One way or the other, Harvard will make history this weekend.

Beat Yale in the 118th installment of the Game, and the Crimson would cement this season as one of the best ever. Harvard (8-0, 6-0 Ivy) would win the Ivy League title outright and complete its first perfect season since 1913.

Lose, and this year’s senior class will become the first ever to lose all four years to the hated Elis (3-5, 1-5) in nearly a century. Harvard would almost certainly have to settle for a share of the Ivy championship with Penn, unless Cornell pulls off a giant upset against the Quakers.

“If we lose The Game, the season would be a disappointment,” senior tailback Josh Staph said. “We want to end the season undefeated—it would be terrible for us to go out on a losing note.”

Harvard enters the game ranked No. ??? in the country in Division I-AA after last week’s thrilling victory over Penn. It’s the team’s highest ranking ever. The Elis enter the game on a four-game losing streak.

While the Crimson is the clear favorite over a struggling Yale squad, recent years have proved that—like in any rivalry—nothing is certain when these two teams play.

In 1999, an undermanned Harvard team took league champion Yale to the brink in New Haven, losing only on a disputed touchdown with just seconds left to play.

Last year the Elis flustered the Crimson into committing seven turnovers—five in the fourth quarter—en route to a 34-24 upset win.

“They have nothing to lose,” Staph said. “In these games, you throw out all the records—anything can happen.”

Yale is but a shell of the team that beat Harvard last year and shared the Ivy title in 1999. Gone from last year’s squad are the top playmakers on offense and seven defensive starters.

Perhaps the key loss from last year is wide receiver Eric Johnson, best known to Harvard faithful for catching a team-record 20 passes against the Crimson in 1999. A 21st “catch” off of the endzone turf with seconds left to go gave Yale the come-from-behind 24-21 win that year.

Johnson is now the starting tight-end with the San Francisco 49ers.

The uncertainty for Yale starts at quarterback, where, at press time, no starter had been named for tomorrow’s game.

After throwing every pass last season, Peter Lee began this season as the starter and played reasonably well, throwing 10 touchdown passes to only one interception, including a streak of more than 200 attempts without a pick.

However, Lee struggled with accuracy, completing barely more than 50 percent of his passes, and his pass efficiency rating is one of the lowest in the league.