There’s an old football saying, attributed variously to run-oriented coach Darrell Royal or his fellow coaching ground pounder Woody Hayes: “Three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad.” Meaning, only completions are good; incompletions or interceptions are bad.
At Friday night’s game at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, New Hampshire, Ivy League rivals Harvard and Dartmouth combined for a whole lot of the bad, throwing eight interceptions between them. While defensive back Xaden Benson corralled three of those picks for the Crimson, quarterback Charlie Smith gave them back and then some, tossing five. That profligacy was a key to Harvard’s 24-14 loss to the Big Green.
The defeat was the Crimson’s first of the season. Harvard had traveled to New Hampshire riding high, having reached No. 13 in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) rankings. After the previous week’s 35-7 demolition of the Tigers, the Crimson also stood alone at the top of the Ivy League. Now they are 3-1 and tied with Princeton and Dartmouth. If Dartmouth and Harvard should finish tied for first at season’s end, the Big Green would own the tiebreaker to determine the Ivy League’s automatic FCS playoff berth. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
On Friday it took only one offensive play to show that this might not be Harvard’s night. With the ball at the Crimson 21, Smith, the sophomore who has been progressing very nicely as a first-time starter, took the shotgun snap and fired to the right flat. Big Green defensive back Cameron Best-Alston got right in front of the ball and plucked it, returning it to the Harvard 18. In six plays—all runs—Dartmouth quarterback Grayson Saunier scored a one-yard touchdown. This would be the winning formula: force a turnover, then pound the ground. (On the night, the Big Green rushed for 229 yards, the Crimson 127.) Owen Zalc kicked the extra point. Dartmouth 7, Harvard 0.
Then came a Harvard formula: a long, time-consuming, and unavailing drive. This one began at the Crimson 16, lasted 8:22 and took 16 plays to reach the Big Green 2. On third and goal, Smith tried to hit sophomore wideout Tafari Moe as he ran into the end zone, but the ball bounced off Moe’s hands and into those of Dartmouth defensive back Matthew Boydell, who returned it to the Dartmouth 39. On the ensuing drive, which continued into the second quarter, the Big Green went for it on fourth down twice and succeeded twice. The latter time, on fourth and goal from the Crimson two, Saunier calmly flipped a shovel pass to Dylan Elder for a touchdown. Zalc converted. Dartmouth 14, Harvard 0.
Things got worse for the Crimson before they could get better, despite two completions from Smith to freshman wideout Henry Shoemaker, the second for 29 yards. A punt by sophomore Brian Checkley traveled a mere 10 yards. Now Saunier tempted fate: from the Dartmouth 37 he threw a pass into an area occupied by Xaden Benson. The Harvard junior jumped the route, plucked the ball, and returned it to the Big Green 35. In two plays, both passes by Smith to freshman wideout Nathan Bailey, the Crimson was in the end zone. On the second, from the Dartmouth 13, Bailey wheeled out of the backfield and unaccountably was left uncovered. This drive took all of 22 seconds. Junior Kieran Corr kicked the point after. Dartmouth 14, Harvard 7.
Saunier then led the Big Green on a 75-yard drive on which he cannily kept the Crimson off balance by mixing in the occasional pass. Two completions went to wideout Nick Lemon. The second, from the Crimson nine, was a flip into the end zone. Again Zalc delivered the point after. Dartmouth 21, Harvard 7.
Only 1:44 remained in the half. Smith needed 42 seconds and four plays to get the Crimson back into the end zone. From the Dartmouth 38, the Harvard quarterback fired deep down the left side to sophomore wideout Ryan Tattersall, who made a sensational overhead catch (while being interfered with) and ran into the end zone. Corr booted the extra point. (Between Corr and Zalc, this must be a record for shortest combined names of placekicker in an Ivy game.) As the half ended, it was Dartmouth 21, Harvard 14.
Who could foresee that the quick-striking Crimson offense would be blanked in the second half? Three times Harvard reached the red zone and did not cash in. Once, Corr missed a 32-yard field goal. Twice, Smith tried to force throws into tight coverage and was intercepted.
A counterpoint to this frustration was the individual brilliance of Xaden Benson. Early in the third quarter he made his second interception of the night, acting almost like a baseball outfielder, standing on the Harvard two and snagging an underthrown rainbow from Saunier. Later in the quarter he popped up at the Dartmouth 45, in the right place to snag a tipped ball. With three interceptions on the night and no Big Green player having more than two catches, Benson could be considered Dartmouth’s leading receiver.
The only points in the second half came from the Big Green. After Dartmouth used a seven-plus minute drive to get into position, Zalc split the uprights from 30 yards out. Dartmouth 24, Harvard 14.
You had to figure that a relatively untried quarterback like Smith would have a clinker sometime. We’ll see if he can shake it off and finish strong.
Tidbits
MORE BENSON: With three interceptions against Dartmouth, junior defensive back Xaden Benson has nine for 2026, which set a new Harvard record for interceptions in a season. (With three games left to play, yet!) The Dartmouth haul was Benson’s second three-pick “helmet trick” of the season (the first came against Brown). He also leads the FCS in interceptions. For his outstanding performance, Benson was named Ivy League defensive player of the week.
GREEN POWER: Dartmouth’s win broke a four-game Harvard winning streak in the series, which now stands in favor of the Crimson 75-49-5.
COMING UP: Next Saturday, in their final Harvard Stadium game of the season, the Crimson play host to Ivy rival Columbia. 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 1877, Harvard leads 66-16-1 and has won the last three, including 31-14 last year in New York City. In 2026, the Lions are 4-3 overall and 1-3 in Ivy play.
THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
Harvard | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | ||
Dartmouth | 7 | 14 | 0 | 3 | — | 24 |
Attendance: 4,074
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Brown 36, Penn 17
Princeton 21, Cornell 20
Yale 26, Columbia 8
THE SEASON SO FAR: follow Dick Friedman’s dispatches.
Preview: Can Harvard’s Football Team Repeat Its Ivy League Success?
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Crimson Football: Harvard 14, Brown 10
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Crimson Football: Harvard 41, Cornell 29
Crimson Football: Harvard 30, Holy Cross 7
Harvard 35, Princeton 7 as Crimson Football Remains Undefeated
