Johnson said he had no doubts about the play.

"I caught it. I caught that ball," Johnson said. "It was an inch from the ground, but I caught it."

Regardless of the play, the momentum was on the Elis' side by that point, and Harvard (5-5, 3-4 Ivy) already had its fair share of breaks that would have put the game away.

Senior quarterback Brad Wilford orchestrated the only sustained Crimson drive of the day early in the fourth quarter--with a big assist from an Eli penalty for a late hit that brought the Crimson across midfield.

On first-and-10 from the Yale 48, Murphy pulled out an old favorite from his bag of tricks--the halfback pass. Freshman Brent Chalmers, in for injured senior Chris Menick underthrew wide-open freshman wideout Kyle Cremarosa. Cremarosa, came back to the ball through triple coverage and somehow made the catch at the Yale 18-yard line.

On the next play, senior tailback Troy Jones bounced out to the left sideline for a touchdown and a 21-17 Harvard lead with 12:19 left in the game.

It looked like that score would stand when senior cornerback Kane Waller intercepted a Walland pass with just under five minutes left. It was only Walland's fourth interception of the season, against 17 touchdowns.