Harvard, Yale and Princeton have played a lot of football since Princeton lost to Rutgers in the first college game in 1869.

Harvard played its 1,200th varsity game last week and beat Columbia for its 400th victory in Harvard Stadium, which is 103 years old.

Yale and Princeton will play for the 129th time tomorrow in the second-longest series in college football after Lehigh-Lafayette.

Harvard, Yale and Princeton also have won a lot, so it's worth noting that 99 years have passed since all three had seven victories at this point in the season. On Nov. 9, 1907, Harvard and Princeton were 7-1, Yale 7-0-1. Heading into pivotal Ivy League games tomorrow, each is 7-1.

And here's another interesting note. This is the first year that Harvard, Yale and Princeton are the remaining contenders for the Ivy title with two games to play. Yale is in first place with a 5-0 league record. Harvard and Princeton are tied for second, each 4-1. Cornell, Penn and Brown are 2-3 in the league and out of the race.

Princeton, ranked 21st in I-AA this week, defeated Harvard, 31-28, on Oct. 21. The Tigers' only loss was to Cornell a week later.

Harvard, ranked 17th, has beaten Dartmouth and Columbia since the Princeton game and will visit Penn tomorrow.

Yale opened with a 43-17 loss to San Diego (9-0 and No. 15 this week) but has won all seven games since that stunner. The Bulldogs beat Lehigh and Penn in overtime and last week edged Brown, 27-24, on a touchdown with 3:27 to play.

If Princeton beats Yale and Harvard gets by Penn, the Tigers, Bulldogs and Crimson will enter the final game of the season Nov. 18 with 5-1 Ivy records. Harvard and Yale will play at the Stadium for at least a share of the championship. Princeton will finish the season at home against Dartmouth with a chance to tie for first.

A Yale win tomorrow will clinch at least a share of the title for the Bulldogs. A Yale win and a Harvard loss at Penn will mean an outright title for Yale because Yale will be undefeated and Harvard and Princeton each will have two losses with one game to play.

Ivy League history could be re-written tomorrow at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Harvard tailback Clifton Dawson needs only 54 yards rushing against Penn to break Ed Marinaro's career record of 4,715 yards, which has stood for 34 years. He needs five carries to break Chad Levitt's career mark of 922. Marinaro and Levitt both ran for Cornell.

Keep in mind that freshmen were ineligible when Marinaro played, so he had only three varsity seasons, 1969, 1970 and 1971, to wreak havoc on opposing defenses. The season was only nine games at that time, so he played 27 varsity games.

Dawson will have played four 10-game seasons, or 40 games. I'm not suggesting that if Dawson breaks Marinaro's record his name should bear an asterisk. No, records are set according to the rules in force at the moment.

I am suggesting that Marinaro's 4,715 yards and 50 touchdowns will always be impressive. He was the first running back in NCAA history to rush for 4,000 yards in three years. Dawson's final career stats also will shine. Freshmen have been eligible in the Ivy League since 1993, and other than Levitt, who was 58 yards from Marinaro's mark in 1996 when he suffered an elbow injury, nobody has made a serious run at the record. Nick Hartigan of Brown finished with 4,492 yards.

NEW HAMPSHIRE at URI Rhody's defense will face its most challenging assignment in Wildcats QB Ricky Santos and WR David Ball. The offense will have to put a lot of points on the board.

NEW HAMPSHIRE, 31-21

BROWN at DARTMOUTH Look for Bears QB Joe DiGiacomo to bounce back from his four-interception nightmare against Yale last week. He leads the Ivy League in passing.

BROWN, 28-21

BECKER at BRYANT Add Joe Brito (Pawtucket/St. Raphael) to the list of seniors being honored tomorrow at Bulldog Stadium. He has three catches for 112 yards and a TD in six games this season.

BRYANT, 42-7

HARVARD at PENN You can bet Penn coach Al Bagnoli will recruit a kicker. Quakers have lost three consecutive overtime games, an NCAA record, in part because of poor kicking. Harvard stays in the title chase.

HARVARD, 27-20

PRINCETON at YALE Tigers prove the old adage that defense wins championships. They will tame Yale TB Mike McLeod and make the Ivy race a three-way affair going into the final week.

PRINCETON, 24-21

MAINE AT UMASS Third-ranked Minutemen are playing their best football of the season, and QB Liam Coen is a big reason. UNH coach Sean McDonnell couldn't say enough about him after Coen led UMass over his Wildcats last week.

UMASS, 27-17

MIAMI at MARYLAND The shooting death of defensive lineman Bryan Prata makes this game against the No. 23 Terps almost meaningless in what has become a lost season for the Hurricanes.

MARYLAND, 24-21

DUKE at BOSTON COLLEGE Blue Devils are one of four teams in Division I still searching for a victory. It won't come this week.

BOSTON COLLEGE, 31-13

PITTSBURGH at UCONN Huskies and Syracuse are the only Big East teams without a conference victory.

PITTSBURGH, 30-20

OREGON at USC This was the bump in the road many observers were expecting for the Trojans, but Oregon State proved the pothole. USC will survive this test against a very good 7-2 team.

USC, 27-24

NEBRASKA at TEXAS A&M A tossup between the 7-3, 4-2 Cornhuskers and 8-2, 4-2 Aggies. Do you think A&M president Robert M. Gates will return for the game or stay at the Pentagon to focus on his new job as President Bush's defensive coordinator?

TEXAS A&M, 27-25

HOLY CROSS at COLGATE Crusaders can finish 8-3 but will need either Fordham or Lafayette to beat Lehigh to claim a share of the Patriot League championship.

HOLY CROSS, 31-21

TRINITY at WESLEYAN Former colleague Dave Philips is a Wesleyan man and has grown accustomed to seeing Trinity pound his Cardinals. This year will be no different.

TRINITY, 35-14

WILLIAMS at AMHERST The Ephs will wrap up yet another 8-0 season and Little Three and NESCAC championships.

WILLIAMS, 24-20

BOWDOIN at COLBY Neither will have a winning season, but Colby will finish as the CBB (Colby, Bates, Bowdoin) champion again.

COLBY, 14-10

LAST WEEK, 12-3, .800 SEASON, 95-40, .703 mszostak@projo.com/ (401) 277-7340