On the year, the two have completed 35 of their 61 passes for 330 yards combined. Furman had the better statistical game of the two a week ago against Princeton, when, as the starter, he threw for 184 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-28 passing.
The Bulldogs are strongest offensively on the ground, as sophomore running back Tyler Varga leads the league with 119.9 rushing yards per game in his first year in the Ivy League.
Varga and Yale will face off against a stout Crimson defensive line that leads the FCS with 41 sacks and is second with 63.8 rushing yards allowed per game. But in last week’s defeat, like much of the Crimson squad, the vaunted defensive line was shut down, held sackless for the first time on the year while allowing 227 rushing yards.
“[Penn] did a great job scheming us up,” says fifth-year senior defensive end John Lyon. “They did some things in their scheme that didn’t allow us, the defensive linemen, to pin back our ears and just get after the quarterback.”
Offensively, Yale’s inexperience at the quarterback position forms a stark juxtaposition to that of Crimson senior Colton Chapple, who leads the league with a program-record 22 passing touchdowns and who Murphy called “probably the most valuable player in this league.”
Chapple has a number of weapons at his disposal. Tight ends senior Kyle Juszczyk and junior Cam Brate have 13 touchdowns and 1,236 yards receiving between them, while junior wide receivers Andrew Berg and Ricky Zorn have combined for nine touchdowns and 933 receiving yards.
And the Crimson is dangerous on the ground as well, leading the league in rushing yards per game. Senior running back Treavor Scales spearheads the ground attack for Harvard with 825 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, but Chapple is also a threat to run, ranking seventh in the league in total rushing yards.
Regardless of Scales and Chapples’ performance on Saturday, The Game will mark the seniors’ last contest in a Harvard uniform.
“All those offseason lifts, all those early mornings, those late-night film sessions, those hot afternoons passing, it’s just so many things you reflect upon when you hit that field for the last time that it’s a very emotional day,” Scales says. “To have it against Yale is obviously a true pleasure…. Nationally televised, it’s just great to have student support out there, your family comes up…. It’s just astronomical. I love it.”
—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.