The day the Bulldogs conquered Cambridge

To outside observers, Yale's 34-24 vanquishing of the Crimson on Sat., Nov. 18 might not seem all that important. The 2000 edition of The Game ended with another victory for the Bulldogs, giving them three straight wins over Harvard for the first time since 1976-78 and improving their all-time record in the series to 64-45-8. This year's Game had no effect on the race for the Ivy League title and certainly had no national implications beside the fact that a Yale victory has coincided with the election of a Republican president (and a Harvard win with a Democratic president-elect) 12 out of 15 times since 1936 (sorry, Al). However, for those Yalies who were in Cambridge two Saturdays ago, The Game provided a series of stunning images that won't soon be forgotten. The Bulldogs and their fans traveled to Cambridge en masse and, by the end of the day, painted the Crimson town Yale blue.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Rashad Bartholomew, MC '01, set Yale's all-time rushing record with a 119-yard performance against Harvard.

1. The day began with the tailgates. By 9 a.m., the parking lot was filled with Yale supporters, with a Harvard fan nary to be seen. Yale's tailgates ran throughout The Game, with many in attendance making the two-and-a-half-hour trip without a ticket to a sold-out Harvard Stadium. Early on, a female Yale supporter vomited in the middle of the Harvard parking lot, sending a message, perhaps, of what was to come.

2. Early in the second quarter of The Game, with the score tied at 7-7, Rashad Bartholomew, MC '01, the Bulldogs' tailback, sprinted 12 yards to the Harvard 24-yard line. With that run—one of several big plays for him on the day—Bartholomew became the leading career rusher in Yale history, passing the record set by current Chicago Bears Head Coach Dick Jauron, PC '73. Bartholomew capped his brilliant career with a 119-yard, two-touchdown day and established the new all-time rushing mark at 3,016 yards.

3. At halftime, the Harvard announcer passed along the news that in the day's "big game," the Penn-Cornell contest for the Ancient Eight championship, Penn led 28-7 (they won 45-15). The news failed to elicit any sort of response from the 30,898 in attendance. All that mattered was what was occurring on the field before them.

4. With 8:35 left in the fourth quarter, as the sun began to set over Boston and the pillars that surround the top of the Stadium began to cast long shadows on the field, Harvard clung to a 24-17 advantage. Yale had not lost since its seniors were freshmen, and many in the stands began to wonder if this year Harvard would turn things around. At that point, Bulldog quarterback Peter Lee, TD '02, dropped back to pass from the Harvard seven and lofted a toss to star senior receiver Eric Johnson, JE '01, who was sprinting across the back of the endzone. The pass seemed too high to be caught. But Johnson, somehow, leapt up in the air, tipped the ball with his left hand and pulled it in with his right, landing with both feet inches from the back line. The Yale faithful were silent for a moment, perhaps not believing what they had just seen. But as the referee raised both of his arms over his head, the eruption from the Yale side shook the stadium to its foundation. The catch, which landed Johnson on "Plays of the Week" on ESPN's Sportscenter for the second straight Game (who can forget his catch—"The Catch"—last year?) turned out to be the final reception the greatest receiver in Bulldog history would ever make. It was his 86th catch, 14th touchdown reception, and 1,007 receiving yard of the season. The grab also increased his career stats for catches (to 181), touchdowns (to 23), receiving yards (to 2,144), and consecutive games with a touchdown (to eight), all Yale records. In the beginning of December, Johnson will receive the Swede Nelson Award for being New England's most academically talented football player and the Harry Agganis Award for the top senior player in New England. More important, however, was that Johnson's final catch tied the score of The Game at 24. Yale would never look back.

5. At the 4:31 mark, Bulldog kicker Mike Murawczyk, MC '01, lined up for a 34-yard field goal that would put Yale up 27-24. The kicker, who was named All-Ivy his sophomore and junior seasons, had struggled all season, hitting only eight of 16 field goals up to that point. But Murawczyk's kick sailed straight and true, splitting the uprights. The field goal gave Murawczyk 10 points on the day, and 205 for his career—besting John Pagliaro's, TD '73, mark by one. The Bulldogs would not relinquish the lead in The Game again.

6. In the closing minutes of The Game, the Bulldog defense, led by team Captain Peter Mazza, JE '01, All-Ivy linebacker, showed why it was the top-ranked unit in the league by making the Crimson's record-setting quarterback Neil Rose '02 seem more like a withered dandelion. Ray Littleton, MC '02, a second-string defensive back who had already forced Rose to fumble, intercepted a Rose pass and returned it 46 yards to the Harvard 10, ending Harvard's last legitimate drive. When Bartholomew scored on a five-yard TD dash, Eli fans waved goodbye to the Crimson faithful who were fleeing the stadium like rats from the Titanic.

7. As the clock ran down to triple zeroes, Yale fans leapt over the eight foot wall surrounding the field to join the players in a celebration that lasted well over an hour. Governor George Pataki, PC '67, of New York put his arm around Johnson and the field of Harvard Stadium was covered with Yale blue—a fitting end, perhaps, to a day in which Yale, in the first Game of the millennium, asserted its dominance over Harvard on the field and off.

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