Tomorrow, the Ivy League will be thrust into the national spotlight for the second time this season as part of a television deal with Versus. And what better way to show off the conference than with a showdown between a pair of 0-5 teams when Dartmouth travels to Columbia for the "Ivy League Game of the Week, presented by TIAA-CREF"?
At the very least, whatever audience is watching will see a piece of 2008 Ancient Eight history, because one of these two squads will earn its first win of the year.
On paper, Dartmouth is a far worse 0-5 than Columbia. While the Lions rank near the middle of the Ivy League in many statistical categories and have lost their games by slim margins, it seems as if no list of league leaders is complete without the Big Green at the bottom. They are last in the following: scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense, total defense, rushing offense, rushing defense, passing efficiency, opponents' first downs, penalties, red zone offense and red zone defense.
But history is on Dartmouth's side: Coach Buddy Teevens is 8-0 against Columbia, while the Big Green are 61-16-1 all-time.against the Lions (including a 41-2-1 stretch from 1954-97). And if tomorrow's game is anything like last year's - or like Columbia's games this season - Norries Wilson's men may find a way to lose, however improbable.
-Brandon Moyse
Cornell (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) at Brown (3-2, 2-0)
Brown finds itself tied for No. 1 in the Ivy, and a win tomorrow would set up a critical matchup with Penn for sole possesion of first place next weekend.
But the Bears can't look past a dangerous Cornell team, which has already upset Yale, the preseason co-favorite to win the league. In fact, if the Big Red win tomorrow, they'll be no worse than second in the Ancient Eight.
Both of these teams are in the top half of the league in scoring offense, as Brown averages 23.8 points a game and Cornell 20.4. Last year's game was high scoring, too, as the Big Red eked out a 38-31 overtime victory for its first '07 Ivy victory.
This season, Brown's passing attack has been its biggest strength. Quarterback Michael Dougherty is averaging 276.8 passing yards per game, and he threw for a conferece-record 526 yards two weekends ago in a loss to Holy Cross. This doesn't bode well for Cornell, which gave up 600 yards of offense in a 38-24 loss to Colgate last week.
- Zach Klitzman
Harvard (4-1, 1-1) at Princeton (2-3, 1-1)
Princeton could have been playing for first place if it had beaten Brown last week. But considerng the last time an Ivy League champion had two losses was 1982, tomorrow's game with Harvard will probably eliminate one team from Ivy League championship contention.
And while Princeton does have home-field advantage, most other indicators point toward a Harvard victory.
The Crimson are an offensive juggernaut, leading the league in scoring (27.8 points per game), total offense (with 423 yards per game, they're the only Ivy team averaging over 400) and passing yards (senior quarterback Chris is the only Ancient Eight passer who averages over 300 yards per game).
Harvard also has the best overall record of any Ancient Eight team, losing only to Brown, 24-22. Meanwhile, the Tigers have only beaten 0-5 Columbia, 27-24, and Lehigh, 10-7.
- Z.K.
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