The kick ended up at about the 25-yard line and, more importantly, away from Columbia's dangerous kick-returning duo of Reese and fellow junior Justin Logan.

Logan, the Ivy League's best kick returner, already had a return for touchdown in conference play this year. His potential to break free on the Crimson special teams, combined with the general impotence of the Lions' offense, made the squib play a gamble that Murphy was willing to take repeatedly.

"We were really so impressed with their kickoff return unit that we hedged our bets," Murphy said. "It's such a skilled unit that we were satisfied to try to get the ball to the 35."

Harvard's defensive line set the tone for the day when it killed Columbia's first scoring opportunity. Faced with a third-and-1 at the Harvard 36, McCall attempted a quarterback sneak only to be shut down at the line of scrimmage by junior tackle Ryan Fitzgerald.

Columbia then elected to go for it on fourth down, figuring that it could rely on its dynamic rusher to get the necessary inches.

Columbia was wrong. Senior Michael Green led a flood of linebackers into the backfield immediately after the handoff, and leveled Reese for a loss of five yards.

The Crimson did not establish the run until seven minutes into the game, but when it did, Palazzo delivered. The sophomore tailback outperformed his more celebrated Columbia counterpart, running for a touchdown and putting together his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season.

"I just keep on working as hard as I can in practice," Palazzo said. "I guess if you work hard in practice, good things happen."