Ivy champs to clash in Friday fury

What a way to start off the Ivy League season.

Tonight Brown travels to Harvard for a rare Friday night game that will start the conference’s 54th year of football.

But the real reason the game is by far the Ivy game of the week is that the teams tied for last year’s conference crown and are expected to be contendenders in 2009.

Last year the Crimson lost in Providence, 24-22, after failing to time the game up on a two-point conversion attempt with 1:03 left. (They were forced to go for two due to a missed extra point earlier.)

However, when the Bears stumbled in a 13-3 loss to Yale, the Crimson earned a split of the League title.

Many preseason predictions had these two teams competing again for a title, but both teams lost their season opener on the road. Harvard fell to Holy Cross, 21-20, and Brown was upset at Stony Brook by a single point, 21-20.

Cornell at Yale

In the other Ivy League game this week, Cornell will visit the Yale Bowl. Although the teams were predicted to finish in the middle of the Ivy standings, both schools have gotten off to a 1-0 start.

Yale traveled to the nation’s capital and defeated Georgetown handily 31-10. Cornell won by an even larger margin, defeating Bucknell at home 33-9.

In a series dating back to 1889, the Bulldogs lead 42-27-2, though last year Cornell took a 14-0 lead and held on for a 17-14 victory.

Dartmouth at UNH

Notre Dame might have the NCAA record for most consecutive victories over a single opponent (43 over Navy), but the Dartmouth-New Hampshire rivalry is certainly the Ivy League equivalent.

The Big Green haven’t beaten the Wildcats in the last 18 tries since a 24-13 win in 1976 (0-16-2 record). And barring some huge upset, it looks like the streak will be extended to 19 this weekend.

The Big Green (0-1) travel to Durham, N.H., tomorrow hoping to snap not just the skid to the No. 6 Wildcats (2-0) but also a 13-game overall losing streak dating back to the second-to-last game of the 2007 season.

Princeton at Lehigh

According to Princeton coach Roger Hughes, teams improve the most between Week 1 and 2. And he’s not just blowing smoke.

In the last seven years, the Tigers have won six of their games in Week 2. Winning the second game has led to success in Week 3 since 2002, as Princeton is 6-0 in its third game after winning its second.

So tomorrow the Tigers have a lot riding on their road game at Lehigh (0-2), especially after falling in their season opener versus the Citadel, 38-7.

History is on Princeton’s side. This was the exact same scenario as last year, just with the venues reversed. The Tigers went down to South Carolina and lost to the Bulldogs by double digits. Yet in Week 2 they bounced back with a 10-7 home win over the Mountain Hawks.

That game had an exciting finish, as placekicker Connor Louden kicked the game-winning 32-yard field goal as time expired, though the Tigers couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing momentum, finishing the year 3-5 en route to a 4-6 season.

Lehigh, meanwhile, has also started slow out of the gate, losing by a touchdown to Central Connecticut State and falling 38-7 to then-No. 3 Villanova two weeks ago.

Though Princeton dominates the overall series 38-12-2, they’ve only won once at Lehigh in each of the last three centuries. They won in Bethlehem, Pa., in 2006, 1992 and 1895.

CCSU at Columbia

Central Connecticut State has yet to play a game in the Nutmeg State. And with a trip to Columbia (1-0) on tap for tomorrow, the Blue Devils (1-1) will have played their first three games on the road.

After beating Lehigh, 28-21, Sept. 5, Central Connecticut got creamed, 33-14, in Williamsburg, Va., to then-No. 7 William and Mary.

While the Blue Devils first have to play a Columbia team that beat in-city rival Fordham, 40-28, they’re coming home next week; in fact it’s Homecoming against Sacred Heart.

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