Last weekend's Princeton loss to Cornell makes a Harvard-Penn showdown for the Ivy League title seem imminent.
Both teams are undefeated in the Ancient Eight, and every other team has at least two losses with just three weeks left in the Ivy League schedule.
But both the Quakers and the Crimson still have to keep winning to avoid falling behind the other, and last weekend proved that a loss for either of the two teams is not out of the question.
Penn needed a last-minute touchdown drive to beat Brown at home, and Harvard escaped Dartmouth by the narrowest of margins, winning by a single point, 13-12.
Ivy League football seems to be tightening up in much the same way that basketball has. The difference between the haves and have nots simply is not as great as it once was.
This should make for a competitive and exciting final three weeks. With that in mind, here's a look at how this weekend's Ivy League games stack up.
Columbia (1-6, 1-3 Ivy)
at Harvard (7-0, 4-0)
Somebody finally shut down Clifton Dawson.
Who thought a week ago that it would be Dartmouth? But it was the winless Big Green that held Dawson to 69 yards on 21 carries and kept the sophomore from Scarborough, Ontario, out of the end zone for the first time this season.
In fact, it took a missed two-point conversion by Dartmouth with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter to preserve the win for the Crimson.
Harvard is such a talented team, and has so much at stake, that it is hard to imagine a slip-up this weekend at home against Columbia. But if Harvard looks past the Lions, as it appeared it did against the Big Green, Columbia could ruin the Nov. 13 matchup of league unbeatens.
The Lions have become a different team since tight end Wade Fletcher returned to the lineup. Fletcher almost single-handedly led his team to victory over Yale last weekend with a seven-catch, two-touchdown performance.
The smart money says that the Crimson responds to Dartmouth's wake-up call and builds momentum for the Penn game with a resounding victory.
Yale (4-3, 2-2)
at Brown (4-3, 1-3)
Brown deserved a better fate than it got after it played Penn tough at Franklin Field last weekend.
The Bears were one play away, a fumble by star running back Nick Hartigan, from beating the Quakers. Not only did they fall short of the victory, but they also lost starting quarterback Anthony Vita for the season with a wrist injury.
Joe DiGiacomo, Brown's starting quarterback earlier this season, will get the call this weekend against the Elis. His job will be very simple: give the ball to Hartigan, who should have no trouble against a Yale squad that gave up 169 yards to Penn's Sam Mathews.
Yale sleepwalked through a 21-14 win over Columbia last weekend, a game in which both teams went scoreless in the second half. This team has done nothing to excite anyone this season, from its shocking loss to Cornell in its season-opening league game to last week.
Quarterback Alvin Cowan has been a disappointment this season after being mentioned as a Walter Payton Award candidate at the outset of the year. Cowan has thrown just six interceptions, but has not made nearly enough big plays for the Elis to be a factor in the Ivy League race. If Cowan can reverse this trend, Yale can pick up the win on the road.
Dartmouth (0-7, 0-4)
at Cornell (2-5, 2-2)
It wasn't a win, but last weekend's close loss to Harvard was certainly a start for the Big Green, which scared the living daylights out of the Crimson before succumbing at the last minute.
More importantly, Dartmouth may have found two pieces to its offensive puzzle. Freshman Chad Gaudet rescued an anemic Big Green running game by running for 102 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. And in his first start, quarterback Dan Shula, yes he is a Shula, acquitted himself nicely in his first start.
Cornell continued on its path back to respectability by winning its second league game of the year, 21-20, over Princeton.
The big question in this one is how well Shula and Gaudet will hold up against an improved Cornell defense. If the youngsters hold their own, Dartmouth could walk away with its first win of the year.
