Tom Barton's Week 8 Ivy League Football Preview

Harvard Crimson vs. Columbia Lions - Friday 7:00 pm 

With their 300th win in school history in the Ivy Leagues the Crimson moved up in the polls and now they have reached #9 overall after their big win. Now they get to be seen on the national stage as their game against Columbia this week has been moved to ESPN 2. 

Harvard is simply on another level right now and the clear best team in the conference and making a case for the entire country. Their defense was once again as good as it gets holding Dartmouth to just 10 points. That now makes six of their seven games where they held teams to 14 points or less and in five of those teams didn't even score two touchdowns. This defense is suffocating and the only thing missing from their impressive resume is a shutout and this might be the week. They create turnovers and that gives the offense short fields, something they don't need with how well that side of the ball is playing. 

Jaden Craig was once again elite and this time his big game led to him throwing for over 300 yards and four TD passes en route to the Ivy league Offensive Player of the Year. The offense has now scored into the 30's in every game this season and they have won every game by at least three touchdowns. Beating Dartmouth was their last real test before the finale and that might be the only reason why Columbia doesn't get their doors blown off. 

The Lions might be at home but that hasn't mattered much this season. They sit with just one win all season and their offense is the worst in the conference and one of the worst in the country. They have failed to score more than21 points in every game this year and have scored 10 points or less in four of their last five games. Combine that with a defense that has allowed 24,49, 35, and 31 points over their last four games and this is one that looks like it can get ugly fast. 

Penn Quakers vs. Cornell Big Red - Saturday 1:00 pm  

The Quakers just keep winning and their record is now an impressive 5-2. They got contributions from everywhere in their win against Brown where Liam O'Brien looked good throwing the go ahead TD but his offense had help all day. The defense picked off a pass on the first drive and held Brown to just 33 yards rushing on 22 carries. Even special teams got involved in the team with as the Quakers claimed the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week in Jayden Drayton who returned a 54 yard kickoff for a touchdown. 

Cornell's defense was led by the Defensive Player of the Week Ben Sahakian who caused a big turnover in the game in their win over Princeton. The Red got down big early but didn't allow much after that, shutting out Princeton in the second half and extending their winning streak to three games. They have been in tight games all year but their defense has stepped up late in each to push this team to the brink of a .500 record. There is no doubt that Penn has been playing better but something is brewing with Cornell and this could be another upset if Penn overlooks this squad. 

Yale Bulldogs vs. Brown Bears - Saturday 12:00 pm 

The Bulldogs pushed their record to 5-2 and are looking better and better as the year has gone on. Yale's defense has really shown up, allowing just 30 points over the past three games combined and they have now held five of their seven opponents to 17 points or less. Offensively Dante Reno looked good throwing for two touchdowns and Josh Pitsenberger once again carried the load on the ground with over 130 yards on 25 carries. 

Brown was boasting how good their defense was in the first half of the season but that has come crumbling down hard on them. They have now allowed at least 28 points in three straight weeks and teams are averaging over 30 points per game on them. Offensively they have had some successes but the defense isn't just giving up scores but they are getting beat quickly and with big plays so they can't get much going. Yale's defense has been playing great lately and that should be the difference here. If Brown wins this game it will be because they found some of that early season defensive magic that seems to have left them the past month. 

Princeton Tigers vs. Dartmouth Big Green - Saturday 1:00 pm 

The Tigers dropped another game where they couldn't find much offense when they failed against Cornell. They scored just 17 but it's even worse when you consider they put up 14 in the first quarter. This is after losing to Harvard and scoring just 14, which means they have now been shut out after halftime in both of their last two games. In three of their last four games they have now failed to cross 17 points. This team simply has to get the ball to the Ivy Rookie of the Week Jsh Robinson more if they want any chance of beating a tough Dartmouth defense. 

How much can be made of Dartmouth losing to Harvard? The Green actually were close in that game for a while losing just 17-10 heading into the 4th quarter but the Crimson were just too good. Dartmouth is still 5-2 on the season and their defense was shutting teams down for a month before meeting Harvard. If we throw that game away this could be a mismatch with the Tigers struggling offense attempting to score on a tough Dartmouth defense on the road. The only question is how much will that Harvard loss bother this team?