Indeed, in last year’s matchup, the Crimson went down 14-6 midway through the third quarter before rallying for three straight scores and a 22-14 win. That was the closest margin of victory for Harvard all season, aside from a 31-24 triumph in The Game.

In 2014 the Brown contest marked the first start in Scott Hosch’s career; in 2015 he enters the matchup one weekend after putting up career bests with 336 passing yards and three touchdowns. Propelled by that performance, the Crimson beat Rhode Island, 41-10.

If Hosch wants a repeat performance, then he will have to overcome Brown’s defensive line, a group that returns over 100 tackles of talent. Defensive captain Zach Sparber, a second super-senior, will lead that unit.

The Bears’ defensive line is experienced but also aggressive, and the Crimson has spent much of the week preparing for the inevitable waves of blitzes.

“Last week they blitzed the majority of the time,” said junior running back Paul Stanton. “I know I’m going to have to step up my blocking game a lot this week.”

That said, Stanton will also be doing a fair bit of running. In 2014 he turned in 990 rushing yards, second most among Ancient Eight running backs.

The Crimson could use a continuation of this productivity today against the team that Murphy says has declared the returning champions its “biggest rival.”

“When a team says you’re the biggest rival, you know that it’s going to be a tremendously tough, competitive game,” Murphy said. “Our biggest rival is our next game, whoever it is.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sdanello@college.harvard.edu