Typically in a Yale-Harvard football showdown, the teams go back and forth all game long. They trade jabs, score alternating touchdowns, and seek ways to extend leads. So many times The Game comes down to an unfurling of football events in the fourth quarter. A turnover. A long bomb to a wide-open, uncovered receiver. A fumbled punt return.
In New Haven, in the 139th edition of The Game (Nov. 18, 2023), Harvard entered the contest with the better record. And those who follow Ivy football closer than the rest of the population likely argued Harvard had the better team. Harvard officials often boasted during the season of its national ranking (among FCS schools).
Over 51,000 fans (mostly Yale followers and more than a few curious fans with no ties to either school) squeezed into the Bowl for one of the largest Bowl crowd in many years. The "crush" of the crowd near the portals felt like a Game from the 1970s or '80s. New Haven's unpredictable weather behaved, as the sun cast sharp rays onto the Bowl's floor.
Yale quarterback Nolan Grooms '24 led the Elis up and down the field, as he had done often as a starter throughout his time in New Haven. He helped ensure This Game, unlike Games in recent years, wouldn't be settled in the final minute or over the last few plays. Yale emerged as the 23-18 victor, while in hundreds of students and younger alums followed tradition and scampered onto the field afterward to celebrate. Yale, too, had seized a share of the 2023 Ivy League championship, a trophy to stand beside the Ivy tropy it won last year, too.
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