To the winner goes the Ivy

Harvard and Yale first met in 1875, before many schools even had football teams, so the importance of the rivalry, known simply as “The Game,” has been deeply ingrained in today’s participants.

But this year, the stakes are as high as they have ever been in the 124 meetings between the schools.

Both teams are 6-0 in the Ivy League, meaning that “The Game” will decide the league title. The only other time that happened was 1968, when Harvard and Yale produced one of the most storied ties in college football history and failed to decide the league champion.

That means that this edition, because of the addition of overtime, will be the first to decide the Ivy League champion.

“This game is going to be a part of the history,” Yale Coach Jack Siedlecki said. “This is a game that’s going to be talked about for a long, long time.”

Perhaps even as long as the 1968 edition, during which Harvard scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds to forge a 29-29 tie and spoil Yale’s perfect season.

Neither team felt that the game was a draw.

The Harvard school newspaper the next day ran the famous headline “Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29.”

Former Yale Coach Carm Cozza called it the “worst loss of my life, even though it was a tie.”

This year, the Bulldogs (9-0) are looking for their first perfect season since 1960 and their first outright league title in 26 years.

Harvard (7-2) is trying for its 12th Ivy title and third since 2001. Yale leads the series 65-50-8, but Harvard has won five of the last six.

“It’s never just another game,” said Brian O’Connor, a guard on Yale’s 1973-74 teams. “This year it’s especially significant.”

Run for the roses

Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr is 6-6 against Ohio State, but he has lost five of the last six meetings and is trying to avoid becoming the first Wolverines coach to lose six out of seven.

Fans have been calling for a new coach and there is speculation that Carr will announce his retirement soon after the game, or maybe even before it in an attempt to fire up his team.

As if his players needed any extra motivation.

The Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl are on the line and, perhaps more important, Michigan has lost three consecutive games in the series, meaning seniors such as Chad Henne, Mike Hart and Jake Long have never beaten Ohio State.

“You get tired of hearing ‘Oh, they can’t beat Ohio State,’ ” safety Brandent Englemon acknowledged. “It’s getting old.”

Bowling them over

It is supposed to be a down year for the Big Ten, but the conference has already set a record with 10 bowl-eligible teams.

The problem is, there are only seven bowl tie-ins for the conference, meaning someone is going to be left out.

Ohio State (10-1), Michigan (8-3), Illinois (8-3), Penn State (8-3) and Wisconsin (8-3) are safely in with at least eight victories, but five other teams could conceivably finish with seven wins, forcing the conference into complex tiebreakers.

Regular-season finales today involving those five teams are: Purdue (7-4) vs. Indiana (6-5); Northwestern (6-5) vs. Illinois; Michigan State (6-5) vs. Penn State and Iowa (6-5) vs. Western Michigan (3-7).

Minnesota (1-10) is the only conference team out of the bowl picture and the only one that will finish the regular season with a losing record.

How low can they go?

It seems every time Notre Dame thinks it has hit rock bottom, a new low sneaks up on the Fighting Irish.

This week, it’s lowly Duke (1-9), which could be the first nine-loss team to defeat Notre Dame in the 119 years of Notre Dame football history.

A loss to the Blue Devils would cap a season of lowlights for Notre Dame (1-9), which already has become the first Fighting Irish team to open the season with four straight losses, the first in 44 years to lose to Navy, the first to lose six consecutive home games and the first to lose nine games in a season.

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’ ” defensive coordinator Corwin Brown said. “It’s the same thing every week.”

What about Bob?

Arizona’s victory over Oregon altered the national championship picture, and will probably help make Thanksgiving a little more joyful in the Stoops household.

Arizona Coach Mike Stoops gave brother Bob, the Oklahoma coach, a helping hand by knocking Oregon from the No. 2 spot in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Oklahoma was No. 4 and is now in line to grab the No. 2 spot if it can defeat Texas Tech today, Oklahoma State next week and then win the Big 12 title game.

“Shoot, I’m just trying to help myself, help our kids,” said Mike Stoops when asked about the game’s implications for Oklahoma. “It’s just one game and, shoot, there’s a lot of people pulling for us. Everybody’s fighting to get somewhere, and we’re certainly one of those teams.”

-- Compiled by Peter Yoon