NEW YORK, N.Y.—Continuing the impressive play it had demonstrated in the second half against Dartmouth last week, the Harvard football team dismantled Columbia, 45-33, in New York City on Saturday to keep its undefeated season alive.

With a 7-0 record, and a perfect 5-0 mark in Ivy League competition, the Crimson set up an Ivy title bout with Penn this Saturday at the Stadium.

Penn is also undefeated after beating Princeton 21-10 on Saturday.

“We’re going to enjoy this one,” Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. “You only play 10 games a year [only nine this season], and I want our kids to enjoy this before we start thinking about Penn.”

In the first half, there was almost nothing for Harvard that wasn’t enjoyable. Senior quarterback Neil Rose returned from a neck and shoulder injury that had kept him out of the last five quarters of Harvard football. He displayed no rust, leading the Crimson to a score on its first possession when he threw a short pass on the run to junior wideout Carl Morris.

After evading a few Lions defenders, Morris high-stepped into the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown and tied the game at 7-7 early in the first quarter.

Harvard also scored on its next possession. A 13-play, 66-yard drive engineered by Rose and healthy senior tailback Josh Staph culminated in a one-yard touchdown pass from Rose to Morris, though it wasn’t the prettiest TD pass Rose has thrown.

“The ball was slightly behind me, and it kind of went through [Columbia free safety] Phil Murray’s hands,” Morris said. “And then it was kind of lucky.”

The Crimson defense, which had given up a touchdown early in the game to Light Blue QB Jeff McCall, stifled the Lions for the rest of the half.

Sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci intercepted a tipped McCall pass at the end of the first quarter to give Harvard possession in Columbia territory.

After a few quick strikes from Rose to senior wide receiver Dan Farley, Staph plowed his way into the end zone from three yards for a 21-7 Crimson lead. It started a rout from which the Lions would never recover.

Things turned comically ugly for Columbia on the ensuing kickoff. Harvard sophomore kicker Robbie Wright’s kick was short, and Columbia’s Chris Carey buckled down to set a block for the Lions’ return man. Instead, the ball bounced off Carey’s helmet. Harvard junior Pat Lavin first grabbed the ball, which was eventually recovered by Crimson senior Eric LaHaie at the Columbia 29.

“I’ve never seen the ball hit off someone’s head in a long time,” said Light Blue Coach Ray Tellier.

Rose continued his winning ways, diving forward on a fourth down to save the Crimson’s possession before firing a bullet down the middle to freshman wideout Rodney Byrnes. Byrnes got down to the 2-yard line, and Staph ran in for another touchdown to put Harvard up 28-7.

Harvard got a bit of a scare on its next possession in the second quarter. Rose scrambled on a broken play and threw the ball away for an incompletion before being taken down by the Columbia defense. But didn’t get up.