DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK

When Yale came out of halftime and scored on its first drive to finally get onto the scoreboard, Murphy might have been thinking to last week’s Penn game. The Crimson was up 38-0 before the Quakers scored 31 unanswered points to nearly pull off the greatest comeback in football history.

But the Harvard defense made sure that this game would not be a repeat performance.

“It all starts with defense,” Murphy said. “Yale’s a really good offensive football team, and it was really one of the outstanding defensive efforts we’ve had in a long, long time. I think that set the stage for the game.”

Down by 24 early in the fourth quarter, Furman and company were driving into Harvard territory when the veteran Crimson defensive corps intervened. Senior Brian Owusu broke up a pass intended for Myles Gaines on third down, and on the following play, senior safety Chris Splinter picked off Furman’s ball, effectively quashing any hope of a Bulldogs comeback.

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LinSamnity.