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Harvard football has never won four straight Ivy League titles. Period.

Tonight at 8 p.m., the Crimson (7-1, 5-0 Ivy) has a chance to change that. Squaring off against second-place Penn (5-3, 4-1 Ivy), Harvard can clinch at least a share of the championship. Lose, and the Crimson will drop into a tie.

More is on the line than an unprecedented four-peat. Last season at Harvard Stadium, the Quakers shattered a 22-game win streak, an undefeated season, and Harvard hearts with a 35-25 upset.

Not even a Crimson victory over Yale—and therefore a banner split between Harvard, Penn, and Dartmouth—could erase the pain of that loss. Sometimes sorrow sticks.

“The senior class from last year was a great bunch of guys,” senior halfback Anthony Firkser said. “Having to lose to that [Penn] team ruined our perfect season. And seeing how those guys handled it was tough.”

Tonight, then, is the grittiest of grudge matches. It is the clash of titans that pundits envisioned when they picked the Crimson and the Quakers to finish one-two in preseason polls.

Harvard and Penn—these are the contestants. And history or hysteria—these are the stakes.

“It’s definitely our biggest game of the year up to this point,” senior safety Kolbi Brown said. “The emotions will be high on both ends.”

Heading into last week, the Quakers had not suffered a conference loss. After dropping decisions to Lehigh and Fordham, Penn had steamrolled through five straight wins.

But a 28-0 defeat to Princeton—which also has one Ivy loss—derailed any momentum. Now the Quakers enter this weekend with a dangerous combination: underdog desperation and top-notch talent.

Three players headline the Penn offense. Senior Alek Torgersen quarterbacks the team. No Ivy League player has thrown more interceptions (14) or fewer interceptions (three). A sophomore starter, Torgersen made the All-Ivy first team as a junior. Oh, and the 230-pound veteran averages over 40 rushing yards per game.

Torgersen’s favorite target is junior wide receiver Justin Watson, a third-team All-American in 2015. The Bridgeville, Pa. native is the only Ancient Eight player to log more than 110 receiving yards and eight catches per game. Last year he burned the Crimson for 249 all-purpose yards.

Running back Tre Solomon rounds out the attack. The junior tops the league with 89 rushing yards per game, part of an attack that averages over 175 yards on the ground.

Facing these potent weapons, Harvard will deploy a defense that ranks second in the conference in rushing defense but has given up at least 20 points in the last four games.