Unbeaten Harvard Hosts Princeton Saturday With Sole Possession of the Ivy League Lead on the Line

Harvard's football team hosts Princeton at 3 p.m. Saturday at Harvard Stadium in a game between the Ivy League's two remaining unbeaten conference teams, with sole possession of first place at stake, The Harvard Crimson reported.

Harvard, ranked No. 15 and No. 17 in the national FCS polls, is 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League, and is one of only three undefeated teams left in FCS football, according to the Crimson. Princeton, which is receiving votes in the polls, is 4-1 and 2-0. The Ivy League's regular-season champion receives the conference's single automatic bid to the 24-team FCS Playoffs, which run from Nov. 28 to Jan. 11.

The game is the 118th meeting between the programs. Princeton leads the series 60-50-7, but Harvard has won the last two, 45-13 at home in head coach Andrew Aurich's first season, which broke a six-game losing streak, and 35-14 at Princeton last season, the Crimson reported. Harvard is also riding a seven-game home winning streak dating to late 2024. Saturday is the program's annual Fall Fest, with a jersey giveaway.

Aurich has a deep connection to the opponent. He played offensive line at Princeton and later returned there as an assistant coach. "I have a general understanding of how it was built because I was there when it was being built," he said. "I know the coaches really well. They're really good coaches."

Princeton's defense is the best in the country by one measure: no team in Division I has allowed fewer than its 10.2 points per game, according to the Crimson. Senior linebacker Chase Christopher is sixth in the league with 44 tackles, and junior linebacker Jake Moore leads all Ivy League defenders with 4.5 sacks, including two last week along with a forced fumble. "They execute at a high level; they're confident in what they're doing," Aurich said. "It comes down to who's going to simply be better and who's going to execute at a higher level."

The Tigers' offense runs through junior running back Kai Honda, who averages nearly 120 yards from scrimmage and more than 95 rushing yards per game. His eight rushing touchdowns are double the total of the next-best Ivy running back and rank 11th nationally. In a 35-7 win over Columbia, he ran 14 times for 219 yards and four touchdowns. Three senior offensive linemen, Barrett Eddlemon, Justin Selbert and Oyintare Porbeni, were named to the Phil Steele preseason All-Ivy first team, and the line has allowed four sacks in five games.

Princeton lost its opener to Bryant and has won four straight since, including a 16-10 win over Brown last week in which its defense held after Brown got the ball at its own 12-yard line with about a minute left. The Tigers have already surpassed their win total from last year's 3-7 season.

Harvard averages 27.2 points per game and allows 14.0, giving up more than 17 points only once, the Crimson reported. Sophomore quarterback Charlie Smith ranks third nationally with a 71.2 percent completion rate and has thrown for at least 275 yards in three straight games, something no Harvard quarterback had done since 2015. Freshman receiver Nate Bailey leads the Ivy League with 39 receptions, and fellow freshman Henry Shoemaker had 83 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown, against Holy Cross last week.

On defense, junior safety Xaden Benson has six interceptions, the most in Division I, and linebackers Dorsey Benefield and Sean Line combine for 15 tackles per game. Harvard leads the conference in pass defense efficiency and ranks in the top 10 nationally in passing yards allowed, at 164.8 per game. "Trust the men in front of you, trust they're gonna do their job, and do your job. Get them on the ground," Benefield said. Harvard has allowed nine sacks, and the Crimson noted that Princeton's pass rush is a threat to a banged-up Harvard offensive line.

The FCS Playoff Committee ranked Harvard 10th in its first top-10 preview this week, seven spots higher than its coaches poll ranking, the largest gap for any team since the Ivy League became playoff-eligible in 2025, according to the Crimson. Last season, Harvard reached the playoffs as one of the last four at-large teams and lost 52-7 to Villanova in the first round. "It's flattering. It validates the work they put in up to this point, but we know that's not ultimately going to matter if we don't continue to do that the rest of the season," Aurich said.