Interesting that Harvard line dropped to 27.5. Maybe it is the fact people see Merrimack playing in sometimes close and always low scoring games. Maybe it is the fact that Harvard disappointed last game and people are gun shy to lay these kind of pts. Maybe it is the proximity of the two schools leading to potentially a competitive game such as it was in 2022 when Harvard was -28.5 hosting Merrimack and the game went to OT! Merrimack was transitioning from Dll back then, but they were actually a pretty good team at that time.
I care less about those aspects. I see a Merrimack O that really struggles to score as I touched on in post #35. I think I mentioned the Merrimack - Stony Brook game in that post and I think that could be a good comparision. SB only won 35-10 and while a score like that is possible here (which would mean no cover for Crimson), I think that if Harvard spent the week focusing on how to finish their drives they will do better than Stony Brook did. SB gained 438y (6.5) and were in scoring position on their first 6 of 7 possessions of the game. That drives netted just 27 pts as SB had a drive stall at the M21 (FG) and the M26 (SOD 4th-1) and M22 FG. This could be a concern given what Harvard went through vs Cornell last week when they had 3 empty drives into scoring position and then settled for 2 RZ FGs. If Harvard is anything close to the team that we, or anyone, believes they are and can be, this had to be a highly motivated week of practice and I would expect their best this week. And finishing will be key as well, something Harvard's D did do last week (Cornell gained only 11y on last 4 possessions). Merrimack got 42% of their total yards on their final 2 drives in that SB game. Again, I think Harvard can be counted on to finish strong.
