This weekend is Friday Night Lights when Cornell Football hosts Harvard on national television on Friday, October 11 at 6 p.m. The Crimson is chasing its first Ivy win after dropping its conference opener to Brown on the Road, but after upsetting #16/#21 New Hampshire last weekend, Harvard has new momentum.

A look at Harvard:

• Harvard enters this weekend at 2-1, having defeated #16/#21 New Hampshire Maine, 28-23, on Friday night at Harvard Stadium.
• Despite dropping the Ivy League opener to Brown on Saturday, September 28, the Crimson is receiving votes in both the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll, the national polls for FCS football.
• Junior Jaden Craig has completed 34 of 66 passes for 599 yards and 6 touchdowns. He threw just one pick so far this season, in the Ivy battle against Brown. Craig didn’t see action in 2022 and didn’t become a mainstay at quarterback in 2023 until Nov. 4 at Columbia.
• In last season’s meeting between the Big Red and the Crimson, Cornell’s defense was primarily matched up against then-junior Charles DePrima, who is still on the roster at Harvard but now functions more as an athlete, totaling 17 rushes and a reception, in addition to a touchdown.
• Sophomore Xaviah Bascon and senior Shane McLaughlin are the primary rushers for the Crimson. Bascon has totaled 148 yards on 34 rushes, including two scores. McLaughlin, who missed the game against New Hampshire, has collected 116 yards on 29 attempts and two home visits. DePrima is the third-leading rusher with 67 yards and already a score this season.
• Junior Cooper Barkate is the Crimson offense’s favorite target, catching 13 passes for 244 yards and a trio of touchdowns. He was honored as an All-Ivy honorable mention in 2023. Senior Scott Woods II follows with 9 targets for 177 yards and two scores.
• Harvard returns 2023 All-Ivy honorees Austin Gentle and Mike Entwistle on the offensive line.
• Senior linebackers Michell Gonser and Marcus Alexander lead the Crimson defense with 21 tackles each. Gonser has posted a pass breakup and interception this season, while Alexander has a sack for 10 yards.
• Freshman defenseman Xaden Benson also grabbed an interception.
• Seniors Jacob Psyk and Gavin Shipman each forced a fumble. Senior linebacker Eric Little has the lone fumble recovery for the Crimson.
• Punter Sebastien Tasko has punted 16 times for 670 yards, for an average of 41.88 yards per boot. He sent away a season-high 55-yarder against New Hampshire last weekend. Lawson is a junior transfer from Arkansas. He played in 20 games for the Razorbacks as a punter.
• Freshman kicker Kieran Corr is a perfect 12-for-12 on PAT attempts but has yet to attempt a field goal this season. Corr’s last field goal layup came with 45 seconds left in the game against Brown. With a chance to ice the game against the Bears, a bad snap turned into a turnover, and Brown converted on his first play from scrimmage for a touchdown, securing the winning points with 21 seconds left.

The series:

• Harvard maintains its lead in the series and leads 51-34-2. The Crimson have won the last four meetings.
• The last meeting saw Harvard go wire-to-wire in a 41-23 meeting in Cornell’s first-ever Cornell football appearance on ESPN2.
• Harvard entered the competition ranked 21st in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and 19th in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll.
• Cornell has won just four of 23 meets since 2000. Three of the four meetings took place at Schoellkopf Field.
• In 2017 and 2018, Cornell defeated Harvard in back-to-back meetings, with the Big Red each mounting second-half comebacks and scoring the winning points in the fourth quarter.
• Harvard holds a one-game lead over the all-time record at Schoellkopf Field, with an 18-17-2 lead.

2024 Harvard head coach:

Head Coach: Andrew Aurich (Princeton ’06)

Harvard record: 2-1, first season

Overall record: 2-1, first season

Ivy record: 0-1

Ivy titles: N/A

Harvard Football Information 2024:

Captain(s): Running back Shane McLaughlin

2024 Record: 2-1

Home/Away/Neutral: 2-0/0-1/0-0

2023 Ivy record/finish: 5-2/T-1st

Starters return/lost: 13-9

Historical information about Harvard Football:

First year of football: 1874

All-time overall record: 903-412-50

Overall ivy record: 292-170-9