Harvard Clinches Share of Ivy League Title With Comeback Win Over Penn
The victory, which came minutes before the Dartmouth Big Green dropped a crucial game to the Cornell Big Red, allowed Harvard to secure a share of the Ivy League title for the second straight season.
Updated November 16, 2024, at 5:27 p.m.
Harvard’s football team stunned the University of Pennsylvania Quakers 31-28 on Saturday as the Crimson (8-1, 5-1 Ivy) scored a game-winning field goal to secure a share of the Ivy League title for the second straight season.
But for most of Saturday, nothing was going right for Harvard.
As the Crimson entered the final minutes of a must-win game, it was down two key players — star quarterback Jaden Craig and freshman kicker Kieran Corr — to injury and was staring down a 7-point deficit.
Head Coach Andrew Aurich, facing a close game in the fourth quarter for the fifth time this season, had no choice but to rely on his second-string quarterback Charles DePrima and his untested backup kicker, freshman Dylan Fingersh, to stage an improbable comeback against the Quakers (4-5, 2-4 Ivy).
They delivered.
After the Quakers missed a potential go-ahead field goal to keep the game tied 28-28, DePrima was left with 1:55 on the clock to lead the Crimson’s offense down the field. He got Harvard as close as the 3-yard line before Aurich was forced to call a timeout with one second left on the clock to set Fingersh up for the potential game-winner.
Fingersh, who had never kicked a field goal before at the collegiate level, lined up the kick and sent it firmly through the uprights to complete the comeback against the Quakers.
The win, which came minutes before the Dartmouth Big Green dropped a crucial game to the Cornell Big Red, also allowed Harvard to secure a share of the Ivy League title for the second straight season.
The Crimson will now be in prime position to win the title outright, needing just a victory against Yale next week to assert itself as the sole Ivy champion for the first time since 2014.
Even if the Crimson fall to Yale for a third straight year, victory this Saturday means that Harvard Head Coach Andrew Aurich, who faced pushback from alumni and some players after his hiring last winter, comes away from his first season with an Ivy title.
Aurich refused to revel in the achievement though, instead praising his team for overcoming the “adversity” of the coaching change.
“I’m more happy for them than I am for myself, because they’re the ones who put in most of the work,” Aurich said. “I feel like I was just a small part of the cog.”
The Crimson got off to a rocky start in the first quarter, when Craig went down after a scary hit. DePrima, the opening day starter last season, entered the game having only thrown seven passes this season but was forced to take over with just over five minutes left in the first half.
Despite the loss of Craig, it was Harvard’s defense that nearly cost the team the game. As Harvard began to score on nearly every drive from the second quarter onwards, the Crimson struggled to hold a combination of quarterback scrambles from Penn quarterback Liam O’Brien, runs by running back Malachi Mosley and a receptions by Bisi Owens.
Still, DePrima’s athleticism proved unstoppable for the Quakers as his legs propelled the Crimson to the last-minute comeback.
Aurich credited offensive coordinator Mickey Fein’s ability to shift the offense around the quarterback for DePrima’s strong performance.
“What we did with Charles in there was not what we would’ve done if Jaden was in there,” Aurich said. “He did such a good job of playing to Charles’s strengths and ultimately allowing us to be successful there.”
“I said all along that we had two of the best quarterbacks in the Ivy League,” Aurich added.
In the first drive of the game, Craig’s connection to roommate and star wide receiver Cooper Barkate once again contributed key yardage for the Crimson. Barkate was able to nab 36 yards for Harvard on the opening drive.
After a sack on Craig and a pass that the Quaker defense managed to break up on third down, freshman kicker Keiran Corr took over to attempt a 43-yard field goal.
Corr, who was the top kicking recruit in the country in high school, continued his season-long struggles — missing wide to the left as the game stayed scoreless.
In Penn’s first drive, the Quakers went nowhere after a sack by senior defensive end Jacob Psyk forced a three-and-out.
Harvard’s next drive nearly ended after the second snap, as Craig’s pass to Barkate was intercepted by Penn player Kadari Machen. The Crimson, however, caught a huge break as Machen was called for holding and the play was called back.
Much of the rest of the drive was more of the same for Harvard — a 14-yard pass from Craig to senior wide receiver Scott Woods II and an incompletion to Barkate. With a little over five-and-a-half minutes left in the first quarter, the Crimson lined up on the Penn 48 on a fourth down with 3 yards left for the first.
In a characteristically aggressive move by Harvard Head Coach Andrew Aurich, the Crimson kept its offense on the field and went for the first down. Craig scrambled up the middle before being hit by Penn defender John Lista. As the ball went flying from his hands, Craig crashed down on his left shoulder and stayed down.
Medical personnel rushed onto the field and carried Craig off on a stretcher — a huge blow for the Crimson’s offense that has relied on Craig’s strong arm and smart decision-making this season.
Craig made his return to the sidelines later in the half, but senior quarterback Charles DePrima took over his position for the rest of the game.
Aurich said Craig was “fully conscious” and “aware of where he’s at,” but he’ll have to pass medical testing to be able to head back on the bus with the rest of the team.
While neither team moved the ball on its subsequent few drives, Penn finally found forward momentum on its last drive of the quarter with a pair of first downs in the last few seconds.
Once the second quarter got underway, the Quakers caught fire. In the first three minutes, Penn quarterback Liam O’Brien managed to find his receiver Owens on a 31-yard touchdown pass up the middle of the field for the first points of the game.
Harvard managed to respond as DePrima got his arm going by finding Barkate with each of his first three passes, establishing a rhythm and gaining 39 yards.
Senior running back Shane McLaughlin, who has been out for much of the season with a lower body injury, made his return in style in Philadelphia, evading would-be tacklers and scoring Harvard’s first touchdown in a drive where he also notched a 17 yard-run to move the sticks.
The Quakers were unshaken, as they responded immediately with seven points of their own. After a personal foul on a Penn set up a first-and-25, Harvard looked ready to stop an expected run from the Quakers.
But Penn wasn’t in the mood for slow and steady. O’Brien floated the ball 66 yards to Owens once again, who handlily evaded his defender and, with only open field in front of him, ran into the endzone to give Penn the 14-7 lead.
Neither team made an impact in the rest of the half, but the Quakers came out of halftime roaring with Mosley running 55 yards on the first snap. The Quakers were able to double their lead with a pass to senior tight end Mike Fraraccio for his first career touchdown.
Aurich said in a postgame interview that he was not concerned about his team’s ability to respond to a significant deficit.
“How we practice, how we train, how we prepare, it puts us in a position where we can be the more mentally tough team that can focus harder than our opponent,” Aurich said. “And that’s all it was going to take because we just had to put our head down and focus on one play at a time and not look up at the scoreboard.”
In the middle of the third quarter, DePrima took over the offense with his legs.
With back to back 27-yard and 11-yard scrambles, DePrima quickly moved Harvard into Penn’s territory down two touchdowns. A pass from the senior to sophomore running back Xaviah Bascon over the middle put the Crimson back into the game, as Bascon ran into the end zone to narrow the deficit to 14-21.
After forcing Penn to punt on the following drive, DePrima once again managed to scramble himself into good field position, finding every hole in Penn’s defense and pouncing on them.
For once though, it was DePrima’s arm that set the Crimson up to score once again. Deprima managed a 23-yard pass to Woods, who just barely managed to make the catch with outstretched arms.
Once again, DePrima tucked the ball and followed up his pass with a 27-yard run. On the next play, DePrima handed the ball to Bascon, who found a massive hole in Penn’s defense courtesy of Harvard’s offensive line and evened up the score 21-21.
The Quaker’s refused to let the momentum sway in Harvard’s favor for long. Mosley cut up Harvard’s defense on the following drive with play after play of short to mid sized gains. Mosley seemed unstoppable, at one point hurdling over a defender to pick up a few extra yards.
An incomplete pass to Penn wide receiver Jared Richardson that was called for interference on defender Damien Henderson set the Quakers up at the 6-yard line.
Two snaps later, a split Harvard defense left a gaping hole for scrambling quarterback O’Brien, who gave Penn the lead once again 21-28.
Starting from its own 25 with 12:05 left in the fourth, the Crimson wasted no time in marching down the field. DePrima connected with Woods twice, including on a crucial 3rd-and-8, to move Harvard into Penn’s territory.
Continuing to bring the heat with his arm, DePrima found a wide open sophomore tight end Seamus Gilmartin inside the red zone. After two rushes from McLaughlin put the Crimson inside the 10-yard line, DePrima rushed up the middle and dove into the end zone to even up the game at 28-28 with 6:53 on the clock.
With time winding down, the Quakers hoped to put Harvard away with another scoring drive. For the first half dozen plays, Penn seemed well in control. Another pass interference on Henderson helped spur on the Quakers and a mix of passes and runs from O’Brien brought Penn to the 25-yard line.
On a critical third down for the Crimson, Harvard finally managed to stop Mosley short to force a field goal attempt. A false start by the Quakers made the kick a 46-yard attempt that kicker Sam Smith was unable to execute, turning the ball over to the Crimson.
The rest will be etched in Harvard football history.
Despite nabbing a guaranteed share of the Ivy title, Aurich wouldn’t allow his players to start celebrating — not yet, at least.
“I literally grabbed the guys before we went in the locker room, and I told them that we did not come here to celebrate sharing a championship, and the only way we can ensure that’s the case is if we go take care of business next week,” Aurich said.
“So we got to get our mind right, start focusing on next week,” he added.
—Staff writer Jo B. Lemann can be reached at jo.lemann@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @Jo_Lemann.
—Staff writer Praveen Kumar can be reached at praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com.