The forward pass has been around in college football for about 105 years now. In a little over a century, only one Harvard quarterback had ever thrown for five touchdowns in a game—as of two weeks ago, that is.

In the two weeks since, it’s happened twice.

No Crimson quarterback had five passing touchdowns in the same game since the early 1950s, until sophomore Colton Chapple did it last week. And just when it looked like the brewing quarterback controversy was resolved, Harvard coach Tim Murphy mixed everything up once again.

Senior Collier Winters, who had been out due to injury since the first game of the season, made his second start of the year count. Winters threw five touchdowns and ran for a sixth, passing for 403 yards along the way. His 34 completions were the second-most ever in a game for a Crimson quarterback.

“[Winters] deserved to be our starting quarterback on merit, but also on some of the personal factors, being a fifth-year senior,” Murphy said.

Coming into the game, it was widely assumed that Chapple would get the start. He was listed at the top of the depth chart, and even the stadium’s public announcer broadcasted before Harvard’s first possession that the junior would start.

In the post-game press conference, Murphy said that Winters would be the team’s starter going forward. But after both Chapple and Winters put up back-to-back performances that are among the best single-game efforts in program history, a lot can change in a short period of time.

“I’m not sure we knew that we’d be this solid at quarterback in terms of depth,” Murphy said. “As someone said at the beginning of the season, the most valuable player on your team, or the second-most valuable player on your team, might be your second-string quarterback.”

AIN’T NO STOPPING US NOW

For three quarters, Harvard dominated. But with a huge third period and a touchdown at the beginning of the fourth, Princeton made Saturday’s game a contest.

Harvard took a 35-9 lead four minutes into the second half, and it looked like the team would cruise to another easy victory like the win last week against Bucknell.

But with a flurry of touchdowns, the Tigers almost came all the way back, closing the gap to 42-39 two minutes into the fourth quarter. It’s as close as Princeton would get, but the team certainly put a scare into the Crimson.

“I don’t even know what the difference was [between the first and second halves],” Tigers quarterback Tommy Wornham said. “Once the ball started rolling, it didn’t stop. It was one of those things where momentum kept carrying us through.”

It took Princeton just five plays to score its first touchdown of the half to get to 16 points. Still trailing by 26, the Tigers attempted a surprise onside kick halfway through the third quarter—and it worked.

Princeton recovered and scored 87 seconds later, and a successful two-point conversion made it an 11-point game.