NEW HAVEN — Yale and Harvard have been football rivals since 1875, playing 140 times. And nearly always, except for a few scheduling quirks early on, “The Game” has always been The End.
There was no championship except the Ivy League’s regular-season title to play for, and there was no postseason to consider. “The Game,” as the rivalry has always been called, has been an end and a championship unto itself, where careers were meant to reach their zenith, then suddenly stop.
And then Mason Shipp, a Yale receiver, led an effort to change a world that has always existed in a change-resistant bubble.
“The entire process consisted of, first, is this something people wanted?” Shipp said. “The answer was yes. After that it was getting a very succinct argument, based on the facts. Then it was a waiting game, letting the process play out and trusting that you put together a good argument.”
Dom Amore: At Yale, Reno and Son ready to open for FCS business, chance to play in the postseason
Shipp, a political science major, helped put together that Ivy League’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee’s proposal that the league reverse a decades-old policy and allow its football champion to play for a national championship, the FCS playoffs. Last December, the answer came back in the affirmative.
“Overall, there was a lot of receptiveness,” Shipp said. “The day it happened, it was pretty cool, just to know there is another layer to Ivy football.”
Shipp, who sustained a wrist injury, will not be able to participate in the change he helped bring to Yale, Harvard and Ivy League football football, but his place in its history is secure. When Yale and Harvard meet again on Saturday at noon in the Yale Bowl, with the drumbeat of ticket sales trending toward a crowd of 60,000 or more, a postseason berth will be on the line. For the first time this year Yale, and probably Harvard, will need to blare crowd noise as part of their preparation.
Harvard (6-0) is in first place, Yale second at 5-1. If Yale wins, they will share the title but the Bulldogs would have the tie-breaker and get the automatic NCAA bid. Harvard, 9-0 overall, could get an at-large bid if it does not win. Any way it turns out, history will be made, and in a place with so much history, that’s not easy to do. Yale has never played a postseason game, and Harvard has not done so since beating Oregon in the 1920 Rose Bowl.
“I’m sure this is not what most of you want to hear, but no one really cares about the playoffs right now,” said Yale captain Josh Pitsenberger, who has rushed for 1,095 and 12 touchdowns in Yale’s nine games. “We’re only fixated on this game. Like, we talk about it, close the circle, be where your feet are. We’re blocking out all the noise, we’re trying to channel all our excitement to have the best day we can have today.”
Yale has submitted a bid to host a first-round FCS game on Nov. 29 if it wins. The 24-team field plays out to a championship game Jan. 5 in Nashville. Imagine if such a thing existed in 1968, year of the famous 29-29 tie? The age old argument against this move is the strain on academics for Ivy League student-athletes, but the athletic success in other NCAA Tournaments, note Yale’s success in March Madness, as well as other sports, finally created an irresistible appetite for this change. In the modern world, with so much done online and remotely, players’ studies aren’t likely to be affected by a few extra weeks of football, much of it during the semester break.
“No impact,” Shipp said. “Having those conversations to clear up misinformation that’s out there, we’re student-athletes for a reason, we all got here. So regardless of what we’re doing, we’ve got to manage our workloads.”
Dom Amore: Grandson of legendary coach leads this CT football team through transition to Division I
As the Yale seniors walk around campus, feeling the extra buzz that always surrounds Yale-Harvard, they know that they can do something their many illustrious predecessors could not: Hold back time, keep their careers going beyond “The Game,” get more time together.
“This is a very special place,” Pitsenberger said. “I could not have predicted any of this, but I’m very glad that I’m here. I’m honored and blessed to be a part of this team and I cherish every single moment of it.”
Pitsenberger anchored Yale last week, rushing for 106 yards and a TD as the Bulldogs won at Princeton, 13-10, to give themselves this chance. Quarterback Dante Reno, the son of coach Tony Reno, transferred from South Carolina this season and delivered, throwing for 1,767 yards, 14 touchdowns against six interceptions. Nico Brown has 52 catches for 789 yards and nine TDs. The Bulldogs have won five in a row since a 17-16 loss to Dartmouth. They have 32 sacks on the season, so the pressure they can get on Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig, who has thrown for 2,456 yards and 21 TDs, will likely be a key to the game.
Yale Bowl Starts Big, And 100 Years Later, It Remains Special
Yale has won three in a row for the first time since “The Game” resumed after World War II. This senior class can complete a sweep.
“In The Bowl, it’s amazing,” Pitsengerger said. “The entire university is there, everyone’s on the field. It’s very special. You go into the tunnel, it’s just the team, it’s just about everyone in that room and you cherish those relationships that you have.
“For me, this is the last guaranteed game of football that I have. So I am going to treat it like it’s the only game of football I’ll ever play.”
“The Game” was always The End. That sense of finality unique, it brought an exhilaration for the winners, a emptiness for the losers that only the participants can understand. Now, at last, can be a postscript.