But perhaps the crown jewel of the vaunted Crimson defense, the facet that makes it arguably the best in the league, is its defensive line—even Tavani acknowledged that.

Of course, senior defensive tackle Josue Ortiz leads the way. The 450-pound bench-presser set a goal of 10 sacks prior to this season, and despite being double-teamed almost every play, he’s well on his way with two sacks after three games.

But Ortiz’s biggest impact may not be shown in his own stat line. While he harasses quarterbacks at least once a possession, Ortiz absorbs two blockers and opens up holes for his teammates.

Those guys are hard to handle as well. You neutralize Ortiz? Then deal with junior defensive tackle Nnamdi Obukwelu. Get rid of him? Then meet fellow defensive tackle Zach Hodges. He’s only a freshman, but he’s clearly learned quickly from his elders.

And new weapons keep emerging for the Crimson. Junior defensive end Grant Sickle led Harvard with one-and-a-half sacks on Saturday, leading a five-sack effort for the visitors.

What does the D-line dominance mean? That Ivy quarterbacks will be giving turf a lot of mouth-to-mouth this year.

The Crimson “D” hasn’t been infallible, though. Brown and Lafayette certainly had their chances. But when the Harvard defense has needed to step up most—in the red zone—the squad has done just that. Opponents are 1-of-4 inside the twenty-yard line over the past two games.

The red zone brilliance shouldn’t be too surprising. As early as the second possession of the season, when Holy Cross recovered a fumbled punt at Harvard’s three-yard line, the Crimson stepped up, surrendering only three points.

“We do a great job in the red zone,” Murphy said. “We really prepare well, we really have a little added intensity, the type of intensity you have to have, the type of resiliency you have to have.”

So to the offenses of the Ancient Eight: Good luck. You’ll need it.

—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.