CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard, which received votes in both major top-25 FCS preseason polls, kicks off the 2022 Ivy League football season when it plays host to Merrimack College on Friday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. ET in a game set to air on ESPN+. The rest of the league returns to the gridiron on Saturday, Sept. 17.
 
The Crimson enters the game having won its last three games of 2021, including a thrilling 34-31 road victory over Yale in its season finale. The Warriors, meanwhile, are 1-1, falling to nationally ranked Holy Cross in its opener before defeating Assumption last Friday. Harvard and Merrimack, despite being separated by roughly 30 miles, are meeting for the first time.

What to Know

• Harvard is looking to win its second consecutive season-opening game and third in the last four seasons in which it competed.
• Under Tim Murphy, The Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach for Harvard Football, the Crimson is 18-9 in season lidlifters. The 2022 campaign marks Murphy's 29th at the helm of the program.
• The Crimson enters the contest having won 10 consecutive season-openers at home. Harvard has not dropped the first game of a campaign at home since a 27-25 defeat to Holy Cross to begin the 2000 season.
• The Crimson is in search of its fourth straight non-conference home victory. One would have to go back to Sept. 28, 2018, to find its last such defeat (23-16 vs. Rhode Island).
• Harvard has won three straight games vs. schools from the state of Massachusetts, a streak that first started in 2017. The Crimson, meanwhile, went 5-1 in games played in the Commonwealth.
• Harvard finished atop the Ivy League preseason poll, collecting 108 points and eight first-place votes. Dartmouth also recorded 108 points, but earned four first-place tallies along with Princeton, which found itself with 105 points when the votes were tabulated.
• The Crimson led the Ivy League with 12 players on the Phil Steele Preseason All-Ivy League team (First Team - Alec Bank, Aidan Borguet, Thor Griffith, James Herring, Nate Leskovec, Jonah Lipel, Jack McGowan, Alex Washington; Second Team - Max Jones, Truman Jones, Haven Montefalco, Gavin Sharkey). Borguet was also tabbed the Ivy Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, with Washington earning Preseason All-America Second-Team honors.
• The Crimson completed 2021 with an 8-2 record, posting its most victories in a season since 2015 (9). Harvard also went 5-2 in Ivy League play with the five wins also representing the program's highest total since '16 (5).
• Harvard was one of nine FCS schools (out of 128) with two or fewer losses in 2021 (Dartmouth, East Tennessee State, Jackson State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, North Dakota State, Princeton, Sam Houston).
• The Crimson boasted one of the top defenses in the country in 2021, finishing in the top 10 in numerous statistical categories. Harvard allowed 64.6 rushing yards per game, coming in first among all FCS schools. On the way to earning the statistical crown, the Crimson held six foes to under 100 yards rushing. Harvard was also second in the country in sacks (3.8 per game), fourth-down conversion defense (.250) and turnover margin (1.1), fourth in team pass efficiency defense (102.46), fifth in team tackles for a loss (8.0) and scoring defense (14.9), sixth in first downs defense (174) and third-down conversion defense (.282), and eighth in passes intercepted (17) and red zone defense (.692).

Next Up

Harvard plays at Brown on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 12:30 p.m. (ESPN+) at Brown Stadium in Providence, R.I., in its Ivy League opener.