At times the Big Red front line demonstrated similar prowess, giving Banks extended amounts of time to throw. He averaged over 13 yards per completion.
And as well as Lee otherwise played, he was on the losing end of the Big Red’s first score. Earlier that drive, which started at the Cornell 24, the junior had gotten away with a push on a long throw down the middle.
But with three minutes left in the first quarter, karma came calling. As Banks pump-faked a screen to the outside, senior wide receiver Ben Rogers sprinted past Lee. The 41-yard throw arrived right as Rogers crossed the goal line to knot the score at 7-7.
Harvard responded with grit—an 80-yard drive that took four minutes. Viviano rushed for 36 yards, and junior running back Semar Smith punctuated the march with a four-yard shimmy to regain the lead.
“They run a lot of different defenses,” Viviano said. “Today they were bringing a lot of different pressures, so I was trying to get the ball out quick, get it to our skill guys who could then make plays.”
The hosts had a chance to distance themselves further late in the third quarter, when Harvard marched into the red zone. Facing a third-and-six, the Crimson motioned two receivers across the line, clearing half the field for Firkser to beat his man and catch the ball in the end zone.
Then a bizarre scene ensued. As the Harvard band celebrated, the umpires called back the score on the grounds of illegal motioning. Not even a furious Viviano could reverse the call, and the Crimson settled for a 31-yard field goal by Jake McIntyre, the longest of the freshman’s career.
The missed opportunity hardly proved fatal. While Banks added a second touchdown toss to Rogers, those points came late in the fourth quarter. More, the Crimson regrouped by recovering the following onside kick.
The only major mistake for Harvard came with 11 minutes left in the second quarter, when Murphy drew up a trick end-around pass. Sophomore wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley swept behind the line, Firkser slipped behind the secondary, but the surprise throw came out wobbly. Cornell safety Nick Gesualdi tracked the ball and leapt up for the interception.
The fact that the Crimson didn’t commit more turnovers testified to the team’s blitz-stopping ability. While the Big Red brought pressure throughout the day, the Harvard offensive line—which returned senior left tackle Max Rich after a week of inactivity—mostly handled these waves of bodies.
Only with three minutes left in the second quarter did the dam break. At that point, a blindside blitz from Gesualdi resulted in a brutal shin-level hit on Viviano.
As it turned out, the pain was temporary: The quarterback remained in the contest, as mobile as ever. For the fourth straight week, nothing—not even a motivated Cornell program—could keep Harvard on the ground for too long.
“We’ve established that we’re a gritty team,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “There will be a lot of games like this. There will be games tougher than this. From a character standpoint, we’re really pleased.”
–Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.