| Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | November 23, 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Harvard Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Allston, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 40,280 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game was an American college football game between the Yale Bulldogs football team of Yale University and the Harvard Crimson football team of Harvard University played on November 23, 1968. The game ended in a tie with a score of 29–29.[1] It is the subject of the documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.[2]
The Harvard team made what is considered a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie a highly touted Yale squad.[3] Yale came into the game with a 16-game winning streak and its quarterback, Brian Dowling, had only lost one game where he was in the starting lineup since the sixth grade. Both schools entered the game undefeated 8–0 for the season.[4] It was the first time both schools met when undefeated since the 1909 season.[5]
The tie left both teams 8–0–1 for the season, inspiring the Harvard Crimson student newspaper to print the headline "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29".[6] This headline was later used as the title for a 2008 documentary about the game directed by Kevin Rafferty.[7] One of Harvard's offensive tackles was Tommy Lee Jones, who later became a notable Hollywood actor.
This game stands as the final tie in the series, as subsequent rule changes have eliminated ties from college football.[8]