Heavy rests the crown for the 2016 Harvard football team.

After two decades of steady success and three especially acute years of dominance, the Crimson confronts a question common to all victors: What next?

Having won its last 15 road games, what land remains to be conquered? Having hoisted three straight league titles, what opponents remain to be vanquished?

No longer do Harvard players need to grab top-dog status; that happened in 2013, with the first Ivy League title.

Nor do they need to thwart criticisms of being a fluke success; that happened in 2014, with the second Ivy League title.

Nor do they need to buck odds and establish a dynasty; that happened in 2015, with the third Ivy League title.

Under the guidance of coach Tim Murphy, the Crimson has skipped from victory to victory, scoring at least 10 points in the last 62 games. Again in 2016 media pundits picked Harvard to top the Ancient Eight. But in its wake, the Crimson has left a trail of embittered opponents, all of them salivating at a chance for revenge.

Heavy rests the crown.

“We’re everybody’s rival,” Murphy said. “Everybody hates our guts. Because of that, you can never, ever, ever take anyone for granted.”

The crown weighs especially on senior Joe Viviano, anointed quarterback of Harvard’s offense.

He’s a large guy—6’5”, 220 pounds—but for three years, his stat line could fit into a fortune cookie. One pass thrown. No completions. No starts.

Last Friday rejiggered those numbers, as Viviano got the nod against Rhode Island and went 24-for-32 and 290 yards. Most noticeably, he scrambled for 51 yards—an upgrade over his solid but physically unexceptional predecessor, Scott Hosch.

Still, one battle doesn’t win a war. As a freshman, Viviano entered campus as the 51st quarterback in the nation according to ESPN. He carried heavy expectations, and four years later, those expectations linger.

A season ago, Viviano nearly won the first-string job in training camp before breaking his foot. Now the undisputed starter, he will try to exhibit the playmaking ability and cannon arm that attracted Murphy and other scouts.

It is a case of ability without experience, power without comfort. And there are no dry runs.