Avenging The 29-29 Tie in Fenway

In November, the Bulldogs have a chance to avenge the 29-29 tie we suffered 50 years ago.

The Game is in Boston this year, and the Cantabs have arranged to hold it in Fenway Park, anticipating a big crowd that could strain facilities at Harvard Stadium being renovated then.  All other Harvard football home games in 2018 will be played at Harvard Stadium, according to the Harvard Athletics Department; only the Yale game is in Fenway.

Lang Wheeler and the Reunion Committee are looking into ways to expand Lang’s biennial brunch on the Saturday of The Game (when it’s held in Cambridge).  Planning is underway for a brunch in or near Fenway before the game.  And there may be some other festivities during the weekend.  So, Save The Date — the weekend of November 17th.  And stay tuned.

Fenway is the oldest park in major league baseball and home to the Green Monster.  Surprisingly, it works fine when laid out for football:

“To me, Fenway is a super fan experience,” Harvard football head coach Timothy L. Murphy said in the press release. “I know our student-athletes will be very excited about playing our biggest rival at a sold-out Fenway Park.”

This won’t be the first time Fenway has hosted football.  Last year it hosted the Brown-Dartmouth game, the UMass home game against Maine and the  Boston College-UConn game. Prior to that game, the last college football game played at Fenway was in 2015 when Notre Dame defeated BC, 19-16.

The 1968 Harvard-Yale matchup ranks ninth on ESPN’s list of greatest college football ties ever and was the last tie in Yale-Harvard game history, as subsequent changes to overtime rules eliminated the possibility. The Bulldogs carried a comfortable lead (29-13) heading into the game’s final minute, but Harvard rallied with an 86-yard touchdown drive, then recovered an on-side kick, followed by another touchdown and a game tying two-point conversion as time expired.

The Harvard-Yale rivalry has been played since 1875 — a 4-0 Crimson win — and is college football’s third most-played rivalry. The 2018 reprise will be the first game played off campus since 1894, not a typo, in a game known as the “Springfield Massacre,” which led to a riot that canceled the game for the two following years. “See 11 Historic Tidbits About The Game.”

Yale leads the all-time series, 67-59-8, and holds a 2-game winning streak. (Harvard owned a 9-game winning streak prior to that.)

Last November, the Bulldogs’ 24-3 win allowed Yale to clinch the Ivy League championship.   So, there is a good chance that Yale can avenge the 1968 Tie in 2018!