With Title Hopes on the Line, Harvard Faces Undefeated No. 22 Dartmouth

As Dartmouth students light a massive bonfire on Friday night as part of their annual homecoming celebration, the Harvard football team will be hoping to throw water on the flames the following afternoon — the one that’s carried the Big Green to an undefeated 6-0 start, heading into its matchup with the Crimson (5-1, 2-1 Ivy).

The Crimson will face Dartmouth (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) — the only remaining undefeated team in the Ivy League — on Saturday in a defining matchup for both team’s seasons.

Harvard enters the heavyweight showdown tied for second in the Ivy League, with its loss to Brown in the team’s first conference matchup as its lone blemish on the season. The only realistic path for Harvard to achieve its goal of an outright Ivy League title would be to win this game and then run the table, hoping Dartmouth and Brown lose at least one game in the rest of their seasons.

If Dartmouth secures the win, they’ll emerge the clear favorite for the League title with their toughest targets already behind them.

Despite the importance of the game, Harvard Head Coach Andrew Aurich said his players have had the benefit of playing every contest since the Brown game with the knowledge that their season is on the line.

“We’ve had our back against the wall since Brown game, so the mindset for these guys is not any different than it was Cornell, than Princeton.” Aurich said. “Because in this league, a two loss championship hasn’t happened very often, so you literally have to be playing with your back against wall.”

Junior wide receiver Copper Barkate also said that his mindset hasn’t changed much since the loss to Brown.

“We messed that one up,” said Barkate of the last-second collapse against the Bears. “Every week is a championship week for us, so it's just a steady stay on course.”

Dartmouth Head Coach Sammy McCorkle said in a press conference Wednesday he takes a different approach with his team — avoiding talking about the broader impact of the game altogether.

“We never talk about those stakes,” McCorkle said. “We just talk about preparing ourselves each week, and we talk about trying to do whatever we can to put us in position to try to be successful.”

The Big Green is coming off a narrow victory on the road against Columbia — proving themselves in a season-defining matchup of the only two previously undefeated teams in the conference.

Dartmouth is no stranger to close games. The Big Green has won its last five games by a combined total of 13 points, with the largest margin being just four.

Running back Q Jones, who is currently second in the Ivy League in rushing, played a key role in the game against the Lions, finishing with a career-best 182 rushing yards. His role was all the more important for the team as Dartmouth’s starting quarterback Jackson Proctor was held out with an injury.

McCorkle gave little indication of whether his lead signal caller will make a return against Harvard.

“We’re still day to day,” McCorkle said. “By Saturday, we’ll have a better idea of where we are with that.”

For his part, Aurich acknowledged Jones as a threat, but noted that as long as no player on his defense tries to be a “superhero,” Jones can be contained.

“He is a great running back, great vision, patience, and when he sees the hole, he has an acceleration to him,” Aurich said. “So the main thing is we have to make sure everybody’s doing their job. Because if somebody tries to go and make a play outside of the defense that’s called, that’s how he ends up getting really big plays. But it's really more about 11 guys doing their job.”

On Harvard’s side, McCorkle is looking at junior quarterback Jaden Craig as a main offensive threat. Craig is currently the top-ranked quarterback in the league in efficiency and has been averaging 252.8 passing yards a game.

“We can’t allow Jaden to run around back there and sit back there,” McCorkle said. “And he’s got a lot of good targets, and he’s too good of a quarterback. If you give him too much time now, he’s going to pick you apart.”

McCorkle also spoke about the depth of talent Craig has to work with in Harvard’s offense.

“They involve a lot of players offensively,” McCorkle said. “It does put a lot of stress on you defensively. The big thing we’ve got to do is, obviously, we’ve got to make sure we’re assignment sound. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. We can’t give them easy plays. We have to make them work for everything. And that’s our plan going forward.”

McCorkle also said he is prepared to adjust his offense as needed against a strong Harvard defense — led by Defensive Coordinator and Associate Head Coach Scott Larkee ’99.

“Harvard’s very good up front, very good up front, and very good at the second level,” McCorkle said. “Their safeties and secondary do a very good job of being involved as well.”

“I mean, they got very good defense,” he added. “They always have a very good defense.”

Going into Saturday, both teams are preparing for the most highly anticipated matchup of the year in the Ivy League. Still, Barkate said he’s feeling good about where the Crimson stands.

“We have so many weapons,” Barkate said. “The running back room has depth. The receiver room has depth. Craig’s playing lights out. So I think we’re doing pretty well.”

The top quarterback and wide receiver duo in the conference, along with the rest of the Crimson, will try to extend their winning streak to five in Hanover, N.H. at 1:30 p.m. on Sat. Nov. 2, with streaming on ESPN+.

—Staff writer Jo Lemann can be reached at jo.lemann@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Praveen Kumar can be reached at praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com.