Fortunately for the Crimson, the way the Ivy League is structured rendered Saturday’s loss meaningless in the greater scheme of things. As Harvard drops to 1-2 against non-conference, Patriot League opponents, it still enjoys a 2-0 record against the Ancient Eight.

With the Crimson’s upcoming slew of Ivy matchups—especially Princeton next week, who despite being 0-2 kept things even with Brown on Saturday through the first half of play—Harvard has to cut down on the mental mistakes.

“We have to do everything right because everybody’s good enough to beat you if you don’t do all the little things,” Murphy said.

And if the Crimson can remain lossless going into the penultimate weekend—no easy task with a matchup against a suddenly energized Columbia squad in Week 8—Harvard will have to face a team that could also be undefeated, Penn.

We’ve cleared the midway hump of the season, and if the Crimson has any aspirations of pulling a three-peat Ivy title, it needs to fully address the penalties and blunders that have threatened to undermine that championship run.

So far nothing consequential has resulted yet from these missteps, but with only Ivy opponents left on the schedule, Harvard cannot let its guard down.

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.