PERFECT 10

It was perfect. As the final seconds ticked away, seniors that had waited four years to claim a 10-win season charged onto the field that had waited 100 years to host it.

With the fresh 2004 Ivy League Champions banner atop Harvard Stadium, the Crimson (10-0, 7-0) dismantled the Bulldogs 35-3 in front of a sellout crowd. The win was Harvard’s fourth in a row against archrival Yale (5-5, 3-4) and the final exclamation point on a historic season.

“They set a goal of making this happen nine months ago and were unwavering in their commitment to see it through,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “It was a great day for Harvard and Harvard football today.”

The Crimson gave its fans plenty of reasons to cheer and jeer their Bulldog counterparts. There was senior strong safety Ricky Williamson’s 100-yard interception return in the second quarter, a play that soured Yale’s first trip to the red zone and broke open the then 14-0 game. His scamper down the Bulldog sideline must have looked eerily familiar to onlooking Yale fans, who had witnessed senior wide receiver Brian Edwards shred the Bulldog special teams unit with a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown just over two minutes earlier.

There was sophomore running back Clifton Dawson, two weeks off of a strained side muscle and running into the record books—again. With his 32-carry, 120-yard performance, Dawson eclipsed the Harvard single-season rushing record of 1,267 yards, set by Chris Menick ’00 in 1997. Dawson ended the season with 1,302 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.

But in the first half, there was defense.

“When you play great defense,” Murphy said, “football’s just an easier game.”

A dominant Harvard defensive unit forced Yale to punt five times in the opening half, restricting star running back Robert Carr to only 26 yards on 10 carries. Two first-half sacks by Williamson and sophomore defensive lineman Michael Berg kept Yale quarterback Alvin Cowan flustered and sedentary in the pocket. Berg tallied three tackles for a loss on the afternoon to finish with six tackles, and Williamson led the defense in his final game with 11.

“Our defensive line [was] crushing their offensive line,” Williamson said. “When you beat up an offensive line, it gets harder to seal those blocks, and it allows linebackers and defensive backs to come in and make plays behind the line of scrimmage.”

Despite controlling the time of possession in the first half—Yale held the ball for 18:47 in the first and second quarters—the Bulldogs could muster just a 28-yard field goal with 4:43 remaining in the second quarter. On the game, Yale went one for three in the red zone and compiled only 42 net yards rushing.

“We were taken out of the game that we wanted to play very early,” Bulldogs coach Jack Siedlecki said. “We were very ineffective in the running game and they did a great job on the line.”

The defensive line held Yale to 1.4 yards per carry, forcing the Bulldogs into numerous third-and-long situations. Cowan found his receivers on third down, but the Harvard secondary allowed almost nothing after the catch.

Such defensive execution and domination by the special teams kept the Harvard offense on the bench for much of the first half, and captain quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick looked on as the first half score swelled to 21-3. After Dawson’s four-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that put the Crimson up 7-0, little would happen offensively until the second half.

But when the opportunity presented itself, Harvard’s lethal offense took everything that came along.

“We found a little rhythm in the second half,” Murphy said, “and we did what we had to do to win the game.”

Harvard took control of the clock in the second half, holding the ball for over 20 minutes. After a sluggish first half, Fitzpatrick gave any NFL scouts watching quite the show. Fitzpatrick threw for 124 yards on the afternoon, including a 27-yard touchdown pass to Edwards over the middle near the halfway point of the third quarter.

It was Fitzpatrick’s feet, though, that decimated the Yale defensive line. In his final collegiate appearance, Fitzpatrick abandoned the pocket more frequently than he had since 2003, rushing for 67 yards on 11 carries. He capped his final game with a one-yard touchdown with two minutes left in the third quarter, making the score a lopsided 35-3.

Fitzpatrick left the field for the final time early in the fourth quarter, joined by fellow starters Dawson and Edwards. The trio celebrated together, having fulfilled its expectations handed down at the beginning of the season. One final time, they combined for four of Harvard’s five touchdowns, producing over 300 yards of offense between the three of them.

But with the Ivy Champions banner above them and with a throng of Harvard students screaming on the sidelines, the numbers hardly mattered.

“It’s not about statistics—it’s just a great team effort,” Murphy said. “This is a perfect ending to the most perfect season.