And the defensive line? Hard to handle. Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero was scrambling and hurried and flustered all night long. One of the game’s great plays came when sophomore defensive tackle Jake Boy drilled the Brown quarterback mid-throw, leading to an interception.

And of course, senior defensive lineman Josue Ortiz looked pretty good, too. He harassed Newhall-Caballero for three quarters, hunting him down, stalking him, until he finally broke through in the fourth with a resounding, lightning-quick, 10-yard sack that you could feel from the press box. The man goes after quarterbacks with the same ferocity that freshmen attack sundae bars.

And as for Brown? Well, the Bears did a spot-on impression of last week’s Harvard team, committing critical blunders left and right. The score actually overstated the difference between the two squads. If senior defensive back Dan Minamide hadn’t caught an errant pass in the end zone and Newhall-Caballero didn’t bungle it at the one-yard line, it would’ve been a different ball game—maybe even a different outcome.

Brown coach Phil Estes knew it. When asked why his team lost despite comparable statistics, he barked, “Are you serious? Come on. Turnovers.”

The man looked about as happy as the cruise director of the Lusitania.

But it wasn’t just that Brown lost the game. Harvard won it in really every aspect. The Crimson couldn’t have been much more technically sound. And a host of players—some even coming in as replacements—proved themselves to be superstars in the making.

Murphy had it right. There’s a lot to smile about.

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