Last year could have been a coronation for Brown. The Bears returned their All-Ivy quarterback, Joe DiGiacomo, and chunks of the previous year's Ivy Championship defense, including future NFL talent Zak DeOssie. It was nothing short of a disaster. A 2-2 start to the Ivy campaign was inauspicious at best, but it only got worse from there.

Columbia coach Norries Wilson rarely hides his feelings. His Lions were shut out by Penn last year, prompting him to rail on the media, the Penn administration, the officials, the other Ivy League schools and even his own employer for six surreal minutes afterward.

Has anyone been paying attention to the women's soccer team lately? It's not like it's been hard - they've played each of their first four games in the friendly confines of Rhodes Field. And if you have managed to make the trek down to the home of Penn's soccer teams, chances are you witnessed some fireworks.

Penn goalkeeper Alanna Butera was flat on her back, the ball bouncing a few yards away from her, and the net was wide open. For the first time this season, it didn't matter. The whistle after the loose ball signalled that possession was going the other way, and with little time left on the clock, the Quakers coasted to a 1-0 win over Lafayette last night at Franklin Field, their first of the year.

Last season, the Princeton football team shared the rights to its first Ivy League title since 1995. They beat the co-champs, Yale, in New Haven. Now they have 14 returning starters and snuck into the preseason Coaches Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) at No.

Yale is not used to being in this position, at least not its current roster. A surprise co-champion last year, the Bulldogs find themselves as this year's favorite. In the preseason media poll Yale took a resounding 14 of 16 first-place votes, the first time the team has been picked to win since 2000.

Unlike the last two seasons, both the secondary and the defensive line return a good number of starters. With a balance of experience across each, the defense looks to be stronger than in the past few years..

Since the Ivy League was formed in 1954, Cornell hasn't won an outright title. And after last year's 3-4 Ivy record, it wouldn't seem that the Big Red were on the right track. But with almost every single statistical leader returning, optimism is running high in Ithaca, even if few others take notice.

After graduating his starting quarterback Brad Maurer and All-Patriot League tailback Jonathan Hurt, Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani wasn't sure who would step up to lead the team's offense. But Shaun Adair might have changed that when he returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown in the Leopards' blowout win over Marist to start the season.

Harvard coach Tim Murphy described the reality of this season the best. "It's life after Clifton Dawson." Now with the Cincinnati Bengals, the All-Ivy tailback lead the team last year with 1,277 rushing yards on his way to breaking the league's all-time rushing record handily.

Someone has to finish last in the league. This year, Dartmouth is bringing up the rear of the preseason Ivy football poll. But head coach Buddy Teevens isn't miffed by the lack of confidence in his squad. "The poll has never been accurate," he told reporters.

For Janne Taskinen, the chance to study at Penn meant a year away from his home university in Finland, but also a year away from hockey. Or so he thought. Taskinen packed his pads in his bag anyway, hoping to find an opportunity to play the sport he's been at for 14 years.

The kicking game cost the Quakers four conference games last year, right? Not quite. Place-kicker Derek Zoch began his epic slump by banging a field-goal try off the post in overtime at Yale. But that kick came after a three-and-out that gained just six yards and forced Zoch to take a 37-yard attempt.

Ted Rosenbaum isn't one for celebratory dances or flashy play-making. The senior has made his stance on glory very clear. "I didn't get into it to get noticed," he said of his football career. "I'd rather not be in the spotlight." An atypical response for the average football player, maybe, but not such a strange philosophy when you consider that Rosenbaum occupies the most thankless position in football: the long snapper.

The Penn field hockey team has already made history in its 2007 campaign. Too bad it's negative history. This year's 0-4 loss start, including a 3-1 loss to Harvard in its only Ivy League game, is tied for the worst start for the Quakers since they opened with five losses in 2001.

At first glance, Penn freshmen offensive linemen Joe D'Orazio and Joe McKendry have little in common beyond a first name. They look as different as two offensive linemen could be expected to look. Standing at 6-foot-6 and weighing 275 pounds, the red-haired McKendry dwarfs his fellow linemates.

After growing up in a family of Hawkeyes fans in Ames, Iowa and with a brother that played tailback at Iowa, Nate Greving knew he would join the ranks of Big 10 athletics. "He's always liked the Hawkeyes, even as a younger kid," Nate's father, Steve Greving, said.