Week 4 Ivy League Football Preview

Harvard Crimson vs. Cornell Big Red - Friday 7:00 pm 

The Crimson have finally been recognized, and most have them ranked inside the top 25. Those who have paid attention to this team have them much higher as they just continue to steamroll teams. Jaden Craig proves weekly why he is one of the best players in the country and last week was no exception. Craig and the Crimson put up 59 points against a Holy Cross team that most believed was a strong defensive squad. Craig threw for 3 more touchdowns and didn't need to play in the second half. The Crimson have now scored 59 points twice and 41 in their other game. They came into the game defensively allowing only one touchdown per game in their first two games and gave up 24 last week but only 3 with the starters and 10 before the 4th. 

Cornell is 0-3 and now has to travel, at night to Cambridge ... ouch. This team just allowed Colgate to score 41 and Yale the game prior to that. There is no reason to think Harvard won't absolutely hammer this defense. The Big Red will need to really slow this game down and play the sort of game that had them tied at 14 at the half against Yale. Limiting Harvard is tough, especially at home. 

Dartmouth Big Green vs. Yale Bulldogs - Saturday 1:30 pm  

Dartmouth was thought to be the second best team in this conference by most and has fallen flat. Their defense was supposed to be the backbone of this team and they have been nothing like last year's squad. The Green just allowed Penn to score 36 on them and O'Brien had a field day as a dual threat QB. That wasn't a one game issue though as this team allowed 28 the week before and even 20 to inept New Hampshire. If you can't win on what your signature is then it will be a long season. Dartmouth has to win on the offensive side of things and as of now that looks good. The Green have surprised offensively and Saunier has been a dual threat himself. He has been making big mistakes like last week when he had multiple turnovers. You can't do that and expect to beat Yale. 

The Bulldogs were rolling before they met a superior offense in Lehigh last week but it was their inability to score which is the concern here. They are stil 2-1 and looked great against Cornell and Holy Cross so there is hope for a quick fix against this Green defense. This is one of those separation games and I expect the winner of this game to be Harvard's only challenge this season. 

Columbia Lions vs. Lehigh Mountain Hawks - Saturday 12:00 pm 

The Lions just can't muster any offense and this team looks like they are completely lost on that side of the ball at times. Last week Princeton's defense seemed to be the team with the easiest path to correcting this anemic offense but they couldn't get it done. Columbia has now scored under 20 points in all of their games and they went three straight quarters without scoring a point last week to watch the Tigers come back and win. That now makes just one TD scored in the past 6 quarters for the Lions. The positive is their defense is playing their hearts out. The Lions have allowed just 3 touchdowns in the past two games and that is how they will try to win here. Keep the game in the trenches and slow things down on what could be a rainy day. 

Lehigh though will have other plans. This team lives and dies on their offense as they have scored 31 or more in each of the past 4 games and at least 4 TDs in every game since the opener. Their defense can get lost at times but the Lions will have a hard time taking advantage. The Lions can pull the upset if they play mistake free, slow down football, but Lehigh's offense is very hard to bottle up. 

Princeton Tigers vs. Mercer Bears - Saturday 12:00 pm 

The Tigers squeaked out a nice win last week against a bad Lions offense and now have two very different style wise wins the past two weeks. That shows some versatility with the team that now has shown they can win a shootout or a defensive battle. The Tigers offense is still their strength and their running game and big plays on defense will once again have to step up if they want to keep winning. The Tigers are a dangerous team because they can control the game and also get big plays which is not a usual combination. 

Mercer is 4-1 and their offense is excellent. Their only loss of the year came after a canceled opener and they lost a close game. Since then this offense has scored and scored. In fact, they have put up 38 or more in three straight games and Braden Atkinson has taken the world by storm. The young freshman threw for 5 touchdowns last week and will look to attack this Tigers secondary. The Tigers live on the big play and the defense will have to create some turnovers here. 

Brown Bears vs. Bryant Bulldogs - Friday 7:00 pm 

The Bears are making a statement and none were bigger than last week. Josh Robinson won the Ivy League Rookie of the Week as he looked great on the national stage. The Bears stepped up when it counted the most and beat Rhode Island as more than a two touchdown underdog. The defense shook off a bad day against Harvard and the offense really stepped up in a game that seemingly was never in question. Robinson won Rookie of the Week but he isn't the only defensive player turning heads as Tommy Dunn, the inside linebacker, won Defensive Player of the Week in week 1 and Elias Archie won that award in week 3. 

Bryant has now lost three games in a row and their defense has been getting smoked. They have two wins on their schedule but when you look deeper one was against a non D1 opponent and the other against a terrible UMass team. The Browns will have to get their offense going here but they can keep the momentum up if their defense continues to make highlight plays. 

Penn Quakers vs. Marist Red Foxes  - Friday 7:00 pm 

The Quakers won a hard fought game over Dartmouth last week and now have put themselves firmly in place to be considered one of the best teams in the conference. Their offense has been much better than expected as they are averaging over 30 points per game and putting up 36 against a Green defense like they did last week is no easy task. Liam O'Brien has looked as good as advertised and more. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another two last week as he continues to fill up the stat sheet. If it wasn't for Craig I think most would crown O'Brien the best QB in the Ivy's and he seems to be getting better with each quarter he plays. 

O'Brien does make the occasional mistake and the Quakers have to make sure that doesn't burn them here. Marist is one play away from being 4-1 on the young season and has looked impressive defensively in their games. They have held teams to 14 points or less in 3 of their 5 games and if they can slow down O'Brien they can pull off the win. Penn's defense has to also be a slight cause for concern. This Marist team doesn't seem to have the offense to go score for score with the Quakers but the lack of defense will bite them if they don't make some corrections especially in the back end.