Yale Athletics

The Yale football team (1–1, 1–0 Ivy) will play their first home game of the season on Saturday when they square off against the Howard Bison (1–3, 0–0 MEAC) in the NAACP Harmony Classic. 

The game will be marked by special events for the occasion. The full schedule for the day can be found online, but highlights include the honorary coin toss by Howard University President Wayne Frederick and a performance at halftime by the Howard University “Showtime” Marching Band.

“It’s pretty cool,” defensive lineman Oso Ifesinachukwu ’23 said. “Obviously they’re a great team, so [we’re] always excited to play good competition. And it’s a historic matchup, the first [time] ever happening. Obviously that’s a really cool experience to be a part of.”

On the field, the matchup should prove to be a slugfest between a battle-tested Howard team and a Yale squad coming off of a blowout win at Cornell. 

Howard boasts one of the best quarterbacks the Bulldogs will face all season in senior Quinton Williams, a prolific pocket passer who, at 6’5” and 200 pounds, can be difficult to bring down. Williams also has the ability to make nearly any throw on the field, as he averages 236.5 passing yards in four games this season.

The Bulldogs will look to slow Williams down with their ferocious defensive line, which has nine sacks in its two games. Multiple players along the line have begun to garner the attention of NFL scouts, namely Ifesinachukwu, who has four sacks and 11 tackles on the season.

“He is an NFL prospect,” head coach Tony Reno said of Ifesinachukwu. “We’ve had [scouts from] half the NFL [teams] here already and the other half scheduled to be here in the next few weeks to look at him and Mason [Tipton ’24] and their teammates. He’s on [draft] boards throughout the league.”

While Howard’s offensive coaches will certainly be focused on slowing down Ifesinachukwu, the Bison’s defensive gameplan will likely be keyed into stopping a less well-known player in first-year running back Joshua Pitsenberger ’26.

After gaining 50 yards on nine carries in his first collegiate game, Pitsenberger exploded onto the scene in week two against Cornell. The first-year back was handed the ball 17 times for 93 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, while also tacking on a receiving touchdown. 

The strong performance saw Pitsenberger earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week and raised eyebrows around the conference. Least surprised by the breakout performance were his teammates, among them star wide receiver Tipton.  

“It’s honestly real cool to see how he’s been playing,” Tipton said of Pitsenberger. “Especially putting it on film on Saturday. He’s been doing it in practice, so now that he’s putting it on film on Saturday is really cool.”

The Bulldogs and Bison will kick off at the Class of 1954 Field at the Yale Bowl at noon on Saturday. The game will mark the first at the Bowl in 315 days.