Week 3 Ivy League Football Preview

Harvard Crimson vs. Holy Cross Crusaders

Saturday 2:00 pm 

Many thought the Crimson might have had a good test last week but that was disproven pretty quickly as they dismantled Brown. Through two games everything for Harvard is working perfectly. They have scored exactly 100 points and have allowed just two touchdowns. The offense is as impressive as the defense in Cambridge and vice versa. Dorsey Benefield had a pick 6 last week in the first 8 seconds of the game and that was all Harvard needed. Craig was fantastic again, showing everyone why he was on every FCS watch list throwing for over 300 yards and tied his career high with four TD passes. 

This week they take on a bad Holy Cross team. Some came into the season thinking that they wouldn't be doormats but with an 0-5 record and no offense to speak of this should be another cakewalk for the Crimson. Holy Cross has not topped 21 points in a game this season while failing to score more than one touchdown in three of their five games this year. Harvard's offense might not be able to put up the 40+ but this defense should once again have a field day. The Crimson have flirted with a shutout in the first two games, and this looks like another spot where they might be able to put up a zero. 

Dartmouth Big Green vs. Penn Quakers

Saturday 1:00 pm  

Dartmouth facing off on the road against Penn has all the makings of one of the best games of the season. If you go by what the odds are this is less than a touchdown separator and is lining up to be one of those signature games on the Ivy schedule. 

The Green have been winning in an unusual way for them and not what most expected as their offense has carried the team. Dartmouth came into the season with all eyes on how good this defense would be but they have allowed 48 points through two weeks and have given up 21 4th quarter points in the two games. That is very un-Dartmouth like. Their offense though has been much more explosive than we thought. They have scored eight touchdowns already and Grayson Saunier is slinging it, throwing for more than 400 yards last week including a clutch 50 yard bomb with under 20 seconds to go to get the win. 

Penn meanwhile couldn't stop the explosive Lehigh offense but played well throughout most of the game. While the final score will show Lehigh poured on the points this was a 16-14 halftime game and heading into the 4th Penn was still playing tough in a 27-20 contest before Lehigh took off late. Penn's offense has been on point all year scoring 30 last week and 24 before that. The Quakers were gashed on the ground, giving up nearly 300 yards and over 500 total yards. 

It will be interesting to see if Dartmouth continues to go to the air with Saunier, where they have had success all year, or do they attack the weak running defense of Penn. We should expect a high scoring game here and that plays into Penn's favor, despite Dartmouth seemingly being the better team. This game will tell us a lot of who Dartmouth will be this season and what their ceiling is. 

Yale Bulldogs vs. Lehigh Mountain Hawks 

Saturday 12:00 pm 

The Bulldogs face a really tough offense here and, on the road, makes it even tougher, but Yale has been better than advertised and this is a test to see how far along they really are. Lehigh has been an offensive juggernaut so far this season. I wrote about their scoring last week and how it has improved every game, and they did it again. This Hawks team has added to their points total every week through their five games and their offense is a big reason why they are 5-0. They have scored 85 points the past two weeks combined and the past three weeks they have put up 17 touchdowns. 

That's a lot for this Bulldog team to overcome but Yale has been scoring in bunches. The Bulldogs posted 41 against what was thought to be a decent Cornell defense last time out and 28 against a tough Holy Cross defense that can't be overlooked either. Josh Pitsenberger is on a short list of the best players in this conference, and he made the case even more clear last week rushing for three touchdowns, for the second game in a row. The Yale defense was opportunistic on the defensive side of things and if they want to slow down this Lehigh offense, they will need more of that. They were able to pick off four passes last week, but they won't win this game if they turn the ball over three times again. 

Columbia Lions vs. Princeton Tigers 

Friday - 7:30 pm 

The Lions are the defending league champs, while Princeton sat at the bottom of the Ivy's last season, but the Tigers are more than a TD favorite here and my how quickly things change in this conference. The Tigers offense has been impressive thus far through two games with question marks swirling all off season about that unit they have put to rest those doubters. But, their defense has been the same leaky issues they were last season and they have now allowed 70 points through two games. The Tigers had a nice road win against a tough Lafayette team last week when they ran for three touchdowns in the first half alone and had a defensive score. The Tigers are doing it in the ground despite the big scoring numbers with Colon only throwing for one 4th quarter TD all game and completing just 13 passes. 

The Tigers have been good, but this game will come down to who the Lions really are. They have stumbled out the gate and failed to generate any offense to speak of. They put up just 14 against the same Lafayette team that the Tigers gashed and then in a win last week still didn't hit the 20-point mark. Columbia's defense was on top of their game holding Georgetown to just one touchdown on the day and they made several big plays down the stretch, but we have to take the great defensive effort with a grain of salt because the Hoyas scored nothing against Brown the week prior. If Columbia can slow down the Tigers running game, they can pull off the upset here, but they aren't going to be winning many games without scoring 20 points. 

Brown Bears vs. Rhode Island Rams 

Friday 7:00 pm 

The Bears are at home and already have an impressive 46-0 home win on their record this season, yet they still come in as more than a two touchdown underdog showing everyone how tough this Rams team can be. 

The Bears were absolutely destroyed by the Crimson last week up in Cambridge and the loss stung even more after their great start because there weren't any positives to take away from the game. Neither offense or defense could muster anything as they were completely out of their league. Craig threw all day on them and the offense couldn't crack that Crimson D. Against Georgetown we watched this team have a balanced offense with two rushing and two air touchdowns and the defense was spot on. It all fell apart quickly and now this looks like more of an indictment of how bad the Hoyas are, rather than if Brown is a good team. 

The Rams are certainly a good team. They sit with a 4-1 record and will be hungry off of a loss to Western Michigan, an FBS school. Before that step up in competition this team had not allowed more than 20 points in a game and held each of the past two opponents to a single touchdown. Their offense scored at least four touchdowns in 3 of their previous four games but we have seen some struggles on that side of the ball. Rhode Island will be out for blood here and the defense should carry the day, but if their offense stumbles at all Brown has to be able to take advantage unlike last week where the Crimson played a near perfect game. 

Cornell Big Red vs. Colgate Raiders

Saturday 2:00 pm 

Cornell may be 0-2 but the upside for Big Red fans is that they are headed home. This team lost a heartbreaker on opening day on the road against Albany by 3 in a defensive battle and then watched Yale put up 27 second half points to beat them last week. Cornell was in that game with a 14-14 halftime tie and even heading into the 4th were within 6. The Big Red can't allow their team to fall apart late again. Devin Page threw 51 passes and had two TDs while running for another, but his mistakes were too much to overcome as he was picked off four times. 

Colgate got their first win last week and while that seems to speak to them not being a good team the schedule means a lot here. Their three losses were to a power 5 team in Syracuse, another solid team in Villanova, and a 3-1 Monmouth team. In fact their two losses not named Syracuse they lost by 3 points, this team is two plays away from being 3-1. They are dangerous and while Cornell should score on a defense that has allowed 66 and 42 points already this season if Page keeps making mistakes Colgate will walk out of here a winner.