The Big Green dominated the kick return stats as well, totaling 136 yards to the Harvard’s 66.

“I think [special teams coach Tony] Reno has done a terrific job, but we definitely have made some errors out there,” Murphy said. “The judgment error on the kickoff that they recovered, the deep kickoff they recovered. We obviously didn’t block anybody on the punt block. It wasn’t a great day on special teams, but we were thankfully able to overcome it.”

With the Harvard run game and defense shutting Dartmouth down on both sides of the ball, the Crimson could afford to get its special teams miscues out of its system this week. But big games lie ahead for Harvard—mainly the Week 9 marquee matchup with Penn which will in all likelihood, decide the Ivy title—and the team can’t afford to make so many mistakes against a stronger, more experienced team.

The Big Green exposed a weakness for the Crimson, but now it’s one that can be fixed before the Quakers come to town. And if Harvard can finally put together the complete game it’s been waiting for all season, it could be enough to take Penn down.

“We tell our guys, [special teams] has to be an aspect of the game that we dominate,” Teevens said. “But we didn’t keep them off the board, and you can’t do that…We have a lot of respect for them—they’re a very, very physical football team.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.