SATURDAY IS "THE GAME"

 

JFK'S "HAAVAAHD 

VS THE BUSHIES YALE

 

 

A LOOK BACK AT THE INFAMOUS

29-29 GAME OF 1968

 

If you haven't check out this documentary you should. It's wicked awesome as the say in Haavaahhd Yaahhhd.   Did you know that Tommie Lee Jones played O-Line for the Crimson and was Al Gore' roommate?  Those crazy 60s baby!  

Yale entered its annual season-ending game with an 8-0 record and a 16-game winning streak. 



Neidermyer looks like the classic uptight Yalie.

• Standing between the Eli and their second straight Ivy League Championship was archrival Harvard, owners of an identical 8-0 record. The Crimson had the nation's best scoring defense (7.6 ppg) as they sought their first-ever outright Ivy title.
• No game in the 85 years of this storied rivalry had attracted so much attention. Harvard officials estimated they could have sold 100,000 tickets. Instead 40,000 jammed venerable Harvard Stadium. One Yale senior sold two tickets for $175 which, adjusted for inflation, would exceed $1,000 today.

Led by future NFL players RB Calvin Hill  

and QB Brian Dowling, Yale  

(NOTE:  Brian Dowling was the model for Doonesbury's "BD" and he had won every game he had ever played at QB going back to grade school!) jumped out to a  22-0 lead in the second quarter. 

 

• So desperate was Harvard coach John Yovicsin for an offensive spark that he turned to junior Frank Champi midway through the 2nd quarter.
• A javelin thrower who had started the season as the fourth string QB, Champi had only five completions all year. "He looked scared to death," said offensive lineman and future Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones. (Jones' roommate Al Gore sat in the stands. A Yale student, George W. Bush, watched from the sidelines.)
• Nervous or not, Champi immediately took Harvard 64y in 12 plays, throwing a 15-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left in the half. A missed extra point sent the teams to the locker room with Yale ahead 22-6.

Inexplicably, Yovicsin sent starter George Lalich back under center to start the second half.

• After three-and-out, Harvard punted but recovered a fumble on the Yale 25.
• Champi returned to the huddle for good and led a drive to the goal line. A one-yard run by FB Gus Crim cut the deficit to 22-13.
• However, Dowling reseized the momentum by scoring his fourth TD of the game on a five-yard run with 10:44 left in the game. Since coach Carmen Cozza saw no need to go for two, Yale led 29-13 after a conventional PAT. Harvard would need two TDs and two two-point conversions just to tie.

Cozza's confidence seemed justified after Yale's D forced a punt.

• Eli fans waved white handkerchiefs and yelled "We're No. 1", then, when they tired of that, "You're No. 2."
• Yale drove to the Harvard 14 but lost a fumble with 3:34 remaining.
• Champi led his team to the Yale 38. On third-and-18, he fumbled as he was sacked. However, tackle Fritz Reed collected the loose pigskin and rambled to the 15.
• Given new life, Champi immediately completed a TD pass to Bruce Freeman with 42 seconds left.
• A pass for the two-point conversion was incomplete but pass interference gave the Crimson another chance.
• FB Gus Crim crashed over to make it 29-21 Yale.

Everyone knew Harvard had to try an onside kick.

• If Yale recovered, the game was over. But, amazingly, the Eli had never practiced defending on onsides kick.
• So they flubbed the recovery and Harvard fell on the ball at the Yale 49.
• On the sidelines, Dowling and Hill begged Cozza to let them play defense but he refused.
• Instead, they watched helplessly as Champi scampered for 14y. A face-mask penalty advanced the ball to the 20.
• With 0:32 left, Champi threw incomplete at the goal line. Then another incompletion inside the 5. 0:20 remaining.
• A draw play to Crim caught the Eli D by surprise and moved Harvard to the 6.

Time out with 0:14 left.

• Champi went back to pass, scrambled, and was sacked at the 8. So Harvard used its last timeout with three seconds left.
• Time for one last play. The Yale faithful, who earlier had taunted Harvard, desperately yelled "Hold that line!"
• Champi dropped back to the 15, pump faked twice, ran up to the 10, faked a throw to the left and then the right, shook off a tackle, retreated to the 16, looked right, then just before being leveled threw a pass to the left side of the EZ where RB Vic Gatto grabbed it as he fell backwards.
• After a long delay to clear the Crimson fans who stormed the field, Harvard lined up for another two-point conversion. Champi rolled right, planted his feet, and threw to TE Pete Varney across the middle for a 29-29 tie. Crimson revelers flooded the field again. The Yale players stood on the sidelines stunned.

Pete Varney exults after catching tying pass.

The headline in the next edition of the Harvard Crimson read: "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29." Cozza said, "We feel like we lost it, even though we didn't. Something like that won't happen again in 1,000 years." 16 points in 42 seconds.