“The bottom line is you have to stay balanced,” Murphy said. “If you come out and throw the ball 75 times, then eventually they will get to their quarterback, so you have to somehow keep them off balance.”

Scales said he’s ready to take on the Tigers’ defensive line after battling one as good in practice.

“They have some studs out there,” Scales said. “But I know for a fact that we have some studs too, so I practice against guys of their caliber every single day of my life.”

Those Harvard studs are part of a defense that ranks second in the league in total defense and points allowed, behind Princeton in both categories. But the Crimson defense is expected to have the upper hand Saturday as the Tigers are seventh in the league in total offense, while Harvard is first.

“The last two years they weren’t statistically a great offense,” Murphy said. “But we not only haven’t stopped them, we haven’t slowed them down the last two years, so that’s a big challenge to our defense. “

Princeton put up 39 points in last year’s loss and 28 the year before, both of which were highs for them against Ivy opponents.

Given the success the Tigers’ offense has had against the Crimson in recent years combined with how well their defense has performed this year, Saturday’s matchup could pose the biggest challenge yet for a defending-champion Harvard squad that has rolled to five straight wins by an average margin of victory of nearly 28 points thus far this year.

“I don’t know if any of us could have looked at the Princeton game based upon their record…as going to be a or the pivotal game, but clearly it is,” Murphy said.

Beyond being the most talented Ivy squad according to Murphy, the Tigers will be one of the most motivated as well this weekend thanks to their undefeated conference record and a senior class that has not beaten their Cambridge-based nemeses.

“Their level of motivation could probably not be any higher,” Murphy said. “As our players put it, they will be geeked up to play.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.