Ivy Play Kicks Off Opening Weekend

With the passing of the annual night game at Harvard Stadium, Ivy League football will now slip into irrelevance for the average Harvard student—at least for another few months until Yale comes to town, and it becomes acceptable to drink before noon.

But for the next nine weeks leading up to the 127th playing of The Game, how can we make Ivy League football more interesting for the typical Cantabridgian?

One solution is to schedule more night games. A greater number of Ancient Eight teams are catching on to this idea, as evidenced by the fact that three Ivy League teams are playing under the lights tomorrow night—including the Crimson, which will play in the first-ever night game held at Brown Stadium.

While night games are one way to draw students away from the library and into the stadium, I have a better solution, one that will turn the average Ivy League nerd into a diehard football junkie: fantasy football for the Ancient Eight.

What better way to drum up interest in football at the Ivy League level than to add a statistical component?

Now that we all agree that “Fantasy Football: Ivy Edition” is going to be the next big thing to hit ESPN.com, let’s start to debate the all-important question of who should be this year’s number one overall draft pick.

After a high-scoring Week 1, several candidates have emerged: three Ivy quarterbacks—Yale’s Patrick Witt, Priceton’s Tommy Wornham, and Harvard’s Andrew Hatch—passed for more than 275 yards and at least one touchdown; three running backs—Dartmouth’s Nick Schwieger, the Bulldog’s Alex Thomas, and Brown’s Zachary Tronti—managed to find the end zone at least twice; and four receivers hauled in more than 100 yards.

Of this group, a couple individuals separated themselves from the pack. Schwieger had perhaps the most impressive individual performance of any Ivy Leaguer in Week 1. The tailback not only scored two touchdowns but also rushed for 216 yards to go along with 57 receiving yards.

With 161 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns in Week 1, Yale’s Thomas also made a strong case for being selected first, but it should be taken into account that he put up those numbers against a weak Georgetown team.

Witt recorded some pretty crazy statistics against the Hoyas himself, passing for 407 yards and two touchdowns to go along with one score on the ground.

Tigers wide receiver Trey Peacock’s name should also be thrown into the mix after he hauled in 196 receiving yards and one touchdown in Princeton’s Week 1 loss to Lehigh.

But before a consensus can be reached on whom to take No. 1, perhaps we need another week to evaluate the field. With that in mind, let’s move onto the predictions for Week 2.

YALE (1-0) AT CORNELL (0-1)

After Bulldogs coach Tom Williams’ sanity was called into question for running a fake punt on fourth and 18 against Harvard in the 2009 season finale, Williams proved he still knows the rules of football last week by leading Yale past Georgetown.

It remains to be seen how much coaching Williams will actually have to do tomorrow against Cornell, a team that won just two games last season.

But to be fair to the Big Red, one of Cornell’s two victories in 2009 came against the Bulldogs, proving that a win would not be impossible. But considering the Big Red is currently riding a nine-game losing steak, it seems unlikely.

Prediction: Yale 28, Cornell 10

TOWSON (1-2) AT COLUMBIA (0-1)

The two head coaches in this contest should be quite familiar with each other after overlapping as assistants at UConn in the early 2000s. Both coaches have not had the start to the 2010 season that they hoped for, but at least one of them will come away with a win in Week 2.

Towson has taken a couple rough losses so far this season—including a 36-point defeat at Villanova last Saturday. But Columbia is coming off a loss as well, dropping its season opener to Fordham.

The two teams appear to be pretty even, but I’ll give the edge to the Tigers given their experience against tougher opponents this year.

Prediction: Towson 17, Columbia 10

SACRED HEART (1-2) AT DARTMOUTH (1-0)

The rule of thumb when making predictions about football games involving Dartmouth is to bet against the Big Green. But this week proves to be the exception, if not the start of a new trend. Dartmouth is coming off a 43-20 win over Bucknell and enters tomorrow’s contest against Sacred Heart as 20-point favorites.

Whether this mismatch is more a product of the resurgence of Dartmouth football or the ineptitude of the Pioneers remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain: Sacred Heart has been having a rough time on the gridiron. Last weekend, the Pioneers managed to throw seven (yes, seven) interceptions in a 41-0 loss to Saint Francis.

Sacred Heart has also surrendered at least 100 rushing yards to an opposing player in each of its past two matchups. It doesn’t look like things are going to get much better this time around, as the Pioneers area going to have to deal with Schwieger, Dartmouth’s tailback who racked up 273 total yards and two touchdowns (that’s 39 fantasy points!) last weekend in a win over Bucknell.

Prediction: Dartmouth 42, Sacred Heart 14

LAFAYETTE (0-2) AT PRINCETON (0-1)

Despite the loss of middle linebacker Steve Cody—who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1—Princeton should be able to manage a win against Lafayette.

The Leopards are coming off a close loss to Penn, the defending Ivy League champions, but with the Tigers’ offense emerging into a legitimate threat, it could be two-straight losses to an Ivy League opponent for Lafayette.

Prediction: Princeton 34, Lafayette 24

PENN (1-0) AT NO. 1 VILLANOVA (2-1)

Remember in fifth grade gym class how there was that one really big kid who used to always dominate in dodgeball and kickball? He probably should have been playing with the sixth graders, but he got some sadistic pleasure out of pegging tiny kids in the face with rubber balls.

Meet Villanova, the bully of the Football Championship Subdivision. Sure the Wildcats basketball team competes in arguably the top conference in the nation, but its football team would rather beat up on the little guys of Division I-AA like Towson.

Penn is next in line to take a dodgeball to the head as the Quakers travel to Villanova tomorrow to take on the Wildcats—currently ranked No. 1 in the FCS. Last season, Penn played Villanova respectably—falling just 14-3—but history speaks for itself: the Quakers have never once beaten the Wildcats on the road or toppled the No. 1 team in the FCS. I don’t see things changing this time around.

Prediction: Villanova 24, Penn 7

HARVARD (1-0) AT BROWN (1-0)

My guess is that this is a game that you will not want to leave early from. On top of the fact that Emma Watson could be in attendance, there is also the fact that in the past three matchups between Harvard and Brown, the game has been decided by one touchdown or less.

This season, the contest between the Crimson and the Bears features two of the Ivy League’s top quarterbacks. While Harvard quarterback Andrew Hatch is making his second start of the season, Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero will be making his first appearance of the year after missing Week 1 with a hand injury.

Newhall-Caballero’s absence could explain why it took the Bears two overtimes to defeat Stony Brook. But with Newhall-Caballero getting thrown into the mix just this week, I don’t see Brown stealing this one from the Crimson.

Prediction: Harvard 21, Brown 17

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.