Harvard football coach Tim Murphy pulled junior quarterback Conner Hempel early in the third quarter with his team up 38-0. Hempel would return to the game, however, as Penn stormed back with 30 unanswered points, ultimately losing to the Crimson 38-30.

Five minutes into the third quarter, sophomore running back Paul Stanton capped an effortless 76-yard drive by punching in his second touchdown of the day. The scoreboard read Harvard 38, Penn 0. It was a classic laugher.

But from that point on, nothing went right for the Harvard football team.

In a dynamic offensive surge bearing no resemblance to its feeble first half efforts, the Quakers scored touchdowns on four straight drives. And while the Penn defense appeared out to lunch in the first two quarters, it came alive in the second half and forced five consecutive Crimson three-and-outs.

The Harvard faithful must have been shocked when the Quakers offense took the field with just under four minutes remaining in a one-possession, 38-30 game. But after two fourth down conversions moved Penn inside the red zone, the Crimson defense finally held up and forced a turnover-on-downs. The improbable and valiant Quakers comeback fell just short.

“Finally we had a little bit of momentum and physicality back and finished some plays,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. “We were playing with a lot more juice and confidence, but it’s really hard to come back against that kind of football team when you’re that far behind. We dug ourselves a really deep hole.”

The momentum initially shifted with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Following a Penn fumble and with a 38-point lead in his pocket, Harvard coach Tim Murphy decided to take out many of his offensive starters, including junior quarterback Conner Hempel.

The play calling turned conservative, as eight of the Crimson’s next nine offensive plays spanning over three drives were runs for little to no gain.

In the meantime, consistent strikes from Penn quarterback Ryan Becker made the score 38-22, and Harvard’s starters rushed back into the game. But Hempel could get nothing going, as the Crimson was forced to punt twice more.

Excluding Harvard’s touchdown drive on its first possession of the second half, the Crimson totalled just 29 yards of offense to Penn’s 262 in the final two quarters.

“There’s no reason to give up as many points as we gave up,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “That’s a team thing. Offense didn’t move the ball, defense didn’t stop them. We had some punts that were kind of iffy, and if you put that all together and it was very lackluster.”

NIGHT AND DAY

Little could better articulate Saturday’s football game than the overused phrase, “A Tale of Two Halves.” For Harvard, a dominant second quarter represented the peak of its performance.

The Crimson scored 31 points in those 15 minutes. With the pass game and running attack both working, Harvard seemed to glide up and down the field at will.

Hempel used both his arm and his feet to make plays, connecting with a number of different receivers across the field and amassing a team-high 61 yards rushing in the half, including a two-yard touchdown scamper.

Harvard added to an already sizable lead in the closing moments of the half. After successfully executing a two-minute drill punctuated by a Stanton touchdown run, it seemed that Penn would head to the locker room down 24.