We launched Indy Sportsbook last January to bring you the foremost gambling content of any student publication at Harvard. In the ensuing months, we have covered everything from the NFL and Women’s World Cup to professional cycling and competitive darts. There are picks we look back on with pride and others that we try hard to forget. Yet despite encouraging you to risk your money on nearly everything imaginable, there is one gaping hole in our resume—Harvard sports.
It may seem positively inane that a gambling column for a Harvard newspaper has never discussed the sports of its own school, but there are good reasons for that. First, we know many of these athletes personally, and could not in good conscience give you unbiased predictions about their performance—betting against our blockmates would feel pretty wrong. Second, lines for many college teams come out extremely late, making it impossible for us to both write about them and meet our deadlines. For example, Bovada posts FCS lines (the division Harvard Football plays in) an hour before most games kick-off. You cannot bet on what you do not know.
With all that said, this is no ordinary Harvard sports weekend. This is The Game. We could not pass up the opportunity to write about it, particularly considering it is the theme of this entire issue and arguably the most important Harvard game of the year across all sports. Without further ado, here are our 100% biased picks for Harvard-Yale, complete with entirely fabricated lines.
Moneyline: Harvard (-130). Yale, who are 6-3, have won six of its last seven games, are gearing up for this historic clash, and have been playing some of their best football. While both teams have been playing well as of late, we think that Harvard, having just clinched the Ivy League, has a slight edge going into New Haven this weekend. However, this affair is not as one-sided as some people think. This season, Yale is ranked second in the Ivy League, and this matchup is always close no matter the year. Indy Sportsbook backs Harvard to win away this year and finish the season strong by beating our rivals at their home field.
Spread: Harvard (-1.5) (-105). While we are not huge fans of betting the spread when the line is this close, we do think it is the better value bet. Consider this a moneyline bet with slightly better odds. As long as the Crimson wins by greater than a single point, both bets should hit. Take the spread for slightly more bang for your buck.
Total Points: Under 53.5. The weather this Saturday is supposed to be cold, rainy, and not the best for scoring points. While these teams both have offenses that have been firing on all cylinders as of late, we think that weather can impact play a lot (especially at the collegiate level), and we anticipate the game to have less offense than usual. While there is an argument to be made that this will be a shootout, we think the game will turn out to be a back-and-forth defensive battle.
Turnovers: Over 2.5. Neither of these teams has been turning the ball over recently, thanks to strong performances by their starting quarterbacks. However, college football can be a bit unpredictable, and we think that the tension of such a big game may lead to one or two mistakes. When coupled with the aforementioned bad weather, we foresee a game where the ball changes hands several times.
Field Goals: Over 2.5 (-110). The weather is once again at the forefront of our minds here, making us think that Harvard and Yale are going to have trouble punching the ball into the endzone on Saturday. They will have to rely on the legs of their kickers to put them ahead. While college kickers are not always the most reliable, we think that both of them are going to be locked in on Saturday. It is generally tough to kick the ball when it is raining and wet, but we expect to see a lot of FG attempts and end up with over 2.5 field goals.
If all goes well for the Crimson on Saturday, this column will have helped you make up for all the tickets and drinks you bought the night before. Your pockets may sting even more if Yale wins, but we would not have it any other way. At the very least, we hope you use these picks as motivation to leave the tailgate a little early this year and attend the game. Nothing screams school spirit more than scaring everyone in your section by relentlessly keeping track of field goal attempts.
Declan Buckley ’24 (declanbuckley@college.harvard.edu) and Luke Wagner ’26 (lukewagner@college.harvard.edu) will be anxiously awaiting the real lines for this game to drop.