Harvard vs. Dartmouth: One of the All-Time Greats

In the hearts of the Harvard football team and its fans, no contest can compete with The Game for excitement, drama and importance.

Win The Game and the season is a success, lose it and it is a failure. There is no middle ground. Even ties have to be categorized as wins or losses, 1968 being the chief example of this (Harvard Wins, 29-29, if you need further reminders).

But Yale is not where the best football in the Ivy League is played. For the last several years that honor has belonged to Dartmouth, the patriarch of Ancient Eight football and the three-time defending Ivy League champion.

And with the best team in the league comes the best games: Two years ago, for instance, Harvard nearly defeated Dartmouth, but a last-second 27-yard field goal was blocked (blocked!) and the Crimson had to settle for a 31-31 tie.

Last year, the Big Green's then-junior quarterback Jay Fiedler passed (239 yards) and fullback Neil Hoffmeister ran (143 yards) to a 31-0 lead before Harvard quarterback Mike Giardi averted a shutout with a late touchdown. (Although that game may not have been great, Dartmouth certainly was.)

Stacked Up

Dartmouth has always featured a great defense with a strong offense and this year is no exception. On offense, the Big Green has Fiedler: the Ancient Eight's best quarterback and the 1992 Ivy League Player of the Year.

This year, Fiedler lost a great deal of his offensive backfield and spent much of this season trying to find his rhythm with the new backs and wide receivers--the team started off with three losses in the first four games (including a 13-7 loss to Holy Cross).

"Everybody around here is just relying on Jay to get things done," Dartmouth Coach John Lyons said after the Holy Cross loss. "But he can't do it alone, and this team has to realize that."

But with the emergence of fullback Pete Oberle (4.1 yards per rush) and receiver John Hyland (second in the league to Pennsylvania's Miles Macik), the Big Green is back on track--defeating Yale 31-14 and coming from behind to defeat Cornell, 28-27. The defense is equally strong: led by co-captain inside linebacker Josh Bloom, it has allowed just 104.5 yards per game on the ground and 184.1 through the air.

This is a direct challenge to the Harvard ground game, which racks up an average of 232 yards per game and turned the normally reliable Princeton ground defense suspect last week. Harvard is not as strong through the air--but Giardi's elbow problem has cleaned up somewhat and throwing the ball should be less of a problem today.

But this is a ground game, World War I-style, especially if the weather predictions are right and it rains. Inclement weather in this game would certainly favor the Crimson, with its stronger ground game.

Dartmouth is still playing for the Ivy title, even if it needs Princeton to defeat Pennsylvania next weekend to stay in the race. Harvard is out of the race, barring a cataclysmic earthquake which swallows the Philadelphia-Trenton area whole and creates the Ancient Six.

Motivation is never a problem. Yale notwithstanding, this is the biggest rivalry in the Ancient Eight.

And certainly one of the best. SPORTS CUBE PREDICTS

Jonathan Samuels, Exec. Editor Dartmouth  33 Harvard  13

Rajath Shourie, Staff Writer Dartmouth  29 Harvard  14

Patrick R. Sorrento, Prod. Super. Harvard  28 Dartmouth  24

John B. Trainer, Sports Editor Dartmouth  25 Harvard  22