CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- After shutting down Lafayette, 30-3, at Harvard Stadium last weekend, the No. 16/RV Harvard football team will travel to fellow unbeaten No. 17/22 Princeton in an Ivy League showdown Saturday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and carried over the radio on Bloomberg WRCA (1330 AM/106.1 FM) in Boston. This week marks the highest Harvard has been ranked since being No. 15 in 2016.
The Crimson stands at 5-0 and is 2-0 in the Ancient Eight, while the Tigers are also 5-0 and 2-0 after holding off Brown, 56-42, in Providence, Rhode Island last week. This week's matchup is the first between a ranked Harvard team and a ranked opponent since 2016 (No. 15/16 Harvard vs. No. 22/22 Dartmouth).
How to Follow
Broadcast – ESPN+ (Talent: Cody Chrusciel and Dave Giancola)
Audio - Bloomberg Radio (Talent: Bernie Corbett and Mike Giardi '94)
Live Stats – Princeton
Twitter: @HarvardFootball
Game Notes: Harvard | Princeton
Yearbook: Harvard Athletics Fall Yearbook 2021
What to Know
• Saturday's game will be the 113th all-time meeting between Harvard and Princeton with the first game having been played in 1877 (1-0 Harvard win). The Crimson trails the series, 48-57-7, but leads the series since Ivy League play began in 1956 (32-30-2). Harvard has taken eight of the last 13 contests between the Ancient Eight rivals. The Tigers picked up a 30-24 victory in the last meeting in 2019.
• Heading into Week 6, Harvard is one of six remaining undefeated teams in the FCS, joining Dartmouth, Eastern Washington, North Dakota State, Princeton, and Sam Houston State. The Crimson is 5-0 for the first time since 2015. The Ivy League has three 5-0 teams for the first time since 1968 (Harvard, Penn and Yale).
• With the 30-3 victory over Lafayette, Tim Murphy, The Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach for Harvard Football, extended his lead for most wins for a coach at an Ivy League school with his 183rd victory with the Crimson.
• Aidan Borguet carried the ball 22 times and finished with 169 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the 30-3 win over Lafayette. The Crimson defense recorded 9.0 sacks to tie the program record (vs. Cornell in 2010), including 2.5 by Jacob Sykes. Harvard held the Leopards to minus-24 yards rushing and 158 yards of total offense overall. This marked the first time Harvard kept an opponent in negative rushing yards since holding the Leopards to minus-18 in 2015.
• This week's game will be Harvard's 1,338th varsity football game. The Crimson has an all-time record of 884-403-50 (.680).
• Heading into Week 6, Harvard leads or is tied for the national lead in rushing defense (45.6) and blocked punts allowed (0). The Crimson is also second in scoring defense (10.4) and team sacks (4.0), third in fourth-down conversion defense (.071), fourth in redzone defense (.600) and seventh in total defense (268.4). Individually, Jonah Lipel is first in field-goal percentage (1.000), and Aaron Shampklin is fourth in rushing yards per game (117.0) and fifth in yards per carry (7.2).
At The Helm
• In his 27th season, Harvard's all-time winningest head coach, Tim Murphy, enters this week's game with a 183-81 record with the Crimson and a 215-126-1 overall head coaching record, which includes five years at Cincinnati and two years at Maine. Since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, no Ivy coach has compiled as many wins as Murphy's 183, and he is just one of 11 coaches to win 100-plus games. Murphy also owns 126 Ivy League wins, tied for second-most all-time. Murphy has led Harvard to nine Ivy championships (1997, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015).
Up Next
• Harvard will return home to host RV/No. 25 Dartmouth in another key Ivy League contest Saturday, Oct. 30. Kickoff is slated for 12 p.m. on NESN and ESPN+.
