The year is 1812. The French Empire is at the peak of its power, and the nation of crepes and croissants controlled much of the European continent. Napoleon, all five-foot-nothing of him, was scoring all of the beautiful women and getting picked first in every game of pick-up basketball. Or something like that.

But the French emperor was not satisfied with what he had. Most of Europe wasn’t enough—he needed Russia, the barren wasteland of vodka and chess. Without expecting too much of a fight, Napoleon and his troops moved into Russia in June of 1812. But he forgot to take into consideration one critical factor: the weather.

By all accounts, the weather in Russia is terrible. Not 40-degree terrible, but I’m-wearing-five-layers-of-animal-fur-and-I-still-can’t-feel-my-arms terrible. And as a result, Napoleon lost, and the French empire quickly crumbled.

In the world of football, you learn from legends like Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi. Not often do coaches take a page of out the old Bonaparte playbook. But Harvard coach Tim Murphy and the football team did something that too many erstwhile European conquerors did not—he remembered to account for the weather.

All season, the Crimson relied on its passing, and it worked. The team’s two quarterbacks, senior Collier Winters and junior Colton Chapple, set all sorts of records in the first six games of the year, and the two are responsible for the team’s offensive success since week two.

It all changed last week. The Crimson shifted its strategy with an impending snowstorm, and the run game became the emphasis for the first time all season. In front of literally tens of fans at Harvard Stadium, three different rushers passed the 100-yard mark as the home team cruised to another easy victory, 41-10.

Around the league, the weather had a big impact on the Penn-Brown game a few hours earlier. Battling heavy rain, neither team could muster much offense, but two Bears field goals were enough en route to a 6-0 win. The Brown victory completely changes the dynamic of the Ivy League.

For the first time, there’s no question that Harvard is the favorite in the Ancient Eight. And if the team wins out, the crown is coming to Cambridge.

But if Penn wins its next three games, it is also guaranteed at least a share of the title, and the same goes for Yale. So there is still a lot in the air.

BROWN (6-1, 3-1 Ivy) at YALE (4-3, 3-1)

If the mothers of the Harvard football team taught their sons good manners, I would hope that everyone on the Crimson squad is writing thank-you letters down to Providence.

The Bears took a huge burden off of Harvard’s shoulders last week by taking down Penn, handing the Quakers their first league loss in 18 games.

But after last week’s win, the Crimson shouldn’t really be cheering for either the Bears or the Bulldogs in tomorrow’s game.

Brown, Yale, and Penn all share second place in the Ivies right now with a 3-1 league record. So while the Quaker loss was huge because it gave Harvard sole possession of first place in the league, it means that there are three very clear threats chasing Harvard going into the final three games of the year.

Playing in cold and wintery conditions with the rest of the league, Yale beat Columbia, 16-13, but that score doesn’t tell the whole story. The Lions mounted a solid comeback at the end before the Bulldogs managed to hold them off.  The fact that Columbia kept the game so close should worry for Yale, especially as it enters a stretch of the year when it plays Harvard and Brown.