“We didn’t play as well as we could have on the back end,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of that is really great execution and game planning by the coaching staff of Cornell and the execution by Jeff Mathews and his wide receivers.”

But with its offense running on all cylinders, the Crimson defense knew that the pressure was on the opponents to keep up.

After putting up 17 points in the first half, Mathews managed two touchdowns after halftime, one of which came when the game was already out of reach.

With the score set at 41-24 and 10:56 left in the fourth quarter, the Big Red QB threw to Savage again, obtaining the first down at the Cornell 36.

But defensive tackles Matt Lunati and Josue Ortiz put a stop to Mathews, rushing the quarterback for back-to-back sacks and moving the hosts back 11 yards.

Mathews tried throwing again but was hurried by the Harvard defense before getting a short pass out to Grant Gellatly, who could not make up for the lost yardage.

And so the Crimson’s secondary came up big when the team needed it most, sealing the victory for the visiting squad.

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.