How far away is the rest of the Ivy League from frontrunners Harvard and Penn? Cornell, last year's doormat, sits in third place.
Behind the Big Red sits a host of disappointed teams. And with the Quakers and Crimson set to fight it out for the league title tomorrow, the others get the next best thing -- the right to beat up on each other.
With that in mind, here's a look at how this weekend's Ivy League matchups stack up.
Princeton (4-4, 2-3 Ivy)
at Yale (4-4, 2-3)
These two head up the list of the league's most disappointing teams. After an encouraging start, Princeton's balloon has popped in a demoralizing three-game losing streak. The last two losses came as the result of missed kicks by the Tigers in the fourth quarter.
Yale's uninspiring season continued last weekend in a 24-17 loss to Brown. The Elis offense, so well regarded at the outset of the year, has picked up huge chunks of yardage at times this season. But the yards have not translated into enough points.
Case in point is last weekend's loss to Brown. Yale quarterback Alvin Cowan threw for 419 yards and wide receiver Ralph Plumb caught 18 passes for 258 yards. Yet the Elis scored only 17 points.
Whether Cowan gets the offense jumpstarted or not, for Yale to have a chance to win, it needs a better performance out of its rush defense. The unit has given up 155.8 yards a game, and has seen running backs such as Penn's Sam Mathews and Brown's Nick Hartigan have big afternoons. If the Tigers can get running backs Branden Benson and Jon Veach going, they could wear down the Elis.
On the other hand, Yale is at home, and the Princeton offense has not shown much firepower as a whole. This game will go to the team that wants it most, and with a substantial crowd at the Yale Bowl, that team will probably be the Elis.
Brown (5-3, 2-3)
at Dartmouth (0-8, 0-5)
An interesting matchup if only because this is probably Dartmouth's best remaining chance to win a game this season.
Quite simply, the Big Green offense is in shambles. It has averaged less than eight points per game in five Ivy League contests. Quarterback Charlie Rittgers has lost playing time to Dan Shula, and running back Chris Little has lost his starting job to freshman Chad Gaudet.
But all of these changes seem to have done little good, as the Big Green was again held to seven points in a loss to Cornell last weekend. Rittgers came on to throw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Bob Murphy, but the Dartmouth offense did virtually nothing the rest of the game.
Brown, on the other hand, comes into tomorrow's game with a considerable amount of confidence. The Bears beat Yale last weekend, and gave the Quakers all they could handle at Franklin Field two weeks ago.
The team features Hartigan, one of the Ancient Eight's biggest and most potent weapons. A year after leading Division I-AA in rushing yards per game, Hartigan has provided an encore, with 1,019 yards and 12 touchdowns.
With Dartmouth's problems on offense, Brown should be able to punish the Big Green with Mike Alstott-esque Hartigan on the way to its third Ivy League win.
Cornell (3-5, 3-2)
at Columbia (1-7, 1-4)
New Columbia Athletic Director M. Dianne Murphy started off with a bang this week by announcing her intention to change the "tradition of losing" at the school. The Lions get their first chance to impress Murphy tomorrow.
But even though the pressure is on Columbia coach Bob Shoop to win in the team's final home game of the season, it is Cornell that comes in with all the momentum.
The Big Red continued its bounce-back season with a win over Dartmouth last weekend. But all three of its wins have come at home. Finding wins on the road has been much more difficult.
This game should come down to which team can find a way to score. Aside from Dartmouth, the Big Red and the Lions contain the two most anemic offenses in the Ancient Eight.
Columbia quarterback Jeff Otis has thrown just five touchdown passes. But his Cornell counterparts, D.J. Busch and Ryan Kuhn, have thrown for just three touchdowns each.
Whichever team scores first is likely to win this one. But with the track records of these two offenses, the first score might not happen until the fourth quarter.
