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Harvard vs Pennsylvania: prediction and projected score

We project Harvard 29-19, a 9.9-point margin with 47.8 total points; Harvard wins 74% of the time.

Matchup analysis

Our model projects Harvard 29, Pennsylvania 19 at Franklin Field in Week 11. That is a solid edge: Harvard wins about 74% of the time by our estimate, with a projected margin of 9.9 points and 47.8 combined points. Tags: leans low scoring.

Harvard is 6-0 against the 100th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 28.5 and allowing 12.8 points per game (+15.7 per game). Pennsylvania is 3-3 against the 97th-toughest schedule so far, scoring 18.7 and allowing 18.3 points per game (+0.4 per game).

College football is noisy: even a well-rated projection misses the final margin by about 14 points on average. Based on how real results have scattered around our numbers, the final margin should land somewhere between Harvard by 32 and Pennsylvania by 13 about 80% of the time.

Pennsylvania gets about 2.1 points for playing at home. Harvard is still favoured on the road, so the ratings gap is bigger than the value of playing at home. The game is on ESPN+.

Market lines

Market lines ยท Source: The Odds API, ESPN, Action Network ยท Updated Oct 29, 11:25 AM UTC. Shown for information; not an input to our projections.

No market line has been posted for this game yet.

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Harvard vs Pennsylvania: stat comparison

Basic
StatHarvardPennsylvania
Points per game28.518.7
Points allowed per game12.818.3
Yards per play5.505.01
Yards per play allowed4.804.57
Rushing yards per game137.8114.5
Net passing yards per game234.5232.3
Rushing yards allowed per game143.2133.8
Net passing yards allowed per game165.0144.7
Turnovers per game0.831.33
Takeaways per game2.001.33
Sacks per game2.002.00
Sacks allowed per game1.501.67
Advanced
StatHarvardPennsylvania
EPA per play+0.09-0.05
EPA per play allowed+0.02-0.06
Success rate45.8%37.0%
Success rate allowed38.4%39.1%
Explosive play rate12.6%10.1%
Explosive plays allowed10.1%10.1%
Havoc rate13.3%17.7%
Havoc allowed13.9%15.4%
Points per scoring opportunity0.000.00
Points per opportunity allowed0.000.00
Average starting field positionopp 0opp 0
Opponents' starting field positionopp 0opp 0
Offensive plays per game (pace)67.769.2
Situational
StatHarvardPennsylvania
Rushing EPA per play-0.06-0.06
Passing EPA per play+0.24-0.05
Rushing EPA allowed+0.07-0.01
Passing EPA allowed-0.04-0.12
Rushing success rate42.1%35.6%
Passing success rate51.8%37.0%
Run stuff rate20.6%21.5%
Passing-down success rate36.1%30.2%
Passing-down success allowed30.5%28.1%
Third-down conversion rate44.2%41.5%
Third-down rate allowed46.1%35.4%
Red-zone touchdown rate0.0%0.0%
Red-zone TD rate allowed0.0%0.0%

# = rank among 138 FBS teams. Efficiency numbers exclude garbage time. Per-play numbers of teams with a weak schedule are pulled toward their opponent-adjusted values (fully at one standard deviation below an average schedule). Source: play-by-play (cfbfastR / sportsdataverse), aggregated by us.

More: Harvard schedule ยท Pennsylvania schedule ยท all Week 11 projections

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Projections are statistical estimates for entertainment and analysis only. They are not betting advice and nothing here guarantees any result.

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