NEW YORK – No. 13/9 Harvard Football earned a 31-14 road win at Columbia on Friday night to stay perfect on the season at 8-0 and 5-0 in the Ivy League. The loss, meanwhile, dropped the Lions, 1-7 overall and 0-5 in the Ivy.

How It Happened

• After the Harvard defense forced a missed Columbia field goal from 28 yards, the Crimson marched 80 yards in 10 plays, with the last ending in a 1-yard touchdown run by Xaviah Bascon. The junior running back accounted for 31 yards on three rushing attempts. The TD put the visitors ahead, 7-0, with 2:11 left in the first.
• Jack Donahoe gave Harvard great field position when he intercepted a Columbia pass from Chase Goodwin at the Lions' 12-yard line and returned it 10 yards. On the next play, Jaden Craig connected with Seamus Gilmartin on a 2-yard TD pass, putting the Crimson ahead, 14-0 (2^nd/9:00). Donahoe's pick was Harvard's second of the game after Sean Line had his earlier in the period.
• Harvard went up three touchdowns after forcing a 3-and-out when Craig connected with Gilmartin for a second time. The sequence was set up, however, by a 58-yard Craig-to-Caydon Coffman pass. Then, four plays later on 4^th-and-3 from the Columbia 3, Craig scrambled to his right, fired a pass to Ryan Tattersall only to have the pass come off his hands and into the mitts of Gilmartin at the back of the endzone (2^nd/4:04).
• The Crimson increased its lead to 28-0 right before the half when it orchestrated a 12-play drive that covered 64 yards in 2:47. Bascon rushed for the 1-yard score with 14 seconds left to notch his second TD of the night.
• In the third quarter, Kieran Corr knocked in a field goal from 22 yards out to push the Crimson lead to 31-0. The boot finished off an 11-play, 61-yard drive.
• Columbia later scored a pair of touchdowns to provide the final margin.

Team Notes

• Harvard is 8-0 for the first time since 2015.
• The Crimson sits alone in first place in the Ivy League standings at 5-0. Harvard is 5-0 in conference play for the first time since 2016.
• Harvard's eight wins matches its win total from each of the last two seasons, including Andrew Aurich's first campaign.
• The eight Crimson wins are the program's most since 2015, when it finished 9-1.
• The five Ivy wins matches its total from each of the last two seasons and is the most since 2015, when the Crimson won six conference games.
• The Crimson won its seventh consecutive road game, extending the nation's longest active streak.
• Harvard defeated Columbia for a third straight time and improved to 66-16-1 all-time vs. the Lions.
• The Crimson has won five straight games in the state of New York and six consecutive games overall vs. teams from The Empire State. 

Up Next

Nationally ranked Harvard returns home on Saturday to face Penn at 12 p.m. ET. The Senior Day game is set to air live on ESPN+.