Compared to the last three weeks, it was a bizarro final three minutes for the Harvard football team. And the Crimson couldn't be happier.

After Princeton (2-4, 0-3 Ivy) kicked a 52-yard field goal to tie the game 6-6, Harvard's offense drove 58 yards in 3:26 and scored the winning touchdown with :02 left in the game. Senior quarterback Brad Wilford dove in from the one-foot line to push Harvard (4-2, 2-1) into a tie for first place in the Ivies.

It was a brilliant finish for a team that surrendered a last-second field goal in a 24-21 loss to Colgate, gave up 14 points in the final three minutes of a 24-23 loss at Cornell, and was outscored 27-3 in the second half of a 37-30 win at Fordham. The preceding three weeks must have taught Harvard something as it put together a clutch, game-winning drive to keep itself in the thick of the Ivy race.

The drive as a whole was a thing of beauty, although there was a lot of ugliness along the way. It started when Princeton kicker Taylor Northrop, who had just rocked a 52-yarder with the wind at his back, slipped on the kickoff.

"The ground gave out, and I fell right on my ass," Northrop said. "I probably dug out a yard of dirt."

The ball knuckled to sophomore Willie Alford at the Harvard 35, and he returned the kick to the 42. With 3:28 left, one timeout and great field position, Harvard did what it hadn't done before--it took advantage of a golden opportunity.

The drive began with an incomplete pass. Senior running back Chris Menick barreled through a huge hole in the middle for a 17-yard run. He tested the middle again for only one, and then the Crimson threw incomplete to set up third-and-9 at the Princeton 40.

Wilford took off on a scramble to his right and appeared to be through two yards downfield, but he bounced off the defender and broke two more tackles on an incredible run for 15. It was a heroic, season-making run for Harvard as Wilford found a way to weave through a horde of tacklers.