Harvard’s undefeated season was about to come crashing down.
But then a Hail Mary football prayer was answered, and Harvard slipped past Colgate, 20-17, on Saturday night in Cambridge, Mass.
With Harvard at the Colgate 44-yard line with four seconds remaining, Crimson quarterback Charlie Smitth drifted to his left and heaved a pass that was caught at the 5 by Teigan Pelletier.
As two Raiders defenders were attempting to bring down the big tight end — who is 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds — pitched the ball back on a lateral to freshman Nate Bailey who ran it in from the 8 to end the game as the home crowd went nuts.
With the miraculous victory, Harvard improved to 3-0 and are in first place in the Ivy League.
Colgate, a member of the Patriot League fell to 4-2.
Bailey finished with 197 yards receiving — the most by a Crimson player since Kyle Juszczyk in 2012 — and a touchdown on 16 receptions. Juszczyk, currently a 49ers veteran fullback, is in his 11th season.
Harvard, who travels to face Cornell on Saturday, entered ranked 20th in the Stats Perform poll. Colgate, who next hosts Georgetown on Oct. 17, entered 22nd.
The Raiders appeared to be headed toward their fifth win of the season after Jake Stearney led a 13-play, 75-yard drive that ended with his 13-yard scoring pass to Matt Fogler to give Colgate a 17-14 lead with 27 seconds remaining.
But it was enough time for Harvard to win in a clasic.
Nevertheless, this wasn’t the first big Hail Mary conversion in college football this season.
Michigan took advantage of a second chance at a game-ending Hail Mary to survive and hold on to a 13-12 win over Western Michigan on Sept. 5 at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich, the opening game for both teams.
The winning score came when Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown pass. But it came after Underwood threw the ball out of the end zone on his first attempt as time expired, but officials mistakenly said there was a second on the clock.
But later in the month, the NCAA announced later in the month that the call was wrong, but couldn’t be changed.
The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee said that proper replay protocols weren’t followed, which altered the game’s outcome.
Despite that fortunate win, Michigan (3-2) is struggling now, having dropped its last two Big Ten games to Iowa and Minnesota, respectively.
The Crimson, on the other hand, will be hoping to build more momentum off their improbable Hail Mary victory.
— with AP
