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Harvard - Yale Game 2014 About More Than Just the Pranks: ESPN 'GameDay' to Cover Historic Rivalry

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In the midst of at least a few major rivalry games in the NCAA's Division I football landscape, ESPN is taking its "GameDay" show to Cambridge, Mass. for "The Game."

Harvard University's rivalry with Yale University, simply referred to as "The Game," is one of the oldest in all of college football. Thanks to the spectacular effort of a few Yale students in 2004, the pranking before the game has become just about as important to both sides.

But GameDay's presence at The Game this Saturday represents something bigger than pranking, senior defensive tackle Obum Obukwelu told ESPN. In 28 years on the air, this is the first time GameDay will go to Harvard Stadium.

"For sure, it's the biggest game I've seen against Yale," he said. "My brothers went here, the games they played against Yale weren't of this magnitude. They're 8-1, we're 9-0, playing for a title. It doesn't get much bigger than that.

"And with all the ESPN 'College GameDay' stuff, it just hypes it up even more."

In 2004, some Yale students disguised themselves as a pep squad at Harvard and handed out some crimson boards and some white ones to spectators. When the cheering section raised the boards, the phrase "We Suck" appeared in crimson on a white backdrop and the Yale students of course caught it all on tape.

In 2013 Harvard students dressed up as Yale students and gave fake campus tours while offering completely made up facts to anyone who would listen. This year, Harvard was at it again, only this time to organize a rally among the students to call for administrators to reduce athletic funding.

Yale leads the all-time series with 65 wins against Harvard's 57 and the two teams have finished in a tie eight times. Harvard has won The Game seven years running and could go undefeated for the 17th time in school history with a win, which would also guarantee the Crimson the Ivy League title.

But Yale is 8-1 and winning The Game would in Cambridge would give the Crimson faithful a bitter share of the title.

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