"You could say that [we're a team of destiny]," sophomore kicker Mike Giampolo '00 said three years ago. "Someone was on our side up there."

Destiny must have been behind the Crimson's 27-point second half comeback against Brown the next week, as Harvard secured its fifth Ivy League victory on the year.

Harvard was now set to clinch the championship against the Quakers in its penultimate game of the year. Unrattled by the title within reach, the Crimson continued its domination, mauling unsuspecting Penn, 33-0, and securing its first Ivy League title since the Reagan administration.

"The '97 team took things personally out there," Clare said. "Our guys were a mean, physical team who didn't let themselves get pushed around by anyone."

Ebullient celebration quickly gave way to reality, as the Crimson realized that it had one more game to play. In some respects, it was the most important game of the year.

Even though the awful Elis were winless in the Ivy, Harvard approached its hated rivals with a historically appropriate measure of caution.

"It's still Yale, and you know they're going to try to play spoilers," Kern said.

The Game

Futility is a familiar theme in New Haven, and the Elis' best efforts were not rewarded.

Harvard roared out to an early lead, as Menick ran for a touchdown two minutes into the game. On the drive, Menick surpassed Hu for the single-season rushing record and plunged into the end zone for his 14th touchdown, breaking the record set by Mike Giardi '94.

Menick's game-opening performance built up Crimson confidence early in the match.

"It was huge for Menick to break the record against Yale," said Smalling. "We thought we had the game after the first two minutes."

Yale proved peskier than that, however, holding Harvard's explosive offense to one more touchdown and a field goal for the rest of the contest.

While Yale's defense showed up to play that day, its offense could not get on track against the Crimson secondary.

Yale sophomore quarterback Joe Walland had driven Yale into the Crimson red zone twice before Yale's lone strike came in the fourth quarter.

On the Bulldogs' first trip beyond the 20-yard line, the Harvard defense halted the Yale march at the 5-yard line. With only a yard to the first down, the Crimson stuffed the deflated Elis on second and third downs.