From the beginning of the Ivy League football season, many predicted that by the second-to-last week, there would be a tie atop the standings.
Almost everyone, including the YES Network, predicted that it would be Penn and Harvard duking it out in Boston for first place in the Ivies.
Instead the Quakers and the Crimson are looking up, both one game behind league co-leaders Brown and Princeton with two games to play. And from the way the rest of the schedule looks, it appears that there might be a champion other than Penn or Harvard for the first time since 1999.
Yale (3-5, 3-2) at Princeton (6-2, 4-1)
This week could be the final test for the Tigers, who travel to Dartmouth for the final week of the season in their quest for their first Ivy title since 1995.
Princeton is coming off what is arguably its biggest win in the last 10 years -- a 30-13, dominant performance over Penn in front of a boisterous crowd at Franklin Field.
Princeton junior Jeff Terrell, in his first year at the helm of the Tigers' offense, is doing everything right despite not putting up impressive numbers. He threw for three touchdown passes against a tough Quakers defense last week, but still ranks only sixth in the Ivy League in passing (172.5 ypg).
The Elis, on the other hand, come in with the No. 1 passing offense in the Ancient Eight. Senior quarterback Jeff Mroz leads the Ivies with over 260 yards per game through the air. He also has accumulated over 2,000 yards of total offense so far this season, well ahead of any other Ivy quarterback.
Things might change when Mroz tries to challenge the Tigers secondary, led by All-Ivy senior Jay McCareins, who leads the league in interceptions with six.
McCareins and his teammates forced Quakers quarterback Pat McDermott to throw for a career-high four interceptions last weekend.
But don't expect Yale to go down without a fight. The Elis are tied for third with Penn and Harvard, meaning they are not entirely out of the championship picture. They are also coming off a blowout win over Columbia, in which they posted 31 points in the second quarter.
The biggest weakness for Yale is its rush defense. The Elis gave up nearly 200 yards to Brown's Nick Hartigan in a 38-21 loss last week.
While the Tigers do not possess an Ivy League-leading rusher like Hartigan, they were still able to amass 187 rushing yards against the Quakers, distributed among three different rushers.
If Princeton can control the game with its running attack and reasonably restrain Yale's passing game, then the Tigers should complete their home schedule one win away from an Ivy title.
Dartmouth (2-6, 1-4) at No. 20 Brown (7-1, 4-1)
If it wasn't for a 42-yard missed field goal by Ivy League-leading kicker Steve Morgan on Sept. 24, the Bears could have captured the Ivy League title outright with a win this weekend over the Big Green.
Instead, the Bears suffered their only loss of the season in a double-overtime contest at Harvard.
But with Ivy League bottom-feeders Dartmouth and Columbia left on their schedule, the Bears should be a lock for capturing at least a share of the title, right?
Not so fast.
If you recall last season, the final game was a trap game for Brown. The Bears were held scoreless through three quarters by the Big Green's tough defense, and Dartmouth secured its only win of the season with a 20-7 victory.
True, that game was played at Dartmouth instead of the friendly confines of Providence, R.I., where the Bears are undefeated so far this season.
Brown's offense is much more potent this year, with senior Nick Hartigan leading Division I-AA in rushing with 163.13 yards per game.
But the Big Green returned seven starters on its defensive front this year, and if any team can slow down Brown's grinding offense, it would be Dartmouth.
The caveat is that the Big Green seems to be unable to generate its own offensive attack. They are second-to-last in both scoring offense and scoring defense, ahead of only Columbia.
Freshman quarterback Josh Cohen must have a spectacular day for Dartmouth to have any chance of scoring the upset.
Columbia (2-6, 0-5) at Cornell (4-4, 2-3)
Two teams that are already out of the Ivy championship picture will play for bragging rights at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y.
The Big Red looked like it could be a contender early in the season, but close losses to Brown and Princeton forced them to the middle of the Ancient Eight pack.
An interesting reason to watch Cornell would be to see its two-pronged rushing attack. Sophomore runningback Luke Siwula and senior quarterback Ryan Kuhn rank third and fourth, respectively, in the Ivy League for rushing yards per game.
Columbia's anemic offense and penetrable defense should not pose a threat to the Big Red as it tries to secure its first four-win home season since 1999.
Under second-year coach Jim Knowles, Cornell will look to post a .500 record only two years removed from a 1-9 season.
