Yale at Holy Cross
Holy Cross (0‑3) hosts Yale. Too early for a market line, but the model likes Yale (59%).
How they got here
Last three games · 2025 season
Yale · 9-3
Picked #211 to start the year.
L 13–21 @ Montana State #48 of 668
W 43–42 @ Youngstown State #132 of 668
won by 1 as a 4.5-point underdog
W 45–28 vs Harvard #150 of 668
won by 17 as a 6.5-point underdog
W 13–10 @ Princeton #211 of 668
won by 3 as a 8.5-point favorite
W 34–22 @ Brown #228 of 668
won by 12 as a 13.5-point favorite
W 24–10 vs Columbia #241 of 668
won by 14 as a 21.5-point favorite
W 35–13 vs Pennsylvania #215 of 668
won by 22 as a 6.5-point favorite
W 47–7 vs Stonehill #246 of 668
won by 40 as a 21.5-point favorite
L 16–17 @ Dartmouth #203 of 668
lost by 1 as a 2.5-point underdog
L 13–31 @ Lehigh #143 of 668
lost by 18 as a 4.5-point underdog
W 41–24 vs Cornell #234 of 668
won by 17 as a 19.5-point favorite
W 28–10 vs Holy Cross #186 of 668
won by 18 as a 6.5-point favorite
Last three games
Holy Cross · 0-3
Picked #198 in the preseason · now #232.
Three straight losses, each by 20 or more.
L 7–45 @ Miami (OH) #87 of 669
lost by 38 as a 30.5-point underdog
L 10–35 @ Colgate #211 of 669
lost by 25 as a 4.5-point underdog
L 10–35 vs Lehigh #142 of 669
lost by 25 as a 14-point underdog
What’s at stake
Yale
- Yale football is American football—literally. Walter Camp, a Yale player and coach, invented the sport as we know it. The Bulldogs carry that origin story with historic pride, balancing Ivy League tradition with a recent breakthrough into national playoff competition.
Holy Cross
- Holy Cross is 3 games back in Patriot with 7 left to make it up.
- Holy Cross is still shaking off a 38-point loss.
The series
Yale leads the series 21-7
28 meetings since 1903 · Yale has won the last 2
- 2025Yale 28–10
- 2024Yale 38–31
- 2023Holy Cross 49–24
- 2022Holy Cross 38–14
- 2021Holy Cross 20–17
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Yale
The chip · vs the national mediaThe Ivy League was excluded from playoff football for decades while lesser conferences participated. The 2025 entry into FCS playoffs vindicated the league's argument that non-scholarship football can compete nationally.
What this game touches
Diminished from national dominance to conference-only relevance. Yale won 27 national championships, including 26 of 38 years from 1872–1909. The Bulldogs were the elite program of football's founding era. In the modern Ivy League (1954 onward), Yale has won 14 titles but has not competed for national crowns except through the newly available FCS playoffs (2025+). The wound is historical and accepted, not fresh—but it frames every season.
Holy Cross
The chipFans here believe no chip — Holy Cross owns the pride. The program dominated the Patriot League in a way few others have. The chip isn't external; it's the internal drive to maintain an elite standard.
What this game touches
The coaching transition from the dynasty builder. Holy Cross won six consecutive Patriot League championships (2019-2024) — the most in conference history — under a coaching regime. The wound is not failure but succession: new coach Dan Curran took over in 2025, and the program faces the immediate test of whether the dynasty survives the transition. Early returns: 3-9 (3-4 Patriot League) in Curran's first full season.
Conditions
67°F · 2 mph wind
Home-field advantage: Bottom third of FBS.
0% at home, 20% on the road against FBS opponents (0–0 home, 2–8 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -4.7 at home vs. away over 50 games — inside the ±6.8 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
The visitors travel about 87 miles to get here.