With Perfect Ending, Harvard Beats Yale and Wins Ivy Title
BOSTON - Perfection isn't merely a goal at Harvard. It's almost an expectation. A perfect record over nine games, even another Ivy League title, would have yielded a big yawn without a season-concluding victory against Yale.
The Crimson already had a share of the Ivy title. They wanted it to themselves, which would come only with a victory on Saturday at Harvard Stadium.
It took the Crimson 59 minutes to recover from a series of self-inflicted wounds, but Conner Hempel's 35-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Fischer with 55 seconds left provided the winning margin in a stirring 31-24 victory in The Game.
The victory completed a 10-0 season, the 18th perfect season in Harvard football history and the third under coach Tim Murphy. Yale, which set team records for points, touchdowns, first downs and total yards, and rallied from a 17-point hole to tie the score at 24-24 with 3 minutes 34 seconds to play, finished 8-2, and 5-2 in the Ivy League.
Before the game-winning drive, Yale erased a 24-7 deficit with three quick scoring strikes in the fourth quarter, the last a tying field goal after Harvard running back Paul Stanton's second fumble of the game. But Hempel led the Crimson 78 yards in eight plays.
A cold and breezy Saturday featured two rarities for any Harvard football game: people seeking tickets and the presence of ESPN's 'College GameDay' crew at the north end of Harvard Stadium.
Passengers alighting at the Harvard Square subway station, a short walk to the stadium, were pressed for extra tickets. The requests continued down John F. Kennedy Street, across the Charles River and to the gates of the stadium. A capacity crowd of 31,062 attended the game.
The previous high attendance figure for a Harvard game this season was 15,132 in the season opener against Holy Cross.
Even the country's educational elite could not resist ESPN's omnipresent reach, and a small but vocal and creative group gathered to watch 'GameDay,' the popular college football preview show. Among the signs: 'Yale is the Eli of the Ivies,' which included a picture of Eli Manning; 'We Want 'Bama - In Chess'; Jameis Winston got into Yale'; 'Hurry Up, I Need to Study.'
The 2014 edition of The Game, the 131st meeting between these teams and the 59th since the inception of the Ivy League, needed little hype to live up to its nickname. Harvard was seeking its first unbeaten season since 2004, when Ryan Fitzpatrick, now a peripatetic N.F.L. quarterback, was a senior and the Ivy League most valuable player for the Crimson.
Yale was seeking a share of the Ivy title as well as an end to a distressing seven-game losing streak to its rival. This was the 27th time these teams have played for a share of the league title. Of the previous 26, the most memorable was the 29-29 tie in 1968, when Harvard rallied from a 16-point deficit in the final minute, getting the tying 2-point conversion after time had run out.
On Saturday, Yale's high-powered offense never got going in the first half, but the Bulldogs still left the field with a 7-3 lead, due in no small part to four Harvard miscues. Yale's superb senior running back, Tyler Varga, rushed for 76 yards in the first half and scored the only touchdown on a 6-yard burst with 38 seconds left in the first quarter. That score was a direct result of a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty, which gave Yale a first down when it was lining up for a field goal. Four plays later, Varga scored. It was his 21st rushing touchdown of the season.
Harvard's first mistake came on its first play from scrimmage. Fischer, well behind the Yale secondary, could not handle a pass from Hempel. The Crimson missed another touchdown when Ryan Jones blocked a punt but, with no one in front of him, could not handle the loose football. Harvard settled for a field goal, a 25-yarder from Andrew Flesher.
The final Harvard mistake was also costly. In the closing minutes of the first half, Fischer broke loose for a 58-yard run on a reverse to the Yale 11. On the next play, Stanton fumbled and Yale linebacker Darius Manora recovered the ball.
Stanton redeemed himself in the third quarter, capping a 58-yard drive to open the period with a 1-yard touchdown run. With the wind at his back, Hempel led the Crimson on their first sustained drive, using nearly five minutes.
But Harvard once again let points slip away on its next possession. After Fischer made a diving catch for a 45-yard gain, the Crimson lined up for a 24-yard field goal. But Yale safety Foyesade Oluokun burst through and blocked the kick, denying Harvard of what looked to be a sure 3 points.
Living on the edge, however, seemed to work for the Crimson. On their next possession, Fischer was again at the center of things, capping a 78-yard drive with a 40-yard touchdown reception of a reverse pass from receiver Seitu Smith. Earlier in the drive, Fischer went 21 yards on another reverse. Harvard was taking advantage of the wind at its back.
Then came what appeared to be the coup de grâce. With Yale driving, Harvard linebacker Connor Sheehan stole the ball from wide receiver Robert Clemons and burst up the right sideline, going 90 yards with nary a Bulldog in a position to stop him. The touchdown gave the Crimson a 24-7 lead.
Yale roared back with the wind in the fourth quarter, with Varga scoring twice, once on a run and another on a reception. Overtime appeared in store after Kyle Cazzetta's 33-yard field goal tied the score at 24-24.
But the big touchdown, and a late interception by Scott Peters, preserved perfection for the Crimson.
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