Junior linebacker Joshua Boyd (at right), shown here in earlier action, played an important role in Harvard’s defensive effort against Brown, leading the team in tackles with 11, including five solo defensive stops. The Crimson hopes to earn its second victory of the season on Saturday at Lafayette.

No one may have said it, but everyone was thinking it. Last Friday’s game against Brown was a must-win for Harvard football.

With only seven league games all year, one loss against a team in the middle of the pack can be crushing. When the Crimson dropped its game against Brown last year, putting itself in an early 0-1 hole in league play, Harvard had to play with an if-we-lose-one-more-time-we’re-done mentality. And when the Crimson did lose one more time—to eventual league champion Penn—the team was done.

Because falling to any league team not named Yale or Penn eliminates any and all margin for error. After that, any mistake, and it’s “Wait ‘til next year.”

But there’s a problem: football sometimes makes as little sense as the BCS system or voluntarily living in New Haven.

And that’s especially the case in the FCS, where sometimes randomness and chaos reign.

Here’s an example from the past few weeks. Some quick facts:

1) The Quakers were named the favorites to repeat as champions of the Ivy League this year, so they’re clearly favored to beat Yale when the teams square off near the end of October.

2) Two Saturdays ago, when the Bulldogs and Georgetown met up, the Yalies took the contest, 37-27.

3) The week before, the Hoyas had hosted Lafayette, and Georgetown managed to hold on for a tight, 14-13 win.

4) In its first game of the year, Penn hosted Lafayette at Franklin Field.

It almost sounds like an SAT question. If Penn is favored over Yale, Yale beat Georgetown, and Georgetown beat Lafayette, then Penn should’ve beaten Lafayette, right?

Wrong.

Lafayette didn’t narrowly win, either. The Leopards obliterated Penn, 37-12. That’s less like a football game and more like a public execution.

But that’s sports. Just because A beats B and B beats C, by no means can we preemptively crown A the winner over C.

In football, one source of randomness is clear: injuries. Players get hurt all the time on the gridiron, and that can drastically change a team’s dynamic. In fact, in just the first game of the year, Harvard temporarily lost one of its best defenders in junior linebacker Blaise Deal and the leader of its offense in senior quarterback Collier Winters. There’s no way to guess that would‘ve happened, though both have been fairly injury-prone over the past few seasons.