By Conor Nevins

The Northeastern football team had all the motivation it needed going into Sunday’s cross-town match-up with Harvard University. A thrilling overtime victory over Atlantic-10 rival Villanova University the week before put them in a position to win consecutive games for the first time this season. The Huskies (3-3, 2-1 A-10) were also looking to hand Harvard (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) their first loss of the season, while bridging the gap in the series between the two teams, which Harvard led 6-1.

But all the motivation in the world couldn’t keep the Huskies from seeing Crimson on the field, as Harvard broke a 14-14 tie late in the first half, scoring 27 unanswered points en route to a 41-14 victory in front of 11,809 in attendence at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge.

NU head coach Rocky Hager called the loss, “one of the most difficult pills to swallow as a coach.”

“We’re a better football team than we showed today,” Hager said. “I can’t give you evidence of that based on today’s performance, but we’re a better team than that.”

The Huskies showed signs they could replicate last week’s performance early in the game, matching Harvard’s high-octane offense play for play. Senior quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and sophomore running back Clifton Dawson engineered the first scoring drive of the afternoon for the Crimson midway through the first quarter. A 15-yard run by Dawson set up a first and goal for Harvard at the Northeastern goal line. After stuffing the run twice, NU’s defense could not keep Fitzpatrick from finding senior tight end Adam Jenkins in the back of the end zone for the one yard score.

Northeastern would respond quickly on the next drive, needing only two and a half minutes to find the end zone and tie the game. Senior quarterback Shawn Brady found senior wide receiver Quintin Mitchell, who made a nice move after the catch to lose his defender and score on a 19-yard reception. The two teams would trade touchdowns once more as Dawson scampered in for a 7-yard score for Harvard, and Brady scrambled for a 15-yard touchdown run with 8:08 in the second quarter. That was as close as NU would get to the home team as the Crimson took advantage of numerous Husky turnovers to take over the momentum and run off 27 unanswered points to seal the game.

The turnovers were the story for the Huskies throughout the game, as they continually had drives come to a screeching halt in their attempt to catch up to the blistering pace of the Crimson offense. Brady was under pressure all day and could not find the rhythm he had during last week’s game against Villanova. Last week’s A-10 Player of the Week fumbled twice and threw two interceptions, off setting his two touchdowns, one in the air and one on the ground. Mitchell would account for another fumble, totaling five on the day for the Huskies, a statistic Hager was not very excited about.

“The turnovers were obviously a huge factor in the game,” Hager said. “You have to give Harvard’s defense some credit. They pressed us and we were forced to do things that weren’t natural to us. I thought we lost some of our demeanor and electricity on the sideline after the first turnover.” On the other side of the ball, Northeastern’s defense just could not keep up with the Crimson. Fitzpatrick completed 22-37 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, despite playing very little in the fourth quarter. Dawson paced the Crimson with a powerful running display, amassing 118 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns, off setting a career day for NU freshman back James West who tallied his first 100-yard game for the Huskies, getting 109 yards on 18 carries.

Brady, who finished with 171 yards passing, said he felt the turnovers stopped the Huskies from getting into any kind of rhythm.

“You can’t win a football game with two interceptions and three fumbles,” Brady said. “We worked hard in practice to prepare for this game but it doesn’t help when you turn the ball over like that. It was just a matter of them making more big plays than us.”

For the Huskies, the game marked the end of non-conference play for the season. Now Hager’s team can focus on the remainder of the Atlantic-10 season. Standing at 2-1 in the conference, the goal of winning a conference championship remains very much a reality for Northeastern. The Huskies travel to take on the University of Maine Black Bears next week in a rematch of last season’s Homecoming game which Northeastern won 20-14.