Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Game...

After The Game come The Statistics. The pageantry and hype surrounding the 103 Games has engendered a mass of largely meaningless statistics. Still, some of the numbers can be rather interesting. Consider:

. Despite Harvard's 24-17 victory over Yale Saturday, the Crimson is only 2-8 versus the Bulldogs in games played in years ending in 6 (1906, 1936, etc.).

. Both teams finished the year at 3-7 overall, marking the first time since 1958 that both the Crimson and the Elis have closed with sub-.500 marks.

. Before Saturday, the losing team in six of the previous seven Games had scored one touchdown or less. 1986 thus joins 1984 (when Yale won, 30-27) as the only Games of the '80s in which both teams cracked double digits.

. Harvard's victory denied Yale a chance to win three consecutive Games--something the Bulldogs hadn't done since 1976-77-78.

. Harvard's victory caused a three-way tie (at 1-1 apiece) in the mythical Big Three championship (Harvard, Yale and Princeton), the first such deadlock since 1979.

. And finally, The Series now stands at 56 victories for Yale and 39 wins for Harvard. There have been eight ties.

Just the Stats, Ma'am: With the book closed on the 1986 season, here's a look at Harvard's final leaders in a number of offensive categories.

Senior fullback Brian O'Neil led the Crimson in rushing with 425 yards on 98 carries. George Sorbara was next with 301 yards on 90 carries, while Joe Pusateri picked up 259 yards. Pusateri led the team in rushing touchdowns with six, while Sorbara added three TDs on the ground.

Sophomore QB Tom Yohe rose from pre-season obscurity to start five games for Harvard this year and establish himself as the quarterback of the future. Yohe led the trio of Crimson signal-callers with 596 yards on 45-for-102 pass attempts. He added five TDs and only three interceptions.

Senior David Landau, the gridders' opening day starter, led Harvard with a .500 completion percentage (37-for-74) and amassed 469 yards. He was intercepted 10 times, however, and did not connect on a single scoring pass. Bill Koehler, who started two games at QB, finished 19-for-41 for 206 yards and four interceptions.

Senior split end Joe Connolly, who was plagued by injuries for the second half of the season, led Harvard with 19 receptions and 246 yards receiving. Sorbara was close on his heels in both categories with 18 catches for 233 yards.

The Zubrow Dynasty is Born: The long-awaited confrontation of Ivy undefeateds in Ithaca, N.Y. didn't live up to its billing Saturday as the Penn Quakers crushed Cornell, 31-21, to take their fifth consecutive Ivy title.

Penn (10-0 overall, 7-0 Ivy) became only the fifth team since the start of league play in 1956 to capture or share five straight titles (the other was Dartmouth, from 1969-73). The Quakers also posted their first undefeated season since 1904, and one of the most dominant seasons by any modern-day Ivy team.

The game in Ithaca marked the first time two undefeated teams had met on the final weekend of the Ivy season since 1968, when Harvard and Yale hooked up in the Game of Games (ending, of course, in the famous 29-29 tie).

Penn's fabulous season should also put to rest notions that the Quakers' fabulous success in recent years had been due solely to the coaching genius of Jerry Berndt. Berndt--who turned the Ivy doormat into a powerhouse almost overnight after arriving at Penn--left before this season to coach at Rice. Ed Zubrow, a former assistant to Berndt, took over and produced a season which surpassed even Berndt's finest.

Shutting Down the Air Attack: The Harvard defensive secondary did a surprisingly fine job of shutting down the Ivy League's top passers this year. Going into the final weekend of play, the Ivies' top three QBs were Dave Gabianelli of Dartmouth, Marty Stallone of Cornell and Kelly Ryan of Yale. Against Harvard...

. ...Gabianelli was 10-for-24 for 232 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted twice and sacked three times.

. ...Stallone was a dismal 4-for-20 for 31 yards and no touchdowns. The Harvard defense sacked him four times.

. ...Ryan, in The Game Saturday, managed to complete only five of 23 passes, for 60 yards. He was intercepted twice and had no TD passes.

Thus, the Ivies' top three signal-callers were a composite 19-for-67 for 322 yards, 3 TDs and four interceptions against an inexperienced Crimson defensive secondary.

Same Time, Last Year: The Crimson was licking its wounds from a 17-6 pounding at the hands of Yale, and anticipating a long off-season. This year the picture is a little brighter, with a resounding win in The Game making up, in part, for a disappointing season.

Finally, the Football Notebook staff would like to thank Harvard Sports Information Director Ed Markey, Assistant Sports Information Director Frank Cicero, and the rest of the Sports Info staff which, all season long, provided many of the facts and figures which have appeared in the Notebook. Thanks, team.