It occurred to me a few weeks after the game, when I finally became accustomed to those annoying t-shirts that splashed our almost-perfect record across too many of my friends’ chests (New Yorkers, of course), that it’s resiliency that characterizes a great team—or at least makes the best stories.

Maybe that’s why the end of September is my favorite time of the year and such an integral part of the fall athletic season.

At Harvard and virtually every college across the country, teams have suffered tough losses, captured thrilling last-second victories, come out too flat, and thoroughly dismantled their competition. But what remains to be seen is which teams will become stronger, better for these experiences.

Starting now, in September, we get to watch hundreds of seasons unfold. And although no one knows for sure who will come out on top after the next month or so—will it be the football team from Cambridge or Providence that notches its first win of the season this coming weekend?—I’m confident it will be gritty, resilient teams that win tough matchups when others falter.

October, like September, is just a part of their story.

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.