn’t our best game on offense, and that’s what so exciting about this.”

—Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, Sept. 20th, 2003 after the season opening win against Holy Cross.

How times have changed.

That game the Crimson scored six touchdowns, had 636 yards of offense and 32 first downs and racked up 42 points. The offense was explosive, efficient and brimming with potential. It was the first game of the year, and looking down the road it wasn’t tough to envision a flawless league record, the Ivy League crown or even a top-10 ranking as Harvard’s for the taking.

How fickle is fortune.

The team that miserably slouched off the field Saturday was not the same team that so eagerly burst out of the gates in September. Wounded in a dozen places by injuries and hampered by uncharacteristic turnovers, this Crimson offense is a shadow of its former self. Against Columbia, Harvard managed only 13 points, and none in the second half. It amassed 262 total yards, only 88—88!—of them passing. 15 first downs. Two touchdowns, both set up by interceptions.

And you can’t really blame anyone.

You could blame the helmet of the unknown Cornell player that had an unfortunate meeting with Ryan Fitzpatrick’s little finger. You could blame Kyle Cremarosa’s broken ankle, Rodney Byrnes’ recurring high ankle sprain or James Harvey’s injuring ACL. You could blame Ryan Tyler’s numerous ailments. You could blame it on the injuries to five of the seven original offensive tackles.

Heck, while we’re at it you could blame the woeful kicking game that forces the Crimson to go for it on fourth down because field goal “range” is an unknown concept. This is the same kicking game that often leads Harvard to forgo extra-point attempts for two-point conversions—which it’s not so effective at either.

And if we’re really getting fired up, let’s blame Coach Tim Murphy for playing quarterback roulette two weeks ago against Dartmouth, re-breaking Fitzpatrick’s hand and breaking Garrett Schires’ confidence.

But at this point it’s not about blame.

After a certain stage there are so many contributing factors to the Harvard downfall that the logic of cause-and-effect falters.

Bewildered by the loss of two top receivers in one quarter, a shell-shocked Murphy tried to make sense of the latest installation in the breakdown of his potentially title-contending team.

“We really struggled to throw the football without those people in there, for whatever reason,” Murphy attempted to explain.

It’s hard to be more specific on which reasons when you can’t keep track of how many injuries your offense has sustained over the past eight games.