Your best quarterback is the one who gives you the best chance to score and a coach should always play his best players when he can.

So if Fitzpatrick gave the Crimson the best chance of scoring, why wasn’t he in the entire game instead of inserted mid-drive only to be yanked right after one series?

Whatever the reason, the gamble was completely ineffective. Harvard emerged with just a field goal, and Schires’ game was ruined in the process.

When Schires was reinserted and saw Fitzpatrick warming up yet again, the backup saw his time on the field coming to an end.

Murphy’s ploy inside the red zone showed beyond any doubt his lack of faith in Schires’ ability unless he scored.

Schires may have accepted his role as a backup, but make no mistake, he wanted to be out there just as badly as Fitzpatrick did and he was going to do everything in his power to stay on the field.

And that meant playing for the kill, abandoning the flawless decision-making skills that had allowed him to guide Harvard to victory in each of his first two starts.

The consequences were disastrous. Schires guided the Crimson inside the Big Green 10-yard line and he went for the jugular.

Under heavy pressure and with nowhere to throw, Schires didn’t scramble and he didn’t tuck the ball for the sack. He didn’t throw the ball away.

He threw into heavy coverage right down the middle and to no one’s surprise, he was intercepted, killing a perfect scoring opportunity.

Schires looked like a man about to be executed, waiting for the death blow, until Murphy finally delivered it with 7:49 remaining in the third quarter.

Playing not to be pulled, Schires immediately became ineffective. Then when Fitzpatrick entered the game, his situation was hardly better.

Murphy often speaks of forcing opponents to play left-handed. Putting Fitzpatrick in down by seven midway through the third quarter did just that—to the Crimson.

Fitzpatrick entered the game and hurled a bullet across the middle of the field to Byrnes, who made a spectacular leaping grab.

Harvard was on the move and Fitzpatrick seemed on his game. Plowing ahead, his pre-injury self seemed to shine brightly through.