They've been sitting at home watching football for the last two Saturdays, but now it's time to go out and play.
The eight Ivy League football teams will be playing their openers across the nation from New York to San Diego tomorrow.
And where better to start than with a team that last lost in 2003?
Harvard at Holy Cross
Coach Tim Murphy and the Crimson are looking to extend that streak when they take on the Crusaders in Worcester, Mass.
The Crusaders have scored 52 points per game in their two contests this season.
No, not 52 combined. That's 52 per game.
A 56-21 beatdown against Sacred Heart and a 48-6 win over Georgetown ought to get the Harvard defense ready to play.
Clifton Dawson can do the rest.
Colgate at Dartmouth
With Colgate, who knows? One week it's an embarrassing home loss to mid-major Central Connecticut State. The next, it's a win over nationally-ranked Massachusetts.
But then again, who really knows with Dartmouth? In year one of the Buddy Teevens sequel, the Big Green can't go anywhere but up.
Dartmouth is solid on defense, and the Raiders' offense has been hit-or-miss, so an upset isn't out of the question.
Princeton at Lafayette
Princeton has all kinds of issues on offense with plenty of new faces and old faces playing new positions.
Offense may not matter that much, though. Just ask Lafayette. Last week, the Leopards saw their seven points hold up in a 7-0 win against a Richmond team that missed three field goals.
And with Princeton football's offense looking as questionable as their basketball offense, first to seven may win again.
Bucknell at Cornell
What ever happened to the Bison?
Last year they were taking Penn to double overtime. This year, they're losing to teams like Georgetown and Stony Brook.
Give Cornell -- one of three teams to finish 2004 Ivy play over .500 -- the big edge in this one from Ithaca.
Brown at Georgetown
Nick Hartigan ought to be drooling about getting on the field against the Hoyas defense.
Georgetown allowed 226 rushing yards to Holy Cross last week, and facing one of Division I-AA's top backs was certainly not what the doctor ordered.
The Bears still have a quarterback question to answer with Joe DiGiacomo and Anthony Vita having split time last year. But with the Hoyas' porous defense up against them, maybe the question can wait a week.
Yale at San Diego
Just as Penn did last year, the Elis are taking their opening day show on the road to take on the Toreros.
The visitors wouldn't mind getting the same result.
Penn lit up the scoreboard in a 61-18 rout to start the 2004 season, but Yale may have more difficulty as the ranks of their skill position players -- including quarterback Alvin Cowan, wide receiver Ralph Plumb and tailback Robert Carr -- were decimated by graduation.
San Diego's defensive stats are impressive, but playing Azusa Pacific and Southern Oregon is not the same as playing Yale.
Columbia at Fordham
All of New York will be glued to this intracity rivalry.
OK, maybe not all of New York.
OK, maybe nobody.
The Rams have stunk it up in losses to Rhode Island and Duquesne, while the Lions have not put together a winning season since 1996.
So find something else to do.
Apparently, that's not to hard in New York.
