After getting badly burned in the first quarter, the Crusaders changed to a zone defense to prevent further deep balls.

But that couldn’t stop Fitzpatrick.

Despite no longer being able to safely throw long down the field, he continued to find his receivers under coverage across the middle, slowly driving the team downfield.

Primarily targeting senior wide receiver Rodney Byrnes—who caught six passes for 93 yards and one score—Fitzpatrick slowly wasted the clock while maintaining the offensive momentum from the first quarter.

And while much of that was accomplished with his arm, it was what he accomplished with his head and legs that allowed him to undercut any hopes of a Holy Cross comeback.

Though he forced one pass into tight coverage—resulting in his first interception in 193 attempts and just the second of his career—Fitzpatrick made no other appreciable mistakes, always doing what was safest when the defense closed in.

He ran.

“He’s one of those guys who knows the offense so well that he’s very difficult to defend,” Murphy said. “Even when they covered the receivers well, he’d scramble for yards.”

Though he was sacked four times on the afternoon, the Crusaders were poised to take him down in the backfield on several more occasions.

But after slickly maneuvering his way past the line of scrimmage, Fitzpatrick bounced off defenders for gains as large as 30 yards, frustrating a defense desperate to make a big play.

Thus, when he ran the quarterback option, Holy Cross had no choice but to cover him, setting up sophomore running back Ryan Tyler perfectly.

Twice Fitzpatrick tossed him the ball while running the option. Twice Tyler punched it in for a touchdown.

Splitting time with sophomore transfer Clifton Dawson, Tyler carried the ball 18 times for 85 yards, grinding time off the clock as the game wore down.

Dawson rushed 17 times for 76 yards and one trip to paydirt, exploding through holes and sprinting by defenders in a first glimpse of his tremendous potential.

He did, however, fumble on the one-yard line as Harvard attempted to put the game well out of reach in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.