Harvard stunned Colgate 20-17 on Saturday night in Cambridge, Mass., finishing the game on a Hail Mary pass and lateral with four seconds left.
Trailing by three, Harvard had the ball at the Colgate 44-yard line with four seconds remaining. Quarterback Charlie Smitth rolled left and threw deep. Tight end Teigan Pelletier, who is 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, caught the ball at the 5-yard line. As two Colgate defenders closed in to tackle him, Pelletier lateraled the ball to freshman Nate Bailey, who ran it in from the 8-yard line for the game-winning touchdown.
The win pushed Harvard to 3-0 on the season and put the Crimson in first place in the Ivy League. Colgate, a Patriot League member, fell to 4-2.
Bailey finished the game with 197 yards receiving and a touchdown on 16 receptions. That yardage total is the most by a Harvard player since Kyle Juszczyk in 2012. Juszczyk, now in his 11th season, currently plays fullback for the San Francisco 49ers.
Both teams entered the matchup ranked nationally in the Stats Perform poll, with Harvard at No. 20 and Colgate at No. 22.
Colgate appeared to have the game in hand after quarterback Jake Stearney led a 13-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Matt Fogler, giving the Raiders a 17-14 lead with 27 seconds left. That left just enough time for Harvard’s final-play answer.
Harvard travels to face Cornell next Saturday. Colgate hosts Georgetown on Oct. 17.
Not the Season’s First Hail Mary Finish
Harvard’s win marks the second notable Hail Mary finish of the college football season. On Sept. 5 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan beat Western Michigan 13-12 in the season opener for both programs when quarterback Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan on a 47-yard touchdown pass.
That Michigan win came only after officials mistakenly ruled one second remained on the clock following an earlier incomplete pass by Underwood that had gone out of the end zone as time expired. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee later said proper replay protocols were not followed and that the error altered the outcome of the game, though the result could not be changed.
Michigan has since lost its last two Big Ten games, to Iowa and Minnesota, and stands at 3-2. Harvard, meanwhile, heads into its Cornell matchup looking to carry its improbable win forward.
