Tom Barton's Week 3 Ivy League Football Preview

Princeton Tigers vs. Columbia Lions - Saturday 12:00 pm 

The Lions won their second game last week in as many weeks and now have a chance to really turn some heads. Columbia has looked impressive in different facets of the game in two weeks. Week 1 they won with offense scoring 40 points and winning a gutty OT game, while last week it was all about the defense as they held the Hoyas to just 17 points. They once again needed overtime to get the job done, but 2-0 is 2-0. That said there are some concerns because two OT wins means they were a step away from an 0-2 record. There is also the concern about strength of schedule as Lafayette is 1-3 on the season while Georgetown sits at 0-3. The Lions are off to a hot start, but Princeton represents a challenge. 

The Tigers evened their record to 1-1 after a shutout performance against Albany 22-0. The Great Danes had scored 20 or more in each game they played before that so this was a big time defensive effort. Coming into the season the Tigers had all sorts of offensive issues and while that hasn't been fully solved their defense was never in question and they have been utterly impressive. If Columbia has any sort of offensive issues like they did last week against a weak Hoyas team this could be another game where the Tigers win on defense alone.

Princeton doesn't need much offense to win and with a total of 41 set by the sports books it seems everyone is expecting a hard-fought low scoring game. 

Brown Bears vs. Rhode Island Rams - Saturday 12:00 pm  

What a defensive season the Bears have put forward in their first two games. Brown has allowed just 24 points in two games and really clamped down on the Crimson in the second half of the game last week. Harvard seemed to be rolling with a 14-0 halftime lead but couldn't muster a single point and looked visibly frustrated the entire second half. Harvard's QB Charlie Smith was 21 of 24 for 154 yards in the first half but that stalled to just 51 yards on 9 completions in the second half. Brown ultimately lost the game on turnovers and a sloppy offensive game but no one can doubt how good this defense is and those defensive adjustments at the half were something to build on despite the loss. 

Heading to Rhode Island will be a tall task as the Rams have been a solid program seemingly forever. The Rams have played 5 games so far this season and it's hard to pinpoint what team they are right now. They allowed 56 to Stony Brook and 38 to Temple, yet held Merrimack to just 7 and Elon to 10. Last week their defense was solid but they couldn't get much offense going. That is something that they have to be concerned with here against Brown. I was very impressed with Brown's second half performance in a game where they probably should have won. The Rams are a solid team and have more games under their belt but this is a lie underdog spot for this Brown defense if their offense can limit the mistakes. 

Yale Bulldogs vs. Merrimack Warriors - Saturday 12:00 pm 

What I wrote about the Yale defense last week came to bite them and while I worry about that over the course of the full season, this is not a spot where I believe their defense will be the determining factor. Yale allowed Cornell to score 38 points a week after Holy Cross pushed them in putting up 28. Both games were on the road granted, but neither of these offenses seem like they are a threat, which is telling for how bad the Bulldog's defense has been. Offensively Yale's star QB Dante Reno was out for this game because of an elbow injury but the expectation is he will be back this week. Reno being on the field changes everything for Yale and I expect them to be up for this one after a loss, and at home, with their star QB back ... it seems like everything is falling into place for a big performance. 

Merrimack is in a tough spot because Yale's defense has holes, but the Warriors offense hasn't been able to do much against anyone so far. They have scored only 7 points twice this season, 23 or more in every game and their defense has allowed 34+ in three of their games this season. Yale needs a big win to remind everyone they should still be the favorite in the Ivy's when Reno is healthy and it's all falling into place for them to beat up on a bad Merrimack team. If Yale struggles here, or outright loses, you'll hear the sky is falling from the cries in New Haven. 

Penn Quakers vs. Dartmouth Big Green - Saturday 1:30 pm 

Dartmouth has played two good teams and they have played well, but the record in the standings still reads 0-2 and they need a win to get on track here. The Big Green played a tough game against Lehigh that impressed everyone, but moral victories don't show up in the box score. The expectation was that coming home to Monmouth would be their 'get right' game but again while they played a tough game ultimately they lost by 3 to a good team. Dartmouth came into the season boasting that this would be a defense first approach but that hasn't showed up yet this season. This defense allowed just 24 to Lehigh, but made some crucial late mistakes and then allowed 31 to the Hawks last week, including 10 in the 4th quarter. That is the problem they must solve and solve fast. This team has been outscored 17-0 in the 4th quarter. 

Penn meanwhile, can't get any offense going and might be the perfect opponent for this Dartmouth defense to try to correct things. The Quakers put up only one TD last week, albeit in bad weather, against a Lehigh team who allowed 24+ in every game before that and averaged nearly 40 against them. Penn also had issues in their opener where they scored just 20 against Bucknell. Penn is trying to replace some major pieces on offense from last year and that can take time but as Yogi said "It's getting late early" and this is a game where they have to get their offense going. This game might come down to the 4th quarter and while Dartmouth has crumbled in the 4th in their two starts it's not like Penn has done much overall. They have scored just 13 in the second half of games. Dartmouth should walk away with the win here at home, but those late collapses puts some doubt on it. 

Cornell Big Red vs. Georgetown Hoyas - Saturday 12:30 pm 

The Big Red had a huge win against Yale last week and while you can point to Reno being out of the game the reality still is they won a conference game against the conference favorite and put up 38 points in the effort.

Garrett Bass-Sulpizio rushed for two of the five TD runs for the Big Red as they dominated on the ground all day. The defense also forced turnovers and after holding Colgate to just 20 their defense looks solid thus far.

Cornell will look to keep it on the ground here against a weaker opponent once again and we can start to hear some noise about Cornell being for real if they can control the ground game. 

Georgetown is simply not a good team and their offense is pretty much the reason for it. The Hoyas are averaging less than 20 points per game in lieu of their 0-3 record and have put themselves behind the 8 ball in each game scoring just 7 points in the first half of each game. That's a bad  recipe against a run-first team who's had plenty of success on the ground. I expect the Big Red to get out to an early lead and run the ball effectively as they are able to shut down this offense. The only concern is Georgetown's defense has been decent and if they force Cornell to go to the air they could make life uncomfortable. 

Harvard Crimson vs. Colgate Raiders - Saturday 7:00 pm

The Crimson are 2-0 and they should be thankful. Last week they needed every bit of the best defensive player in the country to walk away with a win in a game where they looked fully in control. Harvard's Xaden Benson had two key interceptions and seemed to be everywhere in the win cementing himself as the best defensive player in the conference, and maybe the country. After losing Jaden Craig to TCU we knew this Harvard team would live and die on defense this season and Benson and the Crimson have set that tone through two games.

The Crimson have allowed just 17 points total and there are times it seems they are just on another level than the opposing offense. With all that praise for the defense the offense is still working through some kinks and it showed in the second half last week. Smith looked crisp in the first half and then seemed to fall apart and made some big mistakes late. Some of that might be due to the weather but we saw some of those things in the opener as well. This feels like another battle will unfold this week against a very good defense and while Smith won't be asked to win the game, he really has to be cautious not to lose it. 

Colgate's defense is a top tier defense that will present problems for the Crimson. Colgate has held every team to 21 or less points this season and teams are averaging just 13 points against per game. Villanova was able to put up the best offense against the Raiders this season and they still had their leading rusher with just 56 yards on the ground and passed for under 200 yards. To beat Colgate you need to play mistake free football and it will be interesting to see which premiere defense will step up for the win here. If Harvard wants to stay in the top 25 discussion they will walk away with a win on their home turf.