At last! Round one of midterms is finally coming to a close, so stand up and give yourself a big pat on the back! We at The Back Page understand that these past few days have certainly been trying times. For example, we know that you probably had to deal with your friends and peers going slightly insane for the first time last week. In fact, you likely saw many of them passed out over their books in some of the strangest locations imaginable. The scariest part about the whole week though is that there is a pretty good chance that you were one of these people as well!

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In advance of the Crimson’s weekend games, The Harvard Crimson previews the games that you should be watching in advance of the important Crimson match-ups.

Women’s Volleyball vs. Cornell, Friday at 7:00

Coming off back to back losses against Brown and Yale in the Ivy League, the Crimson (6-6) look to bounce back Friday against Cornell (5-7) and gain its second win in the conference. The Harvard Athletics Department has partnered with the Side-Out Foundation, making the theme of the game Dig Pink! All attendees of the game will be encouraged to donate in order to support breast cancer education and research.

Men’s Water Polo @ Brown, Friday at 7:30

Last time these two teams met in the pool, Harvard (8-8) escaped with a 6-5 victory. This matchup will be held in Providence, with the Bears (10-8) coming off two straight losses and the Crimson looking to extend its four-game winning streak.

Football @ Cornell, Saturday at 12:30

The Crimson (3-0) is looking to extend its undefeated streak with a second Ivy League win on Saturday. Last week, Harvard came out victorious against Holy Cross in three overtimes, led by sophomore running back Paul Stanton, who scored a touchdown to seal the game. Cornell (1-2) enters the game coming off back to back losses against Yale and Colgate.

Women’s Soccer @ Cornell, Saturday at 1:00

Standing atop the Ivy League women’s soccer standing, the Crimson (6-2) travels to Ithaca on Saturday to defend its undefeated record in the conference. Tuesday night Harvard played to a tie with BU, snapping the team’s six game winning streak.

Field Hockey vs. Fairfield, Sunday @ 1:00

Coming off a 4-0 win over UMass Lowell Tuesday night, the Crimson will be looking to extend its winning streak against Fairfield. It was Harvard’s first win since September 21 against Yale.

In advance of Harvard football’s game against Cornell, THC football beat writers David Steinbach and Samantha Lin discuss a number of important topics about the team.

On Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews…

Samantha Lin: Jeff Mathews has certainly come into this season with high expectations—he’s the sole FCS quarterback on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list and is predicted to be drafted into the NFL after this year. Do you think he deserves all of the praise and expectations?

David Steinbach: Maybe. Over three games, Mathews has racked up 972 yards and eight touchdowns, and he just became the leader in all-time Ivy League passing yards. But Cornell is just 1-3 (0-1 in the conference) and hasn’t been able to generate any offense on the ground to complement Mathews, making the Big Red a very one-dimensional team.

SL: I think his experience as a third-year starter will definitely help in that aspect. Even when teams know that Cornell is a pass-happy team, his prowess still makes him tricky to cover—he averages over 300 yards passing per game. The team may not have been able to pull out a win in the last two games, but it did put up over 40 points in its first game against Bucknell.

DS: The Harvard defense is going to need to make some adjustments in its pass coverage if it hopes to stop Mathews. Against a relatively inexperienced freshman quarterback in Holy Cross’s Peter Pujals, the Crimson gave up over 300 yards passing and surrendered four touchdowns. Another performance like that will make it tough to come out of Ithaca with a win.

On turnovers forced by the Harvard defense…

DS: Last week against Holy Cross, the Harvard defense forced Pujals to fumble four times. The Crimson recovered each of these loose balls and returned one of them for a touchdown.

SL: That’s not to mention when the special teams unit blocked a punt on the first possession of the game. The Harvard defense has scored a touchdown in each of its first three games and bailed the offense out when it’s been sputtering.

DS: Defensive end Zach Hodges has been nothing short of a beast. So far this season, the junior has forced a fumble, recovered a fumble to score a touchdown, intercepted a pass, and registered 2.5 sacks.  We’re looking at a potential candidate for Ivy League Player of the Year here.

SL: His performance thus far is a big reason why he was my preseason Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year prediction. But that’s not to take away credit from the rest of the defensive line, which combined for six sacks last week. If the defense hadn’t had that crucial sack in the third overtime period, the outcome last week may have been different.

On Harvard’s quarterback situation…

SL: It looks like Harvard’s starting quarterback, Conner Hempel, may be questionable for Saturday’s game due to lingering effects from a hyperextended knee suffered in Worcester. The Crimson’s backup quarterback, Mike Pruneau, struggled when he came in for Hempel this week. Although he was 8-of-10 passing last week, he struggled to create offense while Hempel was sidelined.

DS: Hempel has been the focal point of the Harvard offense so far this year. He has shown poise under pressure, and when the pocket breaks down he has demonstrated an ability to improvise and make plays on the run. And when the Crimson couldn’t get anything going on the ground in the first two games of the year, Hempel more than picked up the slack, throwing for 641 yards and five touchdowns.

SL: But if Hempel is unable to go, it probably won’t be the end of the world for Harvard. Pruneau, despite not winning the starting job, has more experience with the team as a senior. Even though he tore his ACL last year and was unable to play his junior year, he still trained with the team and was able to become a solid leader within the team. He’s also been getting quite a few reps this week, according to a teammate, just in case Hempel is still not ready by Saturday.

DS: The preseason competition where the two battled for the starting position will probably help him too, if he needs to come in for the start. Both have repeatedly talked about how the battle made them better leaders and players. That may be put to the test come Saturday.

In the new film, “Linsanity,” released on October 4th, Jeremy Lin ’10, Harvard-alumnus-turned-NBA-phenomenon, connects with his fans and the basketball community on a newer level.

Director Evan Leong brings out the most of Lin’s past and present in this film, everything from his ever-so-famous rise to stardom in 2012 that gave the movie its namesake to the more sobering issue of racial stereotyping in basketball, something Lin has had to deal with for most of his life.

Those who expect this movie to be a shallow attempt at reviving the Linsanity phenomenon will be pleasantly surprised. Leong had been planning this film out since Lin’s years at Harvard and interviews Lin’s family, friends, teammates, and coaches to paint a full picture of the Houston Rockets point guard.

The first American-born Asian player to crack an NBA starting lineup, Lin’s journey begins with old footage of AAU tape from his early years. After tackling the origins of Linsanity in its nascent years in Palo Alto, the movie moves from Cambridge to New York and Houston in tracking the 2012 ESPN Breakout Athlete of the Year through the highlights of his career.

The Bears were laid into by Brown this week (not a typo) as women’s rugby co-captain Xanni Brown scored five tries and added five conversions for a total of thirty seven points, seeing the Crimson through to a momentous 57-7 win. However, while Xanni was The Crimson’s athlete of the week, The Back Page is recognizing other high-achieving Crimson athletes.

Corinne Baine, Women’s Volleyball

Women’s volleyball slugged it out against Brown on Saturday, losing in a five-set thriller. Freshman Corinne Bain put up a monster triple-double with 15 kills, 11 digs and a whopping 33 assists in the loss. There are exciting times ahead for this young talent.

Paul Stanton, Football

Crimson football had a long Saturday, playing through to triple OT against the Holy Cross Crusaders in a 41-35 win. As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. In this case it was sophomore running back Paul Stanton who put the team on his back. His game-winning touchdown in the third overtime period brought his total for the day to 103 yards on 21 carries for two touchdowns – one, however, slightly more important than the other.