Imagine playing Kill the Carrier on an open field. Now imagine playing it with 300-pound men. And you have the ball.

That’s what junior quarterback Collier Winters will be facing this weekend when the Crimson (3-1, 2-0 Ivy) takes on Lafayette (4-1).

“They have a really good secondary,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They like to blitz like crazy, so [it’s] very tough to predict what they’re going to do as well.”

This philosophy has brought the Leopards victories against Yale, Penn, and Columbia.

“They’re always good when we play them,” Murphy said. “I think three out of the past six years they’ve been Patriot League champions and gone to the playoffs. They’re definitely a better team than they were a year ago and they were very good a year ago.”

The heart of Lafayette

Imagine playing Kill the Carrier on an open field. Now imagine playing it with 300-pound men. And you have the ball.

That’s what junior quarterback Collier Winters will be facing this weekend when the Crimson (3-1, 2-0 Ivy) takes on Lafayette (4-1).

“They have a really good secondary,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They like to blitz like crazy, so [it’s] very tough to predict what they’re going to do as well.”

This philosophy has brought the Leopards victories against Yale, Penn, and Columbia.

“They’re always good when we play them,” Murphy said. “I think three out of the past six years they’ve been Patriot League champions and gone to the playoffs. They’re definitely a better team than they were a year ago, and they were very good a year ago.”

The heart of Lafayette is a dominating, blitz-oriented defense.

“A lot of defenses give away what they’re doing before the snap, but they do a pretty good job disguising it,” Winters said. “It’ll be good practice. [Blitzing is] something that we have struggled with and we need to work on.”

The Leopards’ defense includes senior linebacker Mark Leggiero, a two-time All-Patriot League selection and this year’s preseason player of the year. Leggiero was also named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against Brown, in which he had 12 tackles, nine of which were solo efforts.

“When we’ve played them I think four out of the last five years, they’ve ranked in the top 10 in total defense and they’re right there again this year,” Murphy said.