The 1948 Harvard Crimson football team was an American football team that represented Harvard University during the 1948 college football season. In its 1st season under head coach Arthur Valpey, the team compiled a 4–4 record and were outscored by a total of 184 to 130.^[1]

Harvard was ranked at No. 61 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System ratings for 1948.^[2]

Harvard played its home games at Harvard Stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 2	Columbia		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA	W 33–24	20,000	^[3]
October 9	at Cornell	No. 18	Schoellkopf Field Ithaca, NY	L 6–40	25,000	^[4]
October 16	at No. 5 Army		Michie Stadium West Point, NY	L 7–20	26,921	^[5]
October 23	Dartmouth		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA (rivalry)	L 7–14	46,000	^[6]
October 30	Holy Cross		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA	W 20–13	35,000	^[7]
November 6	at Princeton		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	L 7–47	37,000	^[8]
November 13	Brown		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA	W 30–19	25,000	^[9]
November 20	Yale		Harvard Stadium Boston, MA (The Game)	W 20–7	57,495	^[10]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final
AP	18	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

^ "1948 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
^ "Michigan, Irish Finish 1-2 in Litkenhous Ratings". Wilmington Morning News. December 15, 1948. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Danzig, Allison (October 3, 1948). "Harvard Beats Columbia, 33-24; Lions Are Baffled". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.
^ Miller, Vern (October 10, 1948). "Smooth Cornell Eleven Blasts Harvard Hopes, 40-6". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 41 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Young, Dick (October 17, 1948). "Army's Stephenson Rips Harvard, 20-7". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. p. C44 – via Newspapers.com.
^ McGowen, Roscoe (October 26, 1948). "Dartmouth Halts Harvard by 14 to 7". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.
^ Nason, Jerry (October 31, 1948). "Harvard Rebounds to Beat H.C., 20-13". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Hand, Jack (November 7, 1948). "Princeton Runs Up Record 47-7 Score in Routing Harvard". The Sunday Times. New Brunswick, N.J. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Harvard Is Victor over Brown, 30-19". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. November 14, 1948. p. S1.
^ Trimble, Joe (November 21, 1948). "Cantabs End 7-Yr. Eli Drought, 20-7". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. p. 105 – via Newspapers.com.

v t e Harvard Crimson football
Venues	Boston Baseball Grounds (1877–1881) Holmes Field (1881–1882, 1888) Jarvis Field (1883–1893) Soldier's Field (1894–1903) Harvard Stadium (1903–present)
Bowls and rivalries	1920 Rose Bowl Dartmouth Penn Princeton Yale
Culture and lore	"Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" 1874 McGill game 1921 Centre game 1968 Yale game (Harvard Beats Yale 29–29) 2004 Harvard–Yale prank
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
National championship seasons in bold