Tomorrow, everyone’s focus will be on the All-Ivy running back matchup of Harvard’s Clifton Dawson and Brown’s Nick Hartigan. But it may end up being quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who steals the show when Harvard takes on the Bears at Brown Stadium in Providence, R.I. After all, he’s made a habit of it.

Both times the Crimson captain has played against the Bears in his collegiate career, he has been Harvard’s key to victory.

In 2002, Fitzpatrick came into the game in relief of injured quarterback Neil Rose ’03 with the Crimson trailing 18-7. The then-sophomore had previously enjoyed fame as the engineer of Harvard’s largest-ever comeback win against Dartmouth the previous year. Fitzpatrick had also relieved Rose in the season opening win against Holy Cross.

But it was against Brown that Fitzpatrick finally broke out as more than a backup. Upon entering the game, he promptly marched the Crimson 70 yards downfield. Relying on a series of short scrambles, Fitzpatrick brought the Crimson into striking distance before running back Nick Palazzo ’03 jammed the ball into the endzone to get Harvard within five.

Fitzpatrick wasn’t done yet. With less than a minute left in the second quarter, he switched to a passing attack, completing tosses of 32, 18 and finally 19 yards to grab a 19-18 Crimson advantage as the half ended. Harvard never relinquished the lead, winning 26-24 and putting the role of starting quarterback into question for the remainder of the season.

Last year, Fitzpatrick didn’t have to worry about sharing the field with Rose—or, in essence, the Brown defense. In front of the home crowd, Fitzpatrick lit into the Bears for 410 total yards, including 361 passing. He finished with six touchdowns—two rushing, four passing—as the Crimson rolled over Brown 52-14. Fitzpatrick’s performance ranked as the fifth-best single-game offensive total in Harvard history.

Fitzpatrick chalked up his success against the Bears to the kickoff of league play.

“It’s a typically good game for me—and for the team—because it’s our first Ivy game,” Fitzpatrick said.

“Basically we have to regard every Ivy game as a championship game, because you lose one game, you’re out of the race. That’s essentially what it is now,” he added, alluding to the fact that the past three years, the eventual Ivy champion has gone undefeated.

As for his personal accomplishment against Brown, Fitzpatrick admitted it may be because of the similarity in defenses between the two teams.

“Their defense is similar to the defense we run, that I practice against in spring and fall ball,” he said.

Whatever the reason, with the legacy that Fitzpatrick—and the Crimson—boast against their league rivals, it’s no surprise that tomorrow the Bears will be doing all they can to keep the nimble signal caller from running all over them like he has the past two seasons.

“They’re concerned, and what they’re going to try to do is keep him contained,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “They might put a spy on him, maybe drop a lineman to spy. They want him to stay in the pocket.”

But keeping Fitzpatrick from scrambling is by no means a guarantee of slowing down Harvard’s offense. Speedy Dawson has proved time and again that he can bear the running load. And coming off last weekend’s water-logged contest that held Fitzpatrick to just 15 attempts and 79 yards passing, the captain will be happy for the chance to finally air out the ball.

“I’ve got to make up from last week’s performance,” Fitzpatrick said, only half-joking.

“He’s chomping at the bit,” Murphy said. “He did what he needed to for our game plan last week, and he’ll do whatever he has to [this week].”

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