PRINCETON, N.J.--Saturday was a crazy day in the annals of the Ivy League.

Brown topped Pennsylvania 58-51 in the final minute, and the teams set a new single-game scoring record in the process. Harvard needed a halfback pass in the fourth quarter and a missed field goal by the League's best kicker to pull out the first road win in the history of Princeton Stadium.

When the smoke had cleared, four teams--Harvard, Princeton, Penn and Yale--were tied for the League lead at 2-1, and four more were one game back. And one starting quarterback had his job back, and he couldn't have been happier.

Linden Resurrected

Princeton's strong suit going in was its run defense. The Tigers are No. 2 nationally against the run, allowing 56.4 yards per game.

Junior running back Chris Menick, coming off three straight 100-yard efforts, was limited to 56 yards on 19 rushes, only 2.9 yards per carry.

"They're definitely the best run defense we've faced," junior running back Chris Menick said. "We were expecting that. They were giving up something like 50 yards a game on the ground. They were really good at staying with the guys blocking them, and as soon as I made a cut, they threw the block away. They were good with their hands that way."

The onus was therefore on junior quarterback Rich Linden, who had struggled mightily through four and one-half games, to pilot an offense deprived of its major threat.

Since last year's second-team all-Ivy campaign, Linden had averaged a little better than 100 passing yards per game and thrown six interceptions against one touchdown.

Harvard Coach Tim Murphy even benched Linden in the second half of last week's 20-14 overtime win against Holy Cross, going with backup Brad Wilford.

Linden responded with his best effort of the season, completing 15 of 28 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns, but more importantly parlaying that passing yardage into the Crimson's two longest touchdown drives of the season.

Down 10-0 late in the first quarter, Linden and his mates took over at the Harvard 21-yard line, and after junior running back Chris Menick carried twice for five yards, faced a third-and-five at their own 26.

Linden dropped back on a play-action fake and zipped a ball to the right sideline for sophomore wideout Josh Wilske, who caught five balls for 88 yards and his first career touchdown. Wilske took the pass 22 yards for a first down that sustained the drive.

Three plays later, Linden found junior tight end Chris Eitzmann open two steps behind his cornerback down the right side and threaded the needle once again, allowing Eitzmann to split up the middle of the field for a 38-yard touchdown reception.

And midway through the second quarter, Harvard took a 13-10 lead on an eight-play, 44-yard scoring drive that was almost entirely Linden's handiwork.