CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP)—Chris Pizzotti passed for 376 yards and four touchdowns as Harvard hammered Columbia, 42-28, on Saturday.
Harvard (7-1, 4-1 Ivy League) is now tied for the Ivy League lead with Brown, which lost to Yale on Saturday. Brown beat Harvard earlier this season.
Levi Richards caught seven passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns for Harvard. Matt Luft had six catches for 110 yards and a score and freshman Adam Chrissis added seven catches for 69 yards.
Austin Knowlin returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown and caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Shane Kelly for Columbia (1-7, 1-4).
On the game’s opening drive, Pizzotti moved Harvard 93 yards, finishing with a 14-yard scoring pass to Richards. Columbia responded with a 23-yard touchdown pass from M.A. Olawale to Zach Kourouma to take a 7-6 lead.
The lead didn’t last long. On the next play from scrimmage, Pizzotti found Matt Lordith alone in the middle of the field for a 76-yard score. Pizzotti hit Richards and Luft for scores late in the first half as Harvard stretched the lead to 28-7.
Knowlin’s punt return and a four-yard score by Olawale kept Columbia close in the second half. But Harvard’s Gino Gordon added a 4-yard touchdown run and Crimson linebacker Peter Ajayi picked off a Kelly fumble in mid-air and returned it 30 yards to make it 42-21 late in the fourth quarter.