CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Football landed in second place in the 2026 Ivy League Preseason Poll, the conference announced today. The three-time defending Ivy champions earned 111 points and one first-place vote.
 
The Crimson will enter the new campaign rated behind only preseason favorite Yale, which collected 127 points and 15 first-place tallies. The rest of the poll shook out as follows: Dartmouth (94 points), Penn (75), Cornell (46), Princeton (46), Brown (45), Columbia (32).
 
Harvard comes into the new season with a roster that returns from last year's Ivy-title-winning squad its top three rushers, top three TD-reception leaders, top tackler, including three of its top five, top three interception leaders, four of its top five sack leaders, and top three leaders in PBU, including seven of its top eight. Among the aforementioned group are Preseason All-Americans Damien Henderson (FCS Football Central First Team, Stats Perform Second Team, Phil Steele Second Team), Spencer Doan (Phil Steele First Team), Thomas O'Brien (FCS Football Central Second Team, Stats Perform Third Team), Sean Line (FCS Football Central Second Team, Stats Perform Third Team) and Seamus Gilmartin (Stats Perform Third Team).
 
In addition to Harvard's Preseason All-Americans, Henderson was named to the Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch List, which is presented annually to the top defensive player in the FCS, and to the 2026 Shriners Children's 1000 Watch List along with Doan. The Shriners Children's 1000 Watch List is the starting point for who will participate in the 2027 Shriners Children's East-West Bowl.
 
Harvard, which rose to as high as No. 7 in the Stats Perform Top 25 Poll and earned its first bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs in 2025, is coming off a season that saw it finish with a 9-2 record (6-1 Ivy). The Crimson, meanwhile, will get its 2026 campaign underway on Sept. 19, at fellow 2025 NCAA participant New Hampshire. Season tickets and single-game tickets for the 2026 home schedule are available at GoCrimson.com.