Football | November 24, 2025

Harvard Football: Yale 45, Harvard 28

A wild weekend: a debacle in The Game, then a berth in the playoffs.

by Dick Friedman

Football players in white and maroon uniforms celebrating a play on the field. — **ALL HANDS ON DECK Harvard’s Jack Kirkwood (46), Jake Darling (98), Sean Line (35), Xavier Agostino (99) and Alex DeGrieck (79) form a block party as they attempt to stymie an Eli kick.** | Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletics

For Harvard football, Saturday was a horrible, no good, very bad day. Sunday was a happy, reinvigorating, very good day.

In the 141st Playing of The Game at the Yale Bowl, the Crimson were manhandled by Yale 45-28. The defeat torpedoed a perfect season for Harvard, which finished 9-1 overall and 6-1 in Ivy League play. Instead of winning the Ivy title outright, the Crimson shares it with the Elis, who were 8-2 overall. The share is Harvard’s third in a row. Moreover, Yale’s win gave them the league’s automatic bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, which Ivy teams this year were allowed to enter for the first time.

But on Sunday the Crimson got a reprieve: they were rewarded for their near-season-long excellence and received an at-large bid to the tournament. Thus, this coming Saturday at noon Harvard travels to Villanova to face the Wildcats in the Crimson’s first postseason game since the 1920 Rose Bowl (Harvard 7, Oregon 6).

Harvard running back clutches the ball while being tackled by a Yale defender. — **CRUNCH TIME Harvard’s Jordan Harris, meet Yale’s Abu Kamara. The Crimson rushing attack netted a mere 94 yards.** | Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletics

Make no mistake, the Elis of Tony Reno (now the league’s best coach) richly deserved their win in The Game, the fourth straight year Yale has won. They were more aggressive and harder-hitting. Their offensive linemen blasted huge holes for running back Joshua Pitsenberger to barrel through. Their defensive linemen, plus the occasional blitzing linebackers and defensive backs, had Harvard’s star quarterback, senior Jaden Craig, running for his life. To his credit, Craig valiantly hung in and did well to lead the Crimson to 28 points.

“They came out there and they did everything that we had been doing for nine weeks,” said Andrew Aurich, Stephenson family head coach for Harvard football. “What they did, that was really impressive.”

From the get-go, Harvard was in peril. On the Crimson’s first play, Craig threw to the left to tight end Dean Boyd, who caught the ball. Yale defensive back Brandon Webster wrestled it away from him. On the next play, from the Harvard 21, Eli quarterback Dante Reno (the coach’s son) threw to Jaxton Santiago for a touchdown. Noah Piper added the extra point. Yale 7, Harvard 0. Elapsed time: 18 seconds.

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The next two Harvard series were three-and-outs. After the second, the Elis got the ball and maneuvered to a 40-yard field goal. Yale 10, Harvard 0.

At the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second, the Elis put together a 12-play, 79-yard drive. The last 24 were gained in four plays by Pitsenberger, who on the final play rumbled eight yards into the end zone. Piper kicked the conversion. Yale 17, Harvard 0.

With a rout staring them in the face, the Crimson got on the board, going 75 yards in 11 plays, and even surviving a third-and-18 when Craig completed a 26-yard pass to freshman wideout Ryan Tattersall. The capper came on another Craig-to-Tattersall hookup, this one a 23-yarder to the right side of the end zone. (Tattersall’s older brother Robby, by the way, is a tight end for the Elis.) Sophomore Kieran Corr kicked the conversion. Yale 17, Harvard 7.

Three plays later, though, the Elis regained their margin when Reno threw deep down the right side to Nico Brown, who had beaten Crimson defensive back Xaden Benson. Brown ran into the end zone and Piper converted. Yale 24, Harvard 7. This was a bad day for the vaunted Harvard secondary. By luck or technique (or both), the Elis receivers seemed to have patented the knack of making catches of underthrown balls.

Craig wouldn’t surrender. In only 3:15, he took the Crimson on a nine-play, 75-yard drive. For the final 26 yards Craig showed his wheels, running a quarterback draw down the right sideline all the way into the end zone. Corr converted. Yale 24, Harvard 14.

Only 4:19 remained in the half. If the Crimson were to have a chance, they needed for their defense to show up. It didn’t. Cannily mixing runs and passes, Reno moved the Elis to the Harvard three. With three seconds left, it was fourth and goal. Time for one more play. A stand here would leave Harvard only 10 down after a miserable half. Reno handed the ball to Pitsenberger. The Yale offensive line made a massive push and Pitsenberger, following them, dove just over the goal line. Piper booted. Yale 31, Harvard 14. The 31 points were the most the Crimson had surrendered in the first half since September 25, 2004.

On the first series of the second half the Elis padded their lead with a 75-yard drive. Reno methodically moved them to the Crimson four. On third and two, Pitsenberger broke an attempted tackle in the backfield and rammed into the end zone. Piper kicked the point. Yale 38, Harvard 14.

Quarterback in a Harvard uniform prepares to throw a football during a game. — **PASS MASTER Though continually harried and being sacked twice, Harvard’s peerless quarterback Jaden Craig threw for three touchdowns and ran for another.** | Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletics

To illustrate what kind of day it was, on the next series, Craig threw a perfect bomb down the left side to Brady Blackburn. A certain touchdown—except the usually sure-handed sophomore wideout dropped it. Craig was undeterred. He solved a fourth-and-10 with a 17-yard pass to Boyd. Eight plays later, after suffering a late hit by Yale, Craig evaded the rush and found Tattersall in the end zone.

At this point, on the conversion the Crimson eschewed the kick and decided to go for two. If they made it, it would be a two-score game. They didn’t. Craig’s pass to sophomore tight end Logan Reaska was broken up. Yale 38, Harvard 20.

We all have seen crazy comebacks in The Game, but any realistic hopes were snuffed when the Elis were the next team to score. On the last play of the third quarter, Reno and Brown connected on a 61-yard pass play that brought the ball to the Crimson 12. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Reno pitched back to Lucius Anderson running a version of the old Green Bay Packers power sweep, and Anderson ran to daylight for a score. Piper punctuated. Yale 45, Harvard 20.

Later, after he had suffered the indignity of getting flattened on a sack by Eli defensive back JP Schmidt, Craig moved the Crimson to the Yale 30. From there, he took the snap, then delivered a sweet pass into Blackburn’s hands on the right side of the end zone. This time Harvard’s two-point conversion succeeded. It was a bit of trickeration—a reverse on which Craig snuck into the end zone and received the pass. Yale 45, Harvard 28—the final score.

For what it’s worth, the Elis outgained the Crimson 455 yards to 412—not as big a margin as the score and flow of the game might indicate. When Craig could escape the rush (he was sacked twice and harried all game), he completed 23 of 43 attempts for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Blackburn and Boyd each had six receptions and Tattersall had five. For the defense, junior linebacker Sean Line had a game-high 15 tackles and senior captain and defensive back Ty Bartrum had 14. (It’s not always good when your linebackers and defensive backs are your leading tacklers.) For Yale, Pitsenberger pounded out 143 yards and three touchdowns. Reno was a model of efficiency, completing 15 of 19 attempts for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He was not sacked.

The Harvard Class of 2026 will depart without a victory in The Game. But for the third year in a row there is an Ivy title, and this year there are the playoffs. We’ll see if they bring redemption or mere consolation.

Tidbits

SLIPPING AWAY: With the loss, Harvard now trails Yale all-time 61-72-8. The Elis have won seven of the last nine. The most recent previous time the Crimson lost four straight in The Game was 1942-47 (no meetings in ’43 and ’44).

CRAIG’S LISTS: Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig is one of 15 players named to the Walter Camp 2025 FCS Player of the Year Watch List. Craig also received the Harry Agganis/Howard Zimman Award for the Outstanding Player in New England.

ECHOES OF ’15: The nine wins overall and six victories in Ivy play are each the most the Crimson have attained since 2015.

COMING UP: For the first time since 1919, we can say that there will be a game following The Game. On Saturday, Harvard will travel to Philadelphia’s Main Line to face Villanova at Villanova Stadium in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Kickoff: noon. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. In 2025, the Wildcats are 9-2 overall and 7-1 in Coastal Athletic Association play. This will be the first-ever meeting of Harvard and Villanova in football. N.B. Villanova is the alma mater of Pope Leo XIV (class of 1977).

THE SCORE BY QUARTERS