That dominance wavered after halftime, though, as Dartmouth adjusted to the Crimson front seven and Harvard’s tacklers poorly executed.

“The reason that they got back into the game in the second half was that we had a lot of fundamental busts,’’ Harvard linebacker Bobby Everett said. ``We were missing tackles. We weren’t doing our assignments.”

But Harvard recovered when it mattered most. Sophomore safety Ryan Tully recorded a game-saving hit with 10 seconds left to keep tailback Chris Little inbounds and the clock moving, precenting the Big Green from attempting a game-winning field goal.

“I grabbed Ryan Tully down in the locker room and I said, ‘That was an unbelievably huge play,’ for the obvious reason that they couldn’t stop the clock,” Murphy said. “He just should’ve stayed on top of him a little longer.”

FOURTH AND THREE

Harvard is now the only undefeated team in Division I-AA. Cal-Poly fell to UC-Davis, 36-33, courtesy of a touchdown strike with 13 seconds remaining...Senior linebacker Sean Tracy played in Saturday’s contest despite a knee injury which forced him from the Crimson’s win over Princeton one week earlier. He recorded four tackles...Penn edged Brown 20-16 to remain undefeated in the Ivy League. Sam Mathews scored on a two-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds left to give the Quakers the lead. Should each win this weekend, Harvard and Penn will duel for the Ancient Eight crown on Nov. 13.

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

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