Charlie Smith's 2 touchdown passes help Harvard topple Princeton 35-7 in Ivy League showdown

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Charlie Smith threw two touchdown passes and Harvard rolled in the second half to defeat Princeton 35-7 on Saturday in a matchup of early leaders in the Ivy League.

The Crimson (6-0, 3-0), ranked No. 15 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, took sole possession of first place. Princeton (4-2, 2-1) fell into a second-place tie with Dartmouth.

Smith completed 15 of 20 passes for 154 yards in the first half. His 26-yard touchdown pass to Henry Shoemaker led the Crimson to a 13-0 lead at halftime. Smith finished 22-of-28 for 230 yards.

Harvard broke the game open in the second half with backup quarterback Kise Flannery's 18-yard TD pass to Teigan Pelletier, Smith's 18-yard touchdown to Tafari Moe and Dorsey Benefield's 32-yard fumble return for the final touchdown.

Benefield led Harvard with eight total tackles.

Quarterbacks Ty Ciongoli and Wyatt Becker combined to go 20-for-28 passing for 127 yards for the Tigers. Princeton's score was an 8-yard pass from Becker to Aidan Besselman.

Harvard and Princeton first played in 1877. Harvard leads the series 61-50-7.

Up next

Harvard: at Dartmouth on Friday.

Princeton: vs. Cornell next Saturday. ——-

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.