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Murphy Breaks All-Time Wins Record as Harvard Tops Columbia, 35-21

Winters brought his team right back down the field, beginning the Crimson’s opening possession with three consecutive completions to sophomore Cameron Brate, classmate Matt Brown, and Lorditch to bring the ball into Columbia territory. But three straight Crimson false starts and two incompletions would set the Crimson back to a third-and-25 from the Harvard 39.

From there, Winters went back to his favorite target, connecting with Lorditch on a perfect pass off a flag route, and the senior kept his feet in bounds for a 29-yard completion and a first down. Then, Winters hit Juszczyk for 19 yards and Chrissis for five before going back to his junior tight end for a 15-yard touchdown to cap a drive on which he was 8-of-10 and Harvard did not attempt a run.

“Winters is phenomenal,” Columbia coach Norries Wilson said. “[Juszczyk] played great today, gave us fits all game.”

But early in the second quarter, Winters made a big mistake. After the quarterback brought the Crimson down to the Columbia 16 with passes of 19 yards to sophomore Andrew Berg and 43 yards to Lorditch, the senior tried to throw an out that Columbia cornerback Ross Morand read perfectly, jumped, and returned for an 87-yard score.

“We did a very poor job of taking care of the football,” Murphy said. “That was probably the sloppiest half of football we’ve had all year.”

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The Juice is Loose

The Juice is Loose

Breaking Lions' Hearts

Breaking Lions' Hearts

But the resilient quarterback would lead his team back down the field on its next drive, completing two passes to Jusczcyk and a 21-yarder to Brown to set up a five-yard touchdown run by junior Treavor Scales that tied the game at 14 before the break.

Winters would finish 20-of-30 for 323 yards and three touchdowns, with Jusczcyk (seven catches for 118 yards) and Lorditch (four for 123) each eclipsing the century mark in receiving.

Those performances helped Murphy get his record-setting win, a feat he accomplished in his 18th season—five years faster than Restic.

“When you get into coaching, you don’t think about records,” Murphy said. “I’m more into the process, more into the journey, and the journey’s been great.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.

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