This year, the Harvard football team has departed from tradition by using a flourishing passing game to set up the run, instead of the other way around. On Saturday, the Crimson (5-3, 4-1 Ivy) proved that with a sterling effort on defense, the scoring philosophy hardly matters.

Harvard blanked Columbia, 34-0, dominating the Lions despite occasional periods of sloppy play. The game, played in front of 6,721 at Harvard Stadium, was Harvard's first victory at home this year.

With the win over Columbia (3-5, 1-4), the Crimson remains tied with Cornell and Penn atop the Ivy League standings. Yale fell off the pace this weekend with a surprising setback at Brown.

An effective running game complimented Neil Rose's 274-yard outing, but the Crimson did its best work without the ball. Harvard's defense chewed through three Columbia quarterbacks and stifled one of the league's best running offenses en route to its first shutout since 1997.

"Our development as a team, and the fact that we're alive in the title picture, is directly correlated with how our defense has improved," said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy. "We're a balanced team now, and at the point where our defense can more than hold its own."

A secondary that began the season as one of the worst in the nation continued to show signs of improvement, playing an effective man-to-man scheme to limit the Lions to a scant 64 yards in the air. More importantly, the Crimson was able to keep tailback Johnathan Reese, the Ivy League's leading rusher, in check.

Reese entered the contest averaging over 150 yards a game. The Crimson held him to 99 yards, only the second team to hold him under triple digits this year.

For the most part, the left side of the Crimson defensive line kept Reese from wheeling off the flank and collecting yards on the outside, where he feels most comfortable. Except for a 34-yard sideline sprint in the third quarter and a perfectly executed halfback pass before halftime, Reese never substantially factored in the game.