Head coach Dick Harlow returned for his ninth year, after a two-year gap while serving in the Navy.
[1] The team compiled a 5–3 record and outscored its opponents 161 to 80.
[2] During Harlow's absence, Harvard played a shortened "informal" schedule in 1943 and 1944, lacking its traditional Ivy League opponents.
Harlow's return from military service, as well as the renewal of ties with Ivy opponents Brown and Yale, made 1945 a transition year.
The university's record book omits the "informal" designation for 1945, but contemporary press accounts describe that year's program as "informal" and preparing for a return to the top tier of college football in 1946.