Oldest rivals line up for 134th playing of The Game.
By JILLY CRONIN & TUSHAR DWIVEDI
This weekend marks the 134th playing of The Game and with all of the Spirit Week events, free t-shirts, treats, and “Game Safety Reminder” emails, it’s hard for students to think of anything else – much less get any work done. They have been, however, able to plan their weekends down to the minute.
So, tomorrow afternoon, hundreds of students will begin packing into cars, trains, and buses to head down to New Haven where they will meet up with mutual friends and old high school chums who have agreed to let us crash on their dirty dorm room floor.
Going back to 1875, Yale has a slight edge in record: 66-59-8; with Harvard winning 9 of the last 10. However, the next few years represent a chance to flip the historical record around, starting this weekend. Because of last year’s discouraging result – Yale winning 21-14, breaking Harvard’s nine-year win streak – Harvard players, students, and fans are eager to come out swinging this year and put Yale back in its place.
According to foxsports.com, Yale is ranked first in the Ivies, with a 5-1 wins-to-losses record. The teams tied for second, Columbia and Dartmouth, both have records of 4-2. Harvard, with a record of 3-3, is tied with Penn and Cornell for third. Yale is guaranteed to receive the Ivy League Title, but if Harvard beats Yale this weekend, and Columbia and Dartmouth beat Brown and Princeton, respectively, then there will be a three-way tie for the Ivy League Title.
Dartmouth and Princeton, both seated above their opponents, should be able to win their games easily, so the pressure is on Harvard to make sure that Yale is not the sole recipient of the Ivy League Title – an award that would make them far too annoying in years to come.
The Crimson are coming off of an up and down past few months, having won 3 of their past six games, and possess a 5-4 record overall. While the Crimson are going into Yale on the heels of a loss to Penn this past weekend, wins over Dartmouth (25-22) and Columbia (21-14) in late October and early November have helped build confidence to continue a late season surge to an Ivy Title-tie.
From pranks such as kidnapping Yale’s Bulldog to the infamous “Harvard Sucks” sign, the history between the two teams has been locked in both competition and fun. Through The Game’s history, numerous events have helped us realize the quirky nature of the Ivy League. Harvard’s win over Yale in 2014 marked their 10th victory that season and a perfect record – which brought to the attention of many students that Harvard, Yale, and the rest of the Ivy League are banned from the FCS playoffs – because it would potentially interfere with finals and reading period. On the other hand, just a week ago, we were considering the possibilities of a 7-way tie for the All Ivy title, and now potentially face a three-way tie. Regardless of all the crazy possible outcomes, we all believe one thing is for certain: a Harvard victory this Saturday!
Jilly Cronin and Tushar Dwivedi (sports@harvardindependent.com) would have pitied Brown in the event of its exclusion from the 7-way tie.