Yale entered The Game as the Ivy League’s top rushing team, and it showed from the start.

The Bulldogs, who entered the game averaging 173.6 rushing yards per game, began the contest with six consecutive run plays—all to sophomore standout Robert Carr—before throwing on the first play of their second drive.

Of Yale’s 11 first-quarter plays, nine were runs. The other two were incomplete passes, as the Bulldogs had a tough time getting any offensive rhythm going early in the game.

“With the atmosphere of that stadium and the way the wind swirls,” said Yale tight end Nate Lawrie. “It was hard to get a feel for where the ball’s going to go.”

Yale, in fact, didn’t cross midfield until early in second quarter, when a 23-yard run by Carr brought the Bulldogs right to the 50.

But Yale gained momentum from there, and quarterback Jeff Mroz found Lawrie for two key pass plays to put the Bulldogs in position for their first score of the day.

But Yale’s inability to establish a running game in the later stages of the contest was its downfall. During the third quarter—while Harvard scored 20 points to take control of the contest—the Bulldogs netted out at negative-9 rushing yards.

“They ran the ball as well as anyone in the league, and our defense did a great job,” Murphy said. “We made them do what they weren’t happy doing, which was throwing the football.”

Harvard Running Game

The Crimson running game, meanwhile, mirrored that of the Elis in the first quarter. Of Harvard’s first 10 plays, nine were runs, but at the end of the quarter, the Crimson had gained a meager 38 yards on the ground.

Things slowly got going, though, and senior tailback Nick Palazzo and sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick combined for 150 yards and three touchdowns on the ground by game’s end.

Palazzo was the workhorse, carrying the ball 26 times for 95 yards and a touchdown in his final game at Harvard and picking up tough yardage on a day when he knew he’d be needed.

“Some games, your role might be pass-blocking, but when it’s crappy weather, you’re going to be between the tackles,” Palazzo said.

“Because of the elements, we had to go to ‘Plan B,’” Murphy said. “We had to put it in the offensive line’s hands. They did a great job physically, Nick Palazzo was huge, and they realized that they had to stop our running game with Ryan back there. It was rock-’em, sock-’em, Lambeau Field stuff.”

—Staff writer Jon Paul Morosi can be reached at morosi@fas.harvard.edu