“I almost feel guilty for saying that then,” Murphy said. “Because what right did I have to say that based upon our history?”

Schindel wasted little time vindicating his new coach, however, solidifying his stranglehold on the starting role in Harvard’s season opening win against Holy Cross, contested amid the remnants of Hurricane Ivan.

“One of the questions you always have about freshman guys from places like Phoenix or Los Angeles or Florida is, ‘Yeah, okay, they do great when its 75 degrees in pre-season, but what happens when it gets really cold?’” Murphy said. “‘What happens when it gets windy? What happens when it gets mushy and wet?’”

Well, if you’re Matt Schindel, you send all five of your kicks—three extra points and field goals from 31 and 37 yards, respectively—soaring through the uprights.

“I was kind of put in a spot I’d never been in my first college game,” Schindel said. The conditions were windy, really cold, driving rain...I got the confidence rolling. I knew it wasn’t going to be different from anything I’d experienced in high school.”

Well, maybe the swirling winds of Harvard Stadium’s open end were just a little bit different than the warm gusts of air flowing through Schindel’s hometown, Coral Springs, Fla.

Though playing conditions had minimal impact on his performance back home—Schindel said that, inside the 40, wind has no effect on his kicks whatsoever—Cambridge took a little getting used to.

“It’s a whole different ball game inside the Stadium,” Schindel said. “The field goal I hit to end the first half against Northeastern was from 38 yards from the right hash. I had my aim point right on the right upright and it just snuck inside the left post.”

Not that his teammates will minded the lack of cushion very much after enduring several seasons where similar kicks skipped low and wide.

But according to Schindel, whether he’d even get that chance this season was up in the air as recently as training camp. Though he’d recovered from a broken plant leg as a high school sophomore and built up his strength, the first week of pre-season drills saw him locked in a battle with one of his classmates for first-string time.

But the same mantra that has served him so well throughout the season carried Schindel through the pre-season as well.

“If you don’t miss,” he said, “no one can beat you.”

Less than a week later, that challenger quit, handing the job to Schindel, who has never looked back.

“To think that he’s on the brink of breaking school records as a freshman—the bottom line is, ‘Who’s probably our most slam dunk first-team All-Ivy guy?’” Murphy asked. “It might be our kicker.”

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