Saturday was a big day for Murphy beyond his team’s record-breaking performance on the field. He is now tied with long-time Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman for fourth on the all-time Ivy League wins list. More than that, the victory gave Harvard its seventh win—now, under Murphy, the Crimson has done at least that in each of the team’s last 12 seasons.

But beyond Murphy, beyond the eye-popping 69 points posted on the scoreboard that warmed the hearts of each and every middle schooler in the audience, the win was critical to Harvard’s title chances. After Penn upset Princeton on Saturday, 28-21, the Crimson once again completely controls its own destiny in Ivy League play. Should the team win out, then Harvard will have repeated as the sole Ivy champion. End of story.

And so by definition, our story’s climax is shaping up to be next week at Penn’s Franklin Field, where the two league leaders—who between them, have won at least a share of each of the last five titles—face off in what should prove to be a de facto Ivy League championship. The winner of that game likely secures the crown by itself.

But what about Yale, you ask? If Harvard wins next Saturday, couldn’t the Bulldogs unseat Harvard in The Game?

Mathematically, I guess, it could happen. I mean, stranger things have occurred.

But last week, albeit on the team’s fourth-string quarterback, Yale somehow, inexplicably lost to Columbia. So do the Bulldogs have much of a shot? You do the math.

—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.

—Follow him on Twitter @bobbysamuels.