CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard, with its newly minted No. 25/24 ranking (AFCA/Stats Perform), returns home to play host to Columbia on Saturday (12 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The matchup features two of three Ivy League teams tied atop the conference standings at 3-1, with the other being a Dartmouth team the Crimson defeated last week. 

Quick Hits

- Harvard is coming off a 31-27 road win at previously undefeated and nationally ranked Dartmouth. The victory was the Crimson's fifth straight, which matched the program's longest (2021, 2023) since it opened the 2015 campaign with eight straight wins. Columbia, meanwhile, has had an extra day to prepare for the Crimson after it beat Yale at home last Friday, 13-10.

- After spending a majority of 2023 nationally ranked, Harvard is in both major FCS top-25 polls for the first time this season after receiving votes earlier this year. The Crimson opened its current five-game winning streak with a home victory over No. 16/21 New Hampshire before taking out Cornell on the road, Patriot League-leader Holy Cross at home, Princeton at home and then-No. 22/22 Dartmouth on the road.

- The Crimson received big individual performances at Dartmouth, helping it overcome two 10-point deficits, including one in the fourth quarter. Starting quarterback Jaden Craig for the second straight outing set a career high for completions with 28, leading to 311 yards passing and one touchdown. Fellow signal caller Charles DePrima added a career-high three rushing TDs, including two in the final six minutes, while wideout Cooper Barkate had seven receptions for 124 yards. On defense, safety Ty Bartrum was credited with a personal-best 16 tackles en route to Ivy League Defensive Player-of-the-Week honors.

- Harvard is looking to extend a pair of lengthy winning streaks on Saturday. The Crimson will be in search of its sixth straight win overall, which would inch it closer to the 2015 team that won eight in a row. Harvard is also looking to secure its 11th straight home victory. Its current 10-game home winning streak is the fourth longest in the FCS, trailing South Dakota State (26), Florida A&M (23) and Villanova (13). A win on Saturday would also give Andrew Aurich seven victories, which would be the most by a first-year Harvard coach since Edward L. Casey won seven in 1931.

- Since Oct. 11, Jaden Craig has been one of the top quarterbacks in the FCS, ranking among the leaders in several categories (minimum four games played). The junior ranks first in touchdowns (12) and touchdown percentage (9.5), second in passing yards (1,229), yards per attempt (9.75) and yards per game (307.3), third in QB rating (186.4) and completion percentage (74.6), and seventh in completions (94) and yards per completion (13.07). The junior has also thrown just one interception.

- Cooper Barkate has been a threat through the air since Harvard's win at Cornell on Oct. 11. During that time, spanning the last four games, the junior ranks tied for first in the FCS in touchdowns (5), second in receiving yards (444) and receiving yards per game (111.0), sixth in average yards per reception (17.1), and 10th in receptions (26).

- Defensively, Harvard has been stout all season long and enters this week's action ranked first in the Ivy League in total defense (320.0), rushing defense (109.7), defensive TDs (2), and third-down conversion percentage defense (0.330). The Crimson, meanwhile, ranks second in the league in scoring defense at 21.1 points. The leader? Columbia at 16.3. Harvard, however, has the top scoring offense in the Ivy (34.3).