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Harvard football meets Dartmouth in a must-win for both Ivies

In order to keep alive hopes of a league title, both teams will be looking to bounce back from the season's first loss.

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Until last week, this rivalry renewal shaped up as a battle of unbeatens. However, Dartmouth was then humbled at home by Columbia, and Harvard dropped a five-overtime tussle with Princeton in part due to an officiating decision that the conference has since acknowledged as an error. The ramifications of that faux pas are significant, considering its now Princeton that occupies first place with its perfect record — while Harvard and Dartmouth arrive at Harvard Stadium each knowing it’ll need to win in order to keep alive any realistic hope of an Ivy League championship.

Both sides are 5-1, and both boast a defense that ranks among the five best in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision (Harvard is No. 3, allowing 11.7 points per game; No. 5 Dartmouth yields 14.2 points on average). That strength was on full display a couple of years ago, when these teams engaged in a 9-6 struggle, and the expectation of wet weather would figure to make this another slog for the offense — although the Crimson were scoring 35 points a game before managing a mere 16 over the marathon at Princeton.

That loss still stings, especially given the circumstances and their impact upon the league standings, but Harvard will need to quickly refocus regardless. After Dartmouth, it goes to New York to take on Columbia before returning to Cambridge for its final home game against Penn. If the Crimson don’t handle their business over these three weeks, they have little hope of catching the Tigers at the tail end of the season.