Sophomore Sean Gruber has unexpectedly burst onto the scene early this season, posting team-high receiving tallies in both games, notching 104 yards his last time out, following up 74 yards against Lehigh.

“Gruber is a good receiver, but they have three good receivers,” Butler said. “We’re gonna play ‘em all the same way we’ve practiced all week.”

Supplementing the attack, captains Ari Confessor and Nick Larsen have combined for four trips to pay dirt in two weeks.

Ranging between 6’ and 6’4”, the group presents the Crimson defenders with a height disadvantage at every position. Though this places Harvard on familiar ground, that may not be a good thing in this case.

Larsen and Confessor combined for 135 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a losing effort last year.

To prevent a repeat performance, the secondary has devoted itself to watching game film for weeks and has several looks ready to surprise the Crusaders at game time.

“We’re gonna mix it up,” Butler said. “We’re going to play a little zone and a little man.”

But the first step in defeating the passing attack will come not downfield but at the line of scrimmage, where the Crimson will look to recapture the dominance shown last year throughout most of the game.

Under heavy pressure, Holy Cross managed just 45 yards on the ground despite 23 carries.

This year, junior tailback Steve Silva has gained 209 yards on the ground, with his success in finding holes and moving the chains helping to make the offense less predictable and creating opportunities for O’Neill to air the ball out.

But if Harvard’s front seven can achieve the same penetration as last year, Silva won’t be making his way out of the backfield on his carries.

“They have a good running back in Silva,” Sonkur said. “He’s a pretty big back...If we can stop them with the run, then they have nothing left to do but pass and pass and we’ll be ready for it.”

And with Crusaders head coach Dan Allen using as many one running back sets as he does, only O’Neill and Silva will be in the backfield, which means fewer blockers and less time on passing plays. And that means more chances for guys like captain Dante Balestracci to take a shot at O’Neill, whose chances of throwing an accurate pass with No. 48 bearing down on him probably aren’t too good.

“We’re just gonna play our defense,” Sonkur said. “We always put pressure on the quarterback. We’re always hungry for the ball.”

The Crimson takes aim at O’Neill and company when it travels to Worcester tomorrow for the season opener at 1:00 on Fitton Field.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.