Cornell quarterback Nathan Ford became the topic of conversation at the biggest watercooler in America.
The senior signal caller got a shout-out on last Thursday's episode of The Office on NBC, courtesy of everyone's favorite intensely nerdy paper salesman, Dwight Schrute.
In the episode, Dwight (played by Rainn Wilson) dons Big Red gear and says he plans on applying to Cornell in order to anger his co-worker, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), a proud graduate of the Ithaca, N.Y. school.
During a coffee break, Dwight casually says, "So, uh, how do you think we're gonna do against Penn this year? Nathan Ford's arm looks pretty strong."
Andy replies, "He's had a pretty good season so far," before angrily realizing that he is the object of derision.
Both characters seem to know their stuff. Ford is tops in the Ivy League with 273.3 passing yards per game, with 10 touchdowns to boot. And this weekend, he put up a ridiculous 431 yards and four touchdowns in the Big Red's 31-26 loss to Princeton.
But whether Dwight is completely prescient is yet to be seen - Cornell doesn't play the Quakers until the last week of the season on Nov. 22.
Refs don't like spike. Ford, coincidentally, was involved in the wackiest play of the Ivy weekend.
Trailing, 31-26, in the waning seconds of the game, Cornell had driven down to the Princeton 15 after a fumble recovery on an onside kick. With the clock running, Ford faked a spike, looking to hit a receiver streaking.
Only the referees didn't see it that way - they whistled too early, ruling the play dead.
After some deliberation, the officials decided to also call Cornell for a false start as a result of the fake spike, putting them at the 20-yard line.
The Big Red couldn't put it in the end zone, making the blown call even more frustrating for Cornell coach Jim Knowles.
"There was no explanation [for the penalty] because it is not a penalty," he told The Cornell Daily Sun. "They busted the call. It is not a penalty. Fake taking a knee is a penalty, but fake spiking is not a penalty. . You can use that stuff as an excuse but it doesn't help."
On McLeod nine. This weekend, Yale's Mike McLeod went back and visited a place that he hasn't been to very often - the end zone.
During the Bulldogs' 27-12 victory over Columbia on Saturday, the once-vaunted running back channeled some of the magic he had last year (when he rushed for 1,619 yards and 23 touchdowns) en route to a three-touchdown performance.
While he only rushed for 86 yards on 23 carries on the game, he doubled his 2008 scoring output on Saturday.
"This feels great," McLeod told the Yale Daily Herald. "It felt reminiscent of the last two years that I've been here - we controlled the ball. Hopefully we can get back into that mentality [for] these last few games."
Ryan ain't cryin'. After a rough eight weeks, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and Harvard grad Ryan Fitzpatrick finally has something to smile about - a solid outing and his first win of the year.
Fitzpatrick completed 21 of 31 passes for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns to stave off the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 21-19 win, pushing the Bengals to 1-8.
"Relief," Fitzpatrick told The Cincinnati Enquirer, "is one of the biggest words."
