On Saturday night at Harvard Stadium, there was a fireworks display at halftime. But the real fireworks didn’t come until the last two minutes of the game between Harvard and Colgate. The teams took turns exchanging the lead until a final-play touchdown—one of the most remarkable plays in Harvard football annals—gave the Crimson a heart-stopping 20-17 win.
The play, which commenced with Harvard trailing 17-14, was a 44-yard “Hail Mary” heave from Harvard sophomore quarterback Charlie Smith to sophomore tight end Teigan Pelletier, who lateraled the ball to freshman wide receiver Nate Bailey, who caught it and hastened the eight remaining yards to the goal line, which he just crossed at the left pylon as time ran out. It looked like something drawn in the dirt in a sandlot football huddle. But Andrew Aurich, the Stephenson family head coach for Harvard football, claimed it was just the way they drew it up. “We work on that every week,” he said. “But we hope we never have to use it.”
Before those heart-stopping last few minutes, the game between the Football Championship Subdivision’s 20th-ranked team (Colgate) and its 22nd had been a low-scoring affair replete with missed opportunities. Both teams moved the ball but had trouble cashing in. Sometimes the wound was self-inflicted—an untimely penalty, or a sack. Other times, the opposing defense made a stand. Whichever, midway through the fourth quarter, it was Harvard 10, Colgate 7.
HARVARD FOOTBALL
Sign up for Harvard Magazine’s weekly email for Dick Friedman’s
football recaps in your inbox every Friday.
The Crimson had been first to get on the board, in the opening period, on a rainbow six-yard toss from Smith to Pelletier. For the conversion, in trotted freshman Francisco Moscozo, who already had missed a 23-yard field goal attempt. Here, though, his boot was true. Harvard 7, Colgate 0.
In the second quarter, the Raiders knotted it up. Colgate quarterback Jake Stearney directed a 41-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard run by Caleb Naumann. Luke Vogeler kicked the point. Harvard 7, Colgate 7.
And so it remained until the middle of the fourth quarter. Stearney drove the Raiders to the Harvard seven, but here the Crimson defense stiffened. Vogeler kicked a 24-yard field goal. Colgate 10, Harvard 7.
Moving with alacrity, Smith directed a 10-play, 78-yard drive that consumed nearly five minutes. The highlight was Bailey’s 30-yard catch and run that took the ball to the goal line. Could the Crimson punch it in? On first down, freshman quarterback Kise Flannery—the running specialist—was thrown back to the two. But on second down, Smith was back in, and he threw to senior tight end Seamus Gilmartin, who had slipped into the end zone behind the Raiders defense. Touchdown! Moscozo converted. Harvard 14, Colgate 10.
Only 2:03 remained. Plenty of time, it turned out, for Stearney to steer the Raiders to a lead. Stearney completed four passes to magnificent wideout Matt Fogler. The last was a 13-yard touchdown on which Fogler made a terrific back-shoulder catch. (On the day, Fogler had 12 catches for 138 yards.) Vogeler made the conversion. Colgate 17, Harvard 14.
A mere 27 seconds remained. Tough test for an inexperienced quarterback. Two Smith-to-Bailey passes brought the ball to midfield; another pass, to sophomore wideout Tafari Moe, advanced the ball to the Colgate 39.
Four seconds remained. A 56-yard field goal would send the game to overtime. But it was literally a long shot. Aurich sent in Moscozo nevertheless. The teams lined up. But…before the ball could be snapped, a Harvard offensive lineman flinched. False start—five-yard penalty. That took the field goal off the board.
Back in came Smith and the offense. The ball was snapped. Smith stepped to the left, buying some time. Then he fired deep, to Pelletier at the eight. Pelletier caught it, but he was also in the clutches of two defenders. He managed to get the lateral off to Bailey. From there, it was a race to the pylon. Bailey won—but not by much.
Harvard 20, Colgate 17.
Within hours, the play went viral, and in the following days it became the sensation of the football world, with close textual analysis by every gridiron pundit.
The conclusions from this game: first, Charlie Smith is getting very good, very fast. He completed 31 of 45 attempts for 375 yards and three touchdowns. But even more: the Crimson have a budding superstar in Nate Bailey. (It doesn’t take a genius to see this.) On Saturday night, Nate the Great caught an eye-popping 16 passes for 187 yards (most after the catch) and one touchdown. In recent times Harvard has had no more shifty and electric a receiver as Bailey except Justice Shelton-Mosley ’19. That’s meant as the highest of praise.
Tidbits
BACK ON THE BEAM: With Saturday night’s victory, Harvard snapped a two-game losing streak to Colgate and now leads the series 6-4.
BIG D: After intercepting three passes against New Hampshire, junior defensive back Xaden Benson picked off another against Colgate. And after making a career- and game-high 12 tackles at Brown, junior linebacker Dorsey Benefield added another dozen against Colgate.
SAD NEWS: Last week, former Yale football coach (and one-time Harvard assistant) Tony Reno died at age 52. Reno had stepped down at the end of last season for health reasons. In 14 years, Reno had reinvigorated the Elis’ program, winning five Ivy titles and triumphing seven out of the last nine years in The Game. His son Dante is Yale’s starting quarterback; on Saturday Dante threw four touchdowns in the Elis’ win over Merrimack. Also on Saturday, a moment of silence was observed at all Ivy games in Tony Reno’s memory. We extend our sincerest condolences to the Reno family and the Yale community.
COMING UP: Next Saturday, Harvard is on the road again, traveling to Ithaca, N.Y., to face Cornell. Kickoff: 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and broadcast on Bloomberg 92.9 FM and WHRB 95.3 FM. In a series that began in 1890, Harvard leads 53-34-2. The Crimson have won the last six, including 34-10 last year in Cambridge. In 2026, the Big Red are 2-1, and 1-0 in Ivy League play.
THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
Colgate | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | — | 17 | ||
Harvard | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13 | — | 20 |
Attendance: 9,100
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Rhode Island 13, Brown 10
Princeton 35, Columbia 7
Dartmouth 14, Penn 10
Cornell 35, Georgetown 14
Yale 41, Merrimack 24
THE SEASON SO FAR: follow Dick Friedman’s dispatches.
Preview: Can Harvard’s Football Team Repeat Its Ivy League Success?
