When Harvard and Penn kickoff tomorrow’s Ivy League football championship game, all eyes will be on one side of the field.

Informed fans and bleary-eyed, “Holy crap...How the hell did I end up sleeping in the bleachers at Harvard Stadium last night?” observers alike will know that the matchup to watch is the Quakers’ run defense versus the two-headed Crimson tailback monster of junior Gino Gordon and Treavor Scales.

At face value, it makes sense.

Penn, after all, has the best defense in the Ivy League—and maybe in the entire Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA)—but is especially punishing against the run.

Gordon and Scales, on the other hand, have heeded the advice that Will Ferrell’s character in “Kicking and Screaming” gives to the diminutive Byong Sun and the oversized Ambrose—they have formed a “megaperson.”

The duo has combined for 937 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns this season, giving Harvard the best ground attack in the Ivies by far.

But while the clash of rushing titans rages on in the trenches during Harvard’s possessions, another, less heralded battle on the other side of the ball may very well turn into Waterloo in one of these squads’ campaigns to conquer the Ancient Eight.

I’m referring to the matchup between Crimson senior linebacker Jon Takamura and Penn quarterback Kyle Olson. In a game that might come down to which squad can marginalize its few weaknesses most effectively, each player will be charged with holding bubble gum to a leaky faucet just long enough for his team to pull away with a win.

Olson gets the nod against Harvard despite Quaker starter Keiffer Garton making his return from injury. Olson has been mostly uninspiring behind center this season, but he’s coming off a 238-yard, three-touchdown performance against Princeton.

Yes, I know it was the same Princeton that has been outscored 237-82 by its opponents this season, but Penn and its seventh-ranked passing game will take whatever sliver of optimism it can get at this point.

It has to, at any rate, because failure for Olson spells the return of a rusty and still-banged up Garton, and what that will look like is anyone’s guess.

But with Harvard’s run defense as good as anyone’s (besides the Quakers’), Penn’s only option will be to take to the skies. The Crimson’s pass D ranks just sixth in the Ivy League, and while its secondary remains intact, its front seven have been losing starters to injuries all season.

If Harvard hopes to contain the Quakers’ aerial assault, Takamura is the X Factor. If he’s on his game, he’ll torment Olson to no end with his versatility. Takamura’s as dangerous rushing the quarterback as he is defending the pass—he’s fifth in the Ivies with 3.5 sacks and second with three interceptions, including one he took back for a touchdown.

The 6’2, 220-pound Hawaiian’s ability to gets in Olson’s head will determine whether it will be Penn quarterbacks or Harvard corners doing most of the backpedaling tomorrow—and probably where the Ivy League title trophy will call home for the next year, too.

DARTMOUTH (2-6, 2-3 IVY) AT BROWN (5-3, 3-2 IVY)