Harvard football remained unbeaten Saturday night in Cambridge, Mass., after a last-second Hail Mary and lateral sequence stunned Colgate 20-17.
With four seconds left and the ball at the Colgate 44-yard line, Crimson quarterback Charlie Smitth rolled left and launched a pass downfield. Tight end Teigan Pelletier, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound target, hauled it in at the 5-yard line. As two Raiders defenders closed in to tackle him, Pelletier pitched the ball backward to freshman Nate Bailey, who sprinted the remaining distance from the 8-yard line for the winning touchdown as time expired.
The finish sent the home crowd into celebration and pushed Harvard to 3-0 on the season, putting the Crimson atop the Ivy League standings. Colgate, a Patriot League member, fell to 4-2.
Bailey finished the night with 197 yards receiving on 16 catches and a touchdown — the most receiving yards by a Harvard player since Kyle Juszczyk set the mark in 2012. Juszczyk, now in his 11th NFL season, currently plays fullback for the San Francisco 49ers.
Both teams had entered the game ranked in the Stats Perform poll, with Harvard at No. 20 and Colgate at No. 22.
Colgate appeared poised to pull off the upset after quarterback Jake Stearney directed a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Matt Fogler, giving the Raiders a 17-14 lead with just 27 seconds remaining. That left Harvard enough time for one final possession — and the dramatic finish that followed.
Not the Only Hail Mary of the Season
Harvard’s finish is the second headline-grabbing Hail Mary of the college football season. On Sept. 5, Michigan beat Western Michigan 13-12 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on a 47-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryce Underwood to JJ Buchanan. That score came only after officials mistakenly ruled there was one second left on the clock following an incomplete pass thrown out of the end zone as time had expired.
The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee later determined that replay protocols had not been properly followed on that play, which affected the outcome of the game — though the result could not be overturned. Michigan has since lost its last two Big Ten games, to Iowa and Minnesota, and stands at 3-2.
Harvard, meanwhile, will look to carry its momentum forward when it travels to face Cornell on Saturday. Colgate next hosts Georgetown on Oct. 17.
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