The Leopards’ senior quarterback Rob Curley threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns, while Morrow led the rush with 85 yards and two touchdowns. Lafayette’s ball carriers gained 133 yards on the ground.

THREE AND OUT

Most of Harvard’s dismal offensive performance in the first half had to do with its inability to get drives going.

Though early turnovers were costly for the Crimson, as the Leopards turned a fumble and an interception into its first two scores, Harvard hurt itself just as much with its struggle to get first downs.

The Crimson mustered just five first downs in the first half, and midway through the third quarter, the team had as many penalties—six—as first downs.

“It’s a team game, it’s a game of real estate,” Murphy said. “And one of the things we’ve done an effective job with the first four games is staying on the field offensively…But today, our third-down conversions were really, really poor, and our defense was out there much too long.”

Harvard was just 2-of-16 on third-down conversions for the game, while Lafayette was 4-of-12.

The Crimson was able to pull things together in the fourth quarter, with two touchdown drives and nine first downs, compared to just three first downs for the Leopards.

But the hole Harvard had dug itself in proved to be insurmountable.

“As I said even in our victories, we’re not a dominant team,” Murphy said. “We have to do everything right because everybody’s good enough to beat you if you don’t do all the little things.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.