CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 25 Harvard Football rallied from a 10-point first-quarter deficit and held off a late Brown rally en route to a 34-31 victory in front of 15,838 fans at Harvard Stadium. With the decision, the Crimson improved to 2-0 (1-0 Ivy League), while the Bears fell to 1-1 (0-1 Ivy).

How It Happened

• Brown made the first impactful play of the game early in the first quarter when a Charles DePrima pass to Tyler Neville deflected off the tight end's hands and into the mitts of Ethan Royer. The Bears later cashed in on the opportunity when Stockton Owen rushed from a yard out into the endzone for the 7-0 lead.
• The Bears added to their lead right before the end of the first frame after Christopher Maron connected on a field goal from 30 yards out.
• On the final play of the first quarter, DePrima found Cooper Barkate for a 25-yard reception, which gave the Crimson a boost heading into the second. When play resumed at midfield, Harvard misfired on a pass, but answered with a 16-yard run by DePrima and a 20-yard reception from Neville, setting up a 14-yard catch-and-run by Shane McLaughlin to narrow the Crimson's deficit to 10-7.
• Brown was unfazed by the Harvard touchdown, driving the length of the field. The Crimson defense, however, had other designs in mind, stopping the Bears on third and fourth down from the 1-yard line, giving the ball back to its offense and keeping the score untouched.
• After Sebastien Tasko pinned Brown at its 1-yard line, the Harvard defense gave up no ground, forcing a punt. DePrima then orchestrated a 6-play, 56-yard drive to give the hosts a 14-10 lead with 55 seconds left before halftime. During the drive, the quarterback ran for 54 yards, rushing for 10, 20, nine, 12 and three yards, with the latter representing the go-ahead score.
• The Harvard defense came up big with two seconds left in the first half as Brandon Svets blocked a 50-yard field-goal attempt as the Crimson took a 14-10 lead into the locker room.
• Harvard forced a Brown punt to open the second half and the offense drove 77 yards in six plays, culminating in a 43-yard TD run by McLaughlin. The running back's second touchdown of the night propelled the Crimson to a 20-10 lead.
• The Bears pulled to within three as a result of a 9-yard TD pass from Jake Willcox to Jordan McIntyre with just over four minutes to go in the third.
• The Crimson wasted little time answering the Brown TD, utilizing six plays to reach the endzone. Barkate opened the drive with a 12-yard catch and finished it with a 15-yard TD reception, extending Harvard's lead to 27-17.
• Brown scored on a pair of short rushing TDs (1, 2) from Owen, but sandwiched in between was a 31-yard touchdown reception from DePrima to Neville to provide the final margin.
• Following the 2-yard TD rush from Owen, Harvard took over with 6:41 left and methodically marched down the field. Then from the Brown 22, McLaughlin rushed up the middle for 21 yards and hit the ground just short of the goal line. The Crimson ran out the clock from there to earn the victory. 

Harvard Highlights

• Shane McLaughlin rushed for a career-best 152 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. None of his 16 rushes went for a loss. The rushing performance was Harvard's first 150-yard rushing game since Aidan Borguet, who was in attendance tonight, racked up 179 yards at Dartmouth on Oct. 29, 2022. McLaughlin also added one catch for 14 yards and a touchdown.
• Charles DePrima, a game after rushing for 113 yards, totaled 98 on the ground and touchdown. The QB completed a career-high 15 passes for a personal-best 203 yards and three TDs.
• Cooper Barkate, who had 157 yards for the season in 2022, finished tonight with a career-high 132 yards and one touchdown. The TD was the first of his career.
• Matt Hudson set a career high with a game-high 11 tackles. His previous best was 10 vs. Princeton in 2022.
• Gavin Shipman posted a personal-best 10 tackles, logging his first double-digit tackle performance of his career.
• Ty Bartrum, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, followed his 9-tackle effort vs. St. Thomas with another nine against Brown. The nine tackles are a career high.
• Harvard improved to 2-0 for the third consecutive season.
• The Crimson won its Ivy opener for the 22^nd time in the last 23 seasons. Twenty-one of the victories have comes against Brown.
• The Crimson improved to 24-5 under Tim Murphy in Ivy openers.
• Harvard moved to 90-30-2 all-time vs. the Bears and has now won 12 straight against Brown.
• The Crimson has defeated Brown 12 straight times at Harvard Stadium.
• Harvard improved to 7-2 on Fridays since the start of the 2018 campaign.
• Tim Murphy won his 194^th game at Harvard, extending its conference-best win total.
• Murphy won his 134^th Ivy League game, bringing him to within one of tying Yale's Carm Cozza for most conference victories in Ivy history.
• Harvard rallied from a 10-point deficit for the first time since Sept. 16, 2022, when it rallied from a 21-7 hole to defeat Merrimack College in overtime, 28-21.
• The Crimson improved to 50-16 in the month of September under Tim Murphy and 41-9 in the calendar's ninth month since 2001.
• Harvard improved to 141-61 in games played in New England since 1994 (116-33 since 2001; 62-21 since 2012).

They Said It

"That was awesome. I loved every minute of that. Under the lights, perfect weather, awesome football. The Bears have a lot of weapons and threw a lot at us, and it was a really good challenge. It was awesome to come away with the win" – Matt Hudson on the atmosphere and the game
 
"It's just a juice thing. The offense – we pride ourselves on our juice… when the hog-mollies up front get excited, it's easy for everyone to get excited, and the O-Line they really push it." – Tyler Neville on the team's offensive performance

Up Next

Harvard hits the road for the first time this season when it travels to Worcester to face No. 6/6 Holy Cross at Polar Park. The Sept. 30 contest is set for 5 p.m. and will air live on ESPN+.