The 2009 Harvard football team boasted one of the toughest offensive lines in recent memory. Perhaps the only thing tougher was the expectation resting on the Crimson’s shoulders.

Harvard opened the year as two-time defending Ivy League champions and looked to make it a three-peat this season. Led by a stalwart line of seniors James Williams, John Paris, Ben Sessions, and Alex Spisak, along with junior Brent Osborne, the Crimson looked forward to a dominant running game and plenty of time to scramble for new junior starting quarterback Collier Winters.

Despite a pair of nonconference losses to Holy Cross—led by standout quarterback Dominic Randolph—and Lafayette, Harvard (7-3, 6-1 Ivy) accomplished its offensive goals and more in the Ivy season.

With the running back tandem of junior Gino Gordon and Ivy Rookie of the Year Treavor Scales, the Crimson exploded for 178.7 yards per game on the ground, more than 20 yards per game better than second-ranked Columbia. With Winters ably controlling the passing game to the tune of 15 touchdown passes, Harvard made a forceful statement with its league-leading 25.2 points per game en route to a 5-0 start in conference play.

“It’s always important when you get off the field [as a defense] knowing that the offense is going to stay on the field,” sophomore cornerback Matt Hanson said. “You get a break and know they are going to go down and score, so it gives you confidence...When you have that confidence, it’s hard to lose games.”

With wins over Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Columbia by at least 18 points, Harvard entered its mid-November matchup with undefeated Penn knowing that the league title rested on the outcome. But just as the pressure mounted for the Crimson, so too did the air pressure at Harvard Stadium. In the midst of a driving rainstorm that soaked the field, the Crimson could not find its footing against a nationally-recognized Quaker defense. Harvard fell, 17-7, to Penn (8-2, 7-0), essentially conceding the Ivy crown.

Still, losing its title hopes did not dampen the excitement for Crimson football. With the 126th playing of The Game left on the slate, Harvard ensured a memorable closure to the 2009 season. After spotting Yale a 10-0 lead through three quarters, the Crimson orchestrated a furious comeback—punctuated by a pair deep touchdown passes from Winters to senior Matt Luft and junior Chris Lorditch—that left the crowd at the Yale Bowl in shock. With Winters’ pair of bombs and a little help from a questionable fake punt call by the Bulldogs, Harvard escaped with a 14-10 exclamation point to its season.

“I think that especially after that Penn loss the previous week, the win [against Yale] made up for the hurt and disappointment that we had that week,” Winters said. “It was good to end on a good note and look forward to next season.”

Indeed, the Crimson has plenty to anticipate in 2010. No longer sporting a target on its back, Harvard knows it’s nonetheless a frontrunner for another Ivy championship. Although the loss of the core of its offensive line will undoubtedly be a setback, the Crimson will welcome back a number of key position players, perhaps none more important than its offensive backfield.

“Having the two running backs [Gordon and Scales] coming back that we do, the running game should be a positive for us,” Winters said. “We have a pretty inexperienced game-wise group of guys at the offensive line...For the most part, they did a great job in the spring, and I think that they’ll be able to step into their roles.”

In addition, Harvard’s defense—by no means lackluster in 2009—returns a strong secondary with first-team All-Ivy rising captain Collin Zych, who led the team with 73 tackles, and Hanson. The entire defense progressed steadily over the course of the season, highlighted by a performance against the second-ranked Lions’ rushing attack in which the Crimson pushed its opponent backwards for -18 net yards on the ground.

“[This season] we started to develop as a group,” Hanson said of the defense. “In spring ball we really picked it up as a group, playing together as a team. I’m really looking forward to that next year.”

With a number of starters returning and hungry for another taste of championship glory, it won’t be Harvard feeling the pressure in 2010. Just whatever team is on the other side of the ball.

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.