No. 19 / 22 Harvard Looks to Bounce Back at Home Against Columbia

After a frustrating road loss to Dartmouth that ended its hopes of an undefeated season, No. 19/22 Harvard will look to regain momentum with a victory this weekend against Columbia as it tries to get back on track for an FCS Playoffs bid in its final regular-season game of the year at Harvard Stadium.

The Crimson (6-1, 3-1 Ivy League) has not lost to the Lions (4-3, 1-3) in three years, winning each of those contests by at least two scores. Harvard enters the game on an eight-game winning streak at home, having not lost on its own turf since a 34-29 loss to Yale in the final game of the 2024 season.

For the first time since the winner of the Ivy League was given an automatic berth to the FCS playoff, the Crimson does not control its own fate at attaining that spot. After last week’s loss, Harvard is tied atop the Ancient Eight alongside Princeton and Dartmouth, with all teams sitting at one conference loss.

The Crimson needs the Big Green to take a loss in its last three games if it wants to regain control of its own destiny, as Dartmouth holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Harvard. The Big Green travels to New Jersey this weekend to take on the Tigers, and if Princeton claims the victory, the Crimson will suddenly see its own head-to-head advantage over the Tigers propel it to the top of the Ivy League once more — guaranteeing Harvard the conference’s automatic playoff bid if it wins out.

Under expected rain this Saturday, the Crimson will look to recover from the offensive woes that it suffered last Friday. The story of Harvard’s struggles was offensive execution — despite gaining more than 400 yards for only the third time this season, the Crimson’s 14 points tied its lowest mark of the year.

While leading Harvard’s offense to one-for-four efficiency on red zone trips, sophomore quarterback Charlie Smith threw five interceptions against a Dartmouth secondary that had only recorded five picks in its six games before the contest. Despite the shaky performance, head coach Andrew Aurich is confident in his quarterback’s ability to bounce back.

“He’s really, really focused,” Aurich said. “He’s definitely putting in extra time. He’s watching a lot of tape and going over the game plan, and he’s going about his business with a serious intentionality to it. So it’s exactly what I thought would happen, and he’s had a great week so far.”

The Crimson’s secondary has shone throughout the season, and last week was no exception. Junior defensive back Xaden Benson had three interceptions in the game, the first Harvard player ever to do so twice in a season. His third pick that night was his ninth of the year, breaking a 79-year program record for interceptions in a season.

“It allows us to play in the box way faster,” said sophomore linebacker Ethan Carson on the defensive back trio of Benson, senior Damien Henderson and senior Austin-Jake Guillory. “We got all those guys behind us. Knowing that they can back us up, it allows us to play harder on the run.”

A constant bright spot for the Crimson has been the tight end room, with three players having significant snaps throughout the season. Senior Logan Reaska is regularly used as a run blocker, getting some receptions in high-leverage situations, while senior Seamus Gilmartin sees passes across the middle to gain chunk yards.

Sophomore Teigan Pelletier — the team’s touchdown receptions leader with four — rounds out the group that has combined for 41 receptions, 508 receiving yards and five scores. While each of the three sees the field in different packages and play types, they’re all six-foot-four or taller and weigh more than 230 pounds.

“When you have a group like that, that’s unselfish like that, when they just want to see everybody get their opportunity, they’re all able to play at a high level,” Aurich said of the trio. “All three of them are great route runners, great pass catchers, and they help out everybody else around them in the pass game because teams actually have to account for them.”

While the Crimson has standout freshman Nate Bailey, who is the Ivy League’s receptions leader with 53 catches in seven games, Columbia has a star freshman of its own, as Bryce Coleman leads the Lions in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. His 10 touchdowns scored lead all Ancient Eight players this season, and it’s tied for the second-most receiving touchdowns in a season in Columbia history.

Coleman is a part of the Lions’ high-octane passing offense that has 55 more attempts through the air than any other team in the Ivy League. Senior quarterback Chase Goodwin has 1905 passing yards with 14 touchdown passes for Columbia, but the Houston native is tied with Brown’s James Murphy for the most picks in the conference with 10 on the season.

Harvard made light work of the Lions in Manhattan last year, jumping out to a 28-0 lead at halftime over a Columbia team that finished the 2025 season 2-8. The Lions eclipsed their two total wins last year in this season’s non-conference play alone, picking up two overtime victories over Lafayette and Georgetown en route to an undefeated 3-0 out-of-conference record.

Columbia notched its first Ancient Eight victory last month over Penn, when the Quakers gaffed by rushing onto the field with the clock ticking to kick a last-second field goal, instead of simply spiking the ball to allow themselves time to prepare. The kicker was late, forcing a hurried attempt that fell just short of the 52 yards it needed, allowing the Lions to escape Franklin Field with a victory.

The rest of the Ivy slate has been less kind to Columbia, however. After a 4-1 start, Columbia’s hopes for an Ivy League title and playoff football are now all but lost. In contests against Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale, the Lions have walked away with no less than a three-score deficit, albeit against some of the conference’s stronger competition.

Ultimately, Saturday will be a tale of how well the Crimson can bounce back from its first defeat to an Ivy opponent not named Yale since September of 2024.

“This loss has made us come closer together as a team,” said Carson. “This made us hone down on our technique and what’s actually important. It made us weed out the problems that we were having. We’re ready and waiting for these last three games so we can make it to the playoffs.”

Weather is sure to be a consideration on Saturday, with forecasted rain already having led Harvard to cancel its Crimson Village pregame festivities. The last time the Crimson competed under inclement conditions, it defeated Brown 14-10 on the first night of September’s nor’easter storm. Smith excelled under a weather-adjusted game script that called for a high volume of short passes and screens, going 30-for-37 for 205 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

The game will kick off at 1 p.m. EDT at Harvard Stadium, the Crimson’s final regular-season game this season at the nation’s oldest concrete stadium.

—Staff writer Connor Castañeda can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Maxwell P. Friedman can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected].