CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - No. 21/17 Harvard (AFCA Coaches/Stats Perform) is set to welcome Yale to Harvard Stadium for the 140th playing of The Game (Noon ET, ESPNU). The Crimson brings a seven-game winning streak into the contest and will be in search of its first series win since 2021, and first at Harvard Stadium since 2014.
Quick Hits
- The Crimson clinched at least a share of the 2024 Ivy League title last week, following its 31-28 come-from-behind victory at Penn. The decision marked the second straight season in which Harvard clinched the conference title against the Quakers (Harvard won at home in 3OT in 2023). The league championship is the Crimson's 19th in program history and it can secure its first outright title since 2014 with a win over the Bulldogs. An outright title can also be won with losses from Columbia, Dartmouth and Harvard.
- With at least a share of the Ivy League title already secured, Andrew Aurich, The Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach for Harvard Football, became the 11th first-year head coach to win a title in conference history, and the first in Crimson history. Aurich's eight wins are also the most by a first-year Harvard football head coach since Robert T. Fisher '12 won nine games in his inaugural campaign in 1919.
- When first-year Dylan Fingersh's 21-yard field goal went through the uprights as time expired at Penn, it sealed Harvard's seventh consecutive victory, which ranks as the sixth-longest active streak in FCS football (tied with Jackson State). The Crimson also boasts a lengthy home winning streak, having won 11 straight at Harvard Stadium. That total is the third-longest active home winning streak in the FCS behind South Dakota State (27) and Villanova (14).
- The Crimson moved up in both major FCS top-25 polls this week, moving from No. 20 to No. 17 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and from No. 22 to T-No. 21 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll. Harvard's Stats Perform ranking is its highest in a media poll since it was No. 12, heading into its ninth game of 2015. The Crimson's tied-for-21st ranking in the coaches poll is a season-best and is its top ranking since it entered last year's game at Yale at No. 19.
- Harvard is fresh off a thrilling road win at Penn that saw the Crimson overcome adversity from nearly the outset. Starting quarterback Jaden Craig suffered an injury with 5:29 left in the first quarter and was replaced by Charles DePrima. Harvard also faced a 21-7 deficit just over three minutes into the third quarter. The obstacles, however, did not get in the way of DePrima, who finished with over 100 yards passing and rushing (169 passing, 1 TD; 129 rushing, 1 TD), or the Crimson defense as it held Penn to 28 points after it came into the contest averaging 52.5 points over its previous two games.
- Wide receiver Cooper Barkate enjoyed one of the best games of his career against the Quakers, logging a career-high 11 receptions (T-7th in Harvard single-game history) for 129 yards. The junior enters the season finale as one of four FCS receivers averaging over 100 yards per game and ranks third in that group (Eastern Washington's Efton Chism III - 108.4, Arkansas-Pine Bluff's JaVonnie Gibson - 105.5, Barkate - 100.9, San Diego's Ja'seem Reed - 100.4).
- Saturday at Penn marked the return of team captain and running back Shane McLaughlin. The senior, who last carried the rock at Cornell on Oct. 11, missed two games due to injury before seeing the field at Dartmouth and vs. Columbia. The senior, however, did not have a rushing attempt against the Big Green and Lions, but returned to the offensive game plan against the Quakers, carrying the ball 16 times for a season-high 83 yards and a touchdown. The rushing TD was one of three on the day for the Crimson, with DePrima and Xaviah Bascon providing the other two. Bascon also added a receiving TD to record his first game with a TD on both the ground and through the air.
- Ty Bartrum continued to assert himself on the defensive side of the ball, racking up a game-high-tying eight tackles at Penn.The junior safety has had at least eight stops five times this season, which includes a 13-tackle effort vs. Holy Cross and a 16-stop performance at Dartmouth. Bartrum has also led the Crimson in tackles in five of the last six games and comes into the game with 75 stops on the season, which ranks third in the Ivy League and two shy of the top spot (Cornell's Luke Banbury - 77).
