Best Moments in the Harvard-Yale Football Rivalry

In this edition of our deep dive into college football rivalries, we are looking at one of the oldest ones in football. Harvard-Yale goes all the way back to 1875, and the two schools have played 137 times.

This rivalry has had many great moments that helped shape what college football has become. Here’s a look at The Game, one of College Football’s under-appreciated rivalries:

All-time record: Yale leads 68-61-8

Record in the past ten meetings:  Harvard 7-3

Longest Win Streak: Harvard 9-straight (2007-15)

Current Streak: Harvard – 1

Next Matchup: November 19 at Harvard

BEST GAME: Harvard 29, Yale 29 (1968)

The headline in the Harvard student paper read “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29”. Yes, you read that correctly. However, Harvard did not beat Yale 29-29. It was a tie.

Both teams came in undefeated and untied, and for the first 59 minutes and change, it was a fairly ho-hum game. However, trailing 29-13 with 42 seconds left, Harvard scored 16-straight points to “beat” Yale.

In a shocker to all college football fans in the history of time, officiating and time keeping was a major controversy.

BIGGEST UPSET: Harvard 22, Yale 7 (1978)

Yale came into the game undefeated and untied as well as newly crowned Ivy League champions. On the other hand, Harvard had lost six of its past eight games. In front of a crowd of 72,000 in the Yale Bowl, Harvard pulled off a stunner over their bitter rivals, 22-7.

TOP PERFORMER: QB Alvin Cowan, 2003 Yale

Harvard was led by a familiar name in quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who threw four touchdowns. The Crimson won the game as well, 37-19. There was a bomb threat. It was a crazy game.

Yale lost the game while putting up 555 yards of offense and running 98 plays. Alvin Cowan had a record-setting day as he threw for 438 yards and two touchdowns.