In the win, eight Tigers caught passes. Seven recorded rushing attempts. The absence of quarterback Conner Michelsen certainly forced more in-the-box thinking by Princeton, but you don’t record 520 yards of offense without a great offensive game-plan.

All that said, the real reason the Tigers have emerged from dormancy, at least according to Murphy, is the team’s defense. In a complete reversal from a year ago, it was the Harvard offense that needed a break to score for much of the game.

The Crimson got on the board when a pass bounced off a Princeton defender. It only tied the game in the fourth quarter after taking over 19 yards from paydirt. NFL prospect Caraun Reid hurried Hempel on back-to-back plays to prevent Harvard from making Flesher’s attempt at the end of regulation any easier.

For most of the game it was the Crimson, not the Tigers, that needed a short field, a controversial call, or a fluky play to get into the end zone.

In the third overtime, the Crimson got none of the above. On third and four, Hempel escaped a sack and scrambled for a first down. But faced with the same situation two plays later, the junior couldn’t recreate the necessary magic. Princeton held Harvard to a field goal, giving Epperly and Wilson the opportunity to drive the stake home once again.

Their touchdown connection likely earned the duo a two-headed bust in the Crimson Killer wing of the Princeton Hall of Fame, right alongside Doug Davis. It also shook up the Ivy landscape in a big way.

Last year, the Tigers’ upset of Harvard was a sign of things to come, but Princeton lost three games down the stretch to cough up a potential Ancient Eight title. Saturday’s win told the league that there is a new sheriff in town.

Sure, Penn is also 3-0 in league play, but take away the team names and one resume sticks out. The Quakers needed four overtimes to beat Dartmouth and topped Columbia by just 21 (the Lions have lost their other two conference games by an average of 51).

Meanwhile, the Tigers just defeated an Ivy heavyweight and have won their other two league games by a combined 68 points. Of course, Princeton will have to prove it is better than the other Killer P two weeks from now in Philadelphia.

For now though, the Tigers are kings of the jungle once again.

Saturday, Harvard didn’t collapse. It just was not the better team. For the Crimson, that has to be way more concerning.

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @jacobfeldman4.