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Harvard completes crazy Hail Mary play to stun Colgate

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Cite

Holmlund, T. (2026, October 4). Harvard completes crazy Hail Mary play to stun Colgate. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/04/sports/harvard-completes-crazy-hail-mary-play-to-stun-colgate/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-04 · by Ted Holmlund

Quick Summary

Harvard secured a 20-17 win over Colgate on Saturday night when quarterback Charlie Smitth threw a Hail Mary pass that was caught by Teigan Pelletier and lateraled to freshman Nate Bailey for the game-winning touchdown with four seconds left. Bailey had an impressive performance, racking up 197 receiving yards and a touchdown on 16 receptions. This victory kept Harvard undefeated at 3-0, while Colgate fell to 4-2. The article also mentions another recent Hail Mary win by Michigan over Western Michigan but notes that the NCAA later ruled the call incorrect due to replay protocol errors.
Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In a thrilling game on Saturday, Harvard stunned Colgate with a last-second Hail Mary play, winning 20-17 in Cambridge, Mass. With just four seconds left and trailing 17-14, Harvard quarterback Charlie Smith threw to tight end Teigan Pelletier at the Colgate 5-yard line. As Pelletier was tackled by two defenders, he lateraled the ball to freshman Nate Bailey, who ran it in for a touchdown. Bailey finished with 197 yards receiving, the most by a Crimson player since Kyle Juszczyk's 138 yards in 2012.

Colgate had seemed poised to win after Jake Stearney led a late-game drive ending with his 13-yard scoring pass to Matt Fogler, putting them ahead 17-14 with 27 seconds remaining. Both teams are now preparing for upcoming games: Harvard will face Cornell, while Colgate hosts Georgetown on October 17th.

Written for “Harvard Wins Hail Mary Play” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Harvard Wins Hail Mary Play
Sports · 3 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 64/100
Fox News
Hedges 2 of 19 claims Outlet record 69/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 15824 article(s) · 35 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 35 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Ted Holmlund
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Earlier, Jeff Passan of ESPN speculated that Misiorowski may have suffered a cramp because he saw trainers come out to the mound with a drink for the 24-year-old right-hander.
🔮 But later in the month, the NCAA announced later in the month that the call was wrong, but couldn’t be changed.
2026-10-04 · assertive framing · Harvard completes crazy Hail Mary play to stun Colgate
Also by Ted Holmlund
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Colgate Crimson Harvard Michigan Raiders

Subjects

Harvard ORG · 6× Colgate ORG · 5× Crimson ORG · 3× Michigan GPE · 2× Raiders ORG · 2× Cambridge GPE · 1× Charlie Smitth PERSON · 1× Nate Bailey PERSON · 1× Teigan Pelletier PERSON · 1× the Ivy League ORG · 1×

Narrative

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.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04
🔮 But later in the month, the NCAA announced later in the month that the call was wrong, but couldn’t be changed.
2026-10-04 · New York Post
Harvard completes crazy Hail Mary play to stun Colgate · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 0 hedged)

Harvard’s undefeated season was about to come crashing down. asserted
season → come → ?
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 asserted
seconds → answer → line
, Crimson quarterback Charlie Smitth drifted to his left and heaved a pass that was caught at the 5 by Teigan Pelletier. asserted
that → drift → 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. asserted
crowd → attempt → game
With the miraculous victory, Harvard improved to 3-0 and are in first place in the Ivy League. asserted
Harvard → improve → League
Colgate, a member of the Patriot League fell to 4-2. asserted
Colgate → fall → 4
Bailey finished with 197 yards receiving — the most by a Crimson player since Kyle Juszczyk in 2012 — and a touchdown on 16 receptions. asserted
Bailey → finish → receptions
Harvard, who travels to face Cornell on Saturday, entered ranked 20th in the Stats Perform poll. asserted
who → travel → poll
Colgate, who next hosts Georgetown on Oct. 17, entered 22nd. asserted
who → host → Oct.
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. asserted
that → appear → seconds
But it was enough time for Harvard to win in a clasic. asserted
Harvard → win → clasic
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. asserted
Michigan → take → teams
The winning score came when Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan for a 47-yard touchdown pass. asserted
Underwood → win → 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. asserted
officials → come → clock
But later in the month, the NCAA announced later in the month that the call was wrong, but couldn’t be changed. asserted
call → announce → month
The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee said that proper replay protocols weren’t followed, which altered the game’s outcome. asserted
which → say → outcome
Despite that fortunate win, Michigan (3-2) is struggling now, having dropped its last two Big Ten games to Iowa and Minnesota, respectively. asserted
Michigan → struggle → Iowa
The Crimson, on the other hand, will be hoping to build more momentum off their improbable Hail Mary victory. asserted
Crimson → hop → victory
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