Yale, Harvard Students Put Politics Aside To Party, Watch Football & That’s Beautifully American | Dan Zaksheske

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Harvard vs. Yale is one of the longest-running rivalries in American college football with the two schools meeting for the 139th time on Saturday in southern Connecticut.

Known simple as "The Game," the rivalry takes on new meaning with the recent outbreak of far-left politics across college campuses in the United States.

Having recently spent time on the Harvard campus, I came into the day expecting to see more political messaging and demonstrating on Yale's campus leading up to Saturday's match.

I was pleasantly surprised. What I saw was a typical fall Saturday on a college campus. I attended college at Penn State, so let's just say I know my way around a college football tailgate.

Now, this is not to compare Yale to Penn State. The scale of Yale's tailgate pales in comparison to those you see around the SEC or the Big Ten.

However, they contain one important commonality. That's college kids being college kids.

What I mean is that I saw exactly what you'd hope to see 18-22-year-old kids doing before a big football game: partying.

Walking around the grounds outside the Yale Bowl, I saw cases and cases of Busch Light and Natural Light. There were bottles of liquor with music pumping.

Students partying prior to the 2023 Yale-Harvard game.

Students pounded Busch Lights prior to Harvard-Yale, and that makes OutKick's Zach Dean very happy to see them smashing "America's beer"

Here's what I did not see: anything political. Not one Palestinian banner. No Pride flags.

Just a bunch of kids donning their schools colors dancing, drinking, throwing footballs, playing cornhole, and shotgunning beers.

It was refreshing. And, it served as a reminder that though Americans have a wide range of political views, we often agree on one thing: football is awesome.

All college football entrances are sweet, and Yale was no different ahead of Harvard matchup

After hitting the tailgates, I headed to the stadium to see the Yale players enter the stadium. Once again, this isn't the Big Ten or the SEC. We all understand that.

Still, a crowd gathered as the marching band and cheerleaders led the Yale football players into the stadium prior to The Game.

Once again, nothing but chants of "Here we go, Yale!" and "Let's go Bulldogs!" No mention of Israel, Palestine or anything outside the game of football.

I found myself realizing that even on these far-left-leaning college campuses, many of the students just want to have a good time. They want to hang out and watch football; to cheer for their school on a Saturday afternoon in November.

As much as we often segregate ourselves, I saw the unity that college football brings out in many Americans.

Although, the college football rivalry spirit still remains. The Harvard marching band took the field about 20 minutes prior to kickoff. A Harvard announcer introduced them over the P.A. system by welcoming the Crimson band to midfield of "this sorry excuse for a stadium." Shots fired!

She's not wrong. The stadium is less-than-impressive. Looks like they built it prior to the first Harvard-Yale game and never updated it.

There was another funny moment when another media member saw my OutKick shirt and remarked, "OutKick? This is the last game I'd expect to see you guys attend."

He's also not wrong. I didn't come for the football, per se. Really, we wanted to see what the atmosphere was like for a game between these two institutions that have become known for their political stances more than their education or athletics.

And, to my personal delight, it looked like a typical American college football game.

The two schools even had their marching bands perform the American National Anthem together to cheers from the sparse crowd on a chilly November Saturday.

College football still brings people together.

And that's beautifully American.