Unbeaten Harvard Hosts Princeton With Ivy League Lead at Stake

No. 15 Harvard puts its unbeaten record on the line Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, when Princeton visits Harvard Stadium at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+. The Crimson (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) and Tigers (4-1, 2-0 Ivy) are the Ivy League’s only teams without a conference loss, so the winner takes sole possession of first place at the season’s midpoint.

Harvard vs. Princeton: why this game matters

The Ivy League has no conference championship game; the title is decided by the regular-season standings. Harvard enters ranked No. 15 in the Stats Perform FCS poll and No. 17 in the AFCA Coaches Poll, and it was placed No. 10 in the FCS Selection Committee’s first Top 10 rankings, released Tuesday, according to the Ivy League’s Week 6 notes. The Crimson is one of three FCS teams that remain unbeaten.

Princeton brings a four-game winning streak and the best scoring defense in the FCS, allowing 10.2 points per game. Harvard ranks fifth nationally in that category at 14.0 points per game, and Brown is third, giving the league three of the top five scoring defenses in the subdivision.

How Harvard got to 5-0

Harvard’s results, per the Ivy League schedule page: 31-7 at New Hampshire on Sept. 19, 14-10 at Brown on Sept. 25, 20-17 over Colgate on Oct. 3, 41-29 at Cornell on Oct. 10 and 30-7 over Holy Cross on Oct. 17.

The Cornell game showed what the offense can do once it gets going. After falling behind 10-0, Harvard scored 41 unanswered points, and sophomore quarterback Charlie Smith completed 23 of 27 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, according to Harvard Athletics. That win extended Harvard’s streak over Cornell to seven straight and its October winning streak to 11 games.

Against Holy Cross last Saturday, Smith threw for 297 yards and a touchdown, freshman Kise Flannery ran for two scores, Kieran Corr kicked three field goals, and the defense kept the Crusaders scoreless in the second half, the Associated Press reported.

Players to watch

Harvard defensive back Xaden Benson leads the FCS with 1.2 interceptions per game and earned an ESPN Helmet Sticker in Week 2. Freshman receiver Nathan Bailey ranks second nationally with 7.8 receptions per game and was named to the Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award watch list for the top freshman in the FCS. Senior captain Xaviah Bascon leads a running game that also features Flannery. Harvard collected eight Phil Steele midseason All-America selections, tied for the most of any FCS program.

For Princeton, running back Kai Honda earned an ESPN Helmet Sticker in Week 3, and the Tigers’ defense is the unit that has carried their winning streak.

The rest of the Ivy weekend and the road to The Game

Defending champion Yale (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) visits Penn on Friday night on ESPNU. Saturday also features Cornell at Brown at noon, a week after Cornell’s 48-38 upset of No. 4 Lehigh, and Dartmouth at Columbia at 1:30 p.m.

After Princeton, Harvard plays at Dartmouth on Friday night, Oct. 30, hosts Columbia on Nov. 7 and visits Penn on Nov. 14. The season ends with the Harvard-Yale game on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 3:30 p.m. at Fenway Park in Boston, according to the league schedule. A Harvard win would leave the Crimson as the only Ivy team without a conference loss and give it the head-to-head tiebreaker over Princeton heading into the final month.

For other Boston-area college coverage, see our College Sports section and the latest Boston Sports Report.

How to watch Princeton at Harvard

• When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, 3 p.m. ET
• Where: Harvard Stadium, Allston (Boston)
• TV/stream: ESPN+

Sources

• Ivy League: Week 6 features Harvard-Princeton showdown
• Ivy League: 2026 Harvard football schedule
• Harvard Athletics: Football scores 41 unanswered points to defeat Cornell
• Harvard Athletics: Strong defensive effort leads football past Holy Cross
• AP News: Harvard’s 30-7 win over Holy Cross

Featured image: Harvard Stadium. Photo by chensiyuan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.