Brown clinches Ivy title, Harvard wins thriller

Brown-Columbia: The Crowning Moment

The Ivy League football championship trophy was at Wien Stadium in New York City this Saturday, waiting on the result of the game between Brown (9-1 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) and Columbia (2-8, 0-7). Needing only one more victory to claim the coveted prize, the Bears controlled their own destiny and delivered easily by beating the Lions, 52-21.

Senior running back Nick Hartigan, the Ivy League's leading rusher and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, had an outstanding game. His heavy workload — 31 carries — produced a superhuman 230 yards and three touchdowns. Hartigan has undoubtedly been the league's most unstoppable offensive force this year, and his performance led Brown to its first outright Ivy title in the school's history.

Asked about the season, the Bears' head coach Phil Estes said, "Our seniors have done a great job. They started out 2-8 as freshmen and kept getting better and better ... These guys have found a way to play together and never let the other team get in the way of our goals."

Clearly, one of those goals must have been the Ivy League championship.

Harvard-Yale: The Instant Classic

Entering the third overtime of an epic duel between Harvard (7-3, 5-2) and Yale (4-6, 4-3), Crimson tailback Clifton Dawson decided to take the game into his own hands. Knowing that his teammates were exhausted, Dawson carried the ball for the game's final three plays. His last carry — his 33rd over the course of the entire game — was a two-yard touchdown plunge that gave Harvard their six-point margin of victory, 30-24.

The 2005 Harvard-Yale game, the 122nd clash in a long and storied rivalry, will go down as a classic in the annals of both schools' history. It marked the first time the two schools had to decide the game in overtime — and since they had three overtime periods, one might conclude they wanted to make up for lost time. It was also the first triple-overtime game in Ivy League history.

If Crimson fans want to find a hero in this historical game, they need look no further than Dawson. He rushed for 130 yards and also led the team in receiving, with 10 receptions for 85 yards and two total touchdowns. The victory means Harvard will end the season ranked second in the Ivy League, tied with Princeton.

Penn-Cornell: The Decline of a Champion

The story of the day at Franklin Field was undoubtedly the stunning decline of Penn (5-5, 3-4), winner of three of the past five Ivy titles. In a 16-7 loss to Cornell (6-4, 4-3, the Quakers looked like a team that has lost both its direction and its motivation.

Formerly one of the most feared offenses in the Ivy League, Penn only managed to score one touchdown and compile 149 yards of total offense. The Big Red exceeded that output on rushing yards alone, with 186 in the game, and had 292 yards overall.

Cornell has consistently led the Ivy League in rushing yards this season and stuck to its game plan on Saturday by pounding the Quakers on the ground. The Big Red ended the game with 60 runs, compared to a mere 16 passing attempts — steady, conservative approach that wore Penn down.