A nearly 16-minute Harvard advantage in time of possession prevented Yale from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm, and the Bulldogs defense paid the price, lining up for 35 more plays than Harvard did.

"We really just had no answers offensively," said Yale head coach Jack Siedlecki. "They seemed to be in our backfield every play, whether we were running or throwing. I don’t know how many plays our defense had, but they were out there all day."

And when the team did get on the field, Yale was out of sync, as Polhemus had no success moving the ball after the big lead forced the ball out of McLeod’s hands.

"We probably talked almost exclusively about the passing game at halftime," Siedlecki said. "We were just completely out of what our style has been the whole year, and it’s as simple as that."

The Crimson added a third-quarter field goal and junior tight end Jason Miller caught a touchdown pass early in the fourth to round out the day’s scoring for Harvard. The 37-point output was the team’s highest in almost two years, and the win avenges a 34-13 loss in The Game a year ago. All this was for a Crimson squad that began the year 1-2 before reeling off seven straight wins and an undefeated Ivy slate.

Harvard lost its shutout bid late in the fourth quarter when Bulldogs freshman Gio Christodoulou took a Thomas Hull punt 87 yards for a meaningless score. The margin of victory could have been even greater, too, if not for a four-down, goal-line stand by Yale at the end of the first half.

But special teams adjustments and goal line drills will have to wait—for now, Harvard will celebrate its league crown and say goodbye to seniors whose careers were bookended by Ivy championships.

"I’ve been saying for the past couple of weeks that we hoped it came down to this, and it did," Bagdis said. "This is the ultimate, perfect, storybook ending, so I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be prouder of the guys in this senior class. It’s just phenomenal."

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu.