Having suffered its first loss of the season the previous week at Dartmouth, the Harvard football team returned home last Saturday and found just what it needed: Columbia. Though the Lions are no longer the bedraggled foe they were for decades, this year, in sporting parlance, they don’t have the horses. The result was a stress-free 37-0 Crimson victory, made all the more dominating when you realize the second half was scoreless.
Entering the game ranked No. 19 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Harvard still possesses the No. 1 pass defense in the FCS, surrendering an average of 131.0 yards per game. Last Saturday, the Crimson held the Lions to a microscopic 55 yards through the air. Harvard sacked Columbia quarterback Chase Goodwin only once; the sacker was junior linebacker Dorsey Benefield, who finished with an unearthly 15 tackles. But the pressure on Goodwin was unrelenting, and he struggled to locate open receivers who were blanketed by the Crimson secondary.
On offense, Harvard got a bounce-back Saturday from quarterback Charlie Smith. Shaking off his five-interception nightmare at Dartmouth, the sophomore signal-caller completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 184 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn’t quite a clean sheet: Smith threw an interception when he tried to force a pass. But it was a solid performance.
Smith could afford to pick his spots, because he had the opportunity to hand the ball to junior running back D.J. Gordon. Sidelined earlier in the season with a foot injury, Gordon (a converted quarterback) busted out with 147 yards on 13 carries (for us math-challenged souls, that’s an eye-popping 11.3 yards per carry) and scored two touchdowns, all in the first half. By the middle of the second quarter, the mighty Harvard offensive line had worn the Columbia defense down, giving Gordon plenty of space to run through.
On a soggy day, the Lions began as if they were going to be trouble, with a smart drive followed by an excellent punt by Tommy Sleeman that pinned the Crimson back on its five-yard line. Harvard took the ball and traversed the 95 yards in seven plays, the two most consequential being a 32-yard pass down the middle to freshman Nate Bailey and, on the next play, a 43-yard strike to sophomore wideout Ryan Tattersall, who got behind the Columbia defense and ran into the end zone. Junior Kieran Corr kicked the extra point: Harvard 7, Columbia 0.
On the next series the Crimson held the Lions, so Sleeman dropped back to the Columbia seven to punt. The ball was snapped and in a trice Harvard senior linebacker Sean Line was in on Sleeman. Line blocked the punt and sent the ball skittering to the back of the end zone. Crimson freshman Gio Joseph fell on it at the end line. At first, it looked like a touchdown, but the ruling was that the ball had touched the line and thus was a safety—two points. Harvard 9, Columbia 0. The irony here was that Columbia coach Jon Poppe was a longtime Harvard assistant renowned as a special-teams whiz. Hoist by his own petard!
After the safety, by rule the Lions had to kick to Harvard. The Crimson took over on their 33 and commenced moving down the field. Here’s where Gordon began ripping through the Columbia defense, running five times for 38 yards. Eventually the Crimson faced a fourth and goal from the Lion one-yard line. Freshman Kise Flannery, the designated running quarterback, pushed over the goal. Corr booted. As the quarter ended, it was Harvard 16, Columbia 0. (You just know that sometime in the remaining two games Flannery will take the snap, fake a run, and throw a pass.)
The second quarter brought a hail of Harvard points. Crimson senior defensive back Austin-Jake Guillory picked off a Goodwin pass. (No interceptions today for Guillory’s backfield mate and national interception leader Xaden Benson.) Harvard set up at the Lion 45. In five plays, the Crimson were in the end zone. The last play, from the 35, saw Gordon break through off right tackle and take it to the house. Corr added the point. Harvard 23, Columbia 0.
After a failed Columbia drive, another good Sleeman punt pinned the Crimson at their seven. (It’s rarely a good sign when your punter is your player of the day.) Another march down the field, another touchdown. The big plays involved senior tight end Logan Reaska. First Reaska got open down the middle, took a pass from Smith, and rumbled for 39 yards. Later, on first and goal from the Lion eight, Reaska slipped behind single coverage on the left, snagged a pitch from Smith, and ran into the end zone. Core converted. Harvard 30, Columbia 0.
The final Crimson drive commenced at the Harvard 45. In three runs, Gordon covered the distance: 16 yards, 32 yards, then the capper, seven yards off tackle and into the end zone. Corr booted and sat down for a rest. Harvard 37, Columbia 0. As mentioned, the second half was scoreless. The Lions deserve credit for not quitting. They played hard but were outmanned.
The victory moved the Crimson to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in league play. Harvard got some good news during the game when the result arrived from New Jersey that Princeton had beaten Dartmouth. The Tigers share first place with the Crimson, but Harvard has the edge for the Ivies’ automatic FCS playoff bid because of its victory over Princeton. (Dartmouth would have the edge over Harvard.) Columbia dropped to 4-4 overall and 1-4 in league play.
Only two games remain in the regular season. The finale, of course, is The Game, this year at Fenway Park (and considered a Harvard home game). But before the Crimson get there, they must face Penn in Philadelphia. A win would guarantee Harvard no less than its fourth straight share of the Ivy title. The last three games between the Crimson and the Quakers have been barnburners, all won by the Crimson but leaving everyone spent. Some of us think the games against Penn have left Harvard with nothing left in the tank for Yale. Heretical thought, but there it is.
Tidbits
LION TAMERS: Harvard’s win on Saturday pushes its margin in the series over Columbia to 67-16-1.
KUDOS: Harvard’s D.J. Gordon and Nate Bailey received weekly honors from the Ivy League for their performances against Columbia. Running back Gordon was named offensive player of the week for his 147-yard rushing effort, and wideout Bailey, who caught five passes for a game-high 70 yards, was named rookie of the week for the third time this season.
COMING UP: Next Saturday, Harvard takes the road for the final time in 2026, heading for Franklin Field in Philadelphia to face Ivy rival Penn. Kickoff: 1 p.m. The game will be telecast on ESPN+ and NBC Sports Philadelphia, and broadcast on Bloomberg 92.9 FM and WHRB 95.3 FM. In a series that began in 1881, Harvard leads 54-39-2 and has won the last five, including 45-43 last year in Harvard Stadium. In 2026, the Quakers are 4-4 overall and 2-3 in Ivy play.
THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | ||
Harvard | 16 | 21 | 0 | 0 | — | 37 |
Attendance: 5,031
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Brown 24, Yale 20
Princeton 21, Dartmouth 14
Penn 14, Cornell 13
THE SEASON SO FAR: follow Dick Friedman’s dispatches.
Preview: Can Harvard’s Football Team Repeat Its Ivy League Success?
Crimson Football: Harvard 31, UNH 7
Crimson Football: Harvard 14, Brown 10
Crimson Football: Harvard 20, Colgate 17
Crimson Football: Harvard 41, Cornell 29
Crimson Football: Harvard 30, Holy Cross 7
Harvard 35, Princeton 7 as Crimson Football Remains Undefeated
Crimson Football: Dartmouth 24, Harvard 14
