It'll Be The Big Red All the Way In Ivy Race

The Ivy League race this fall shapes up as a realignment of the power structure. Dartmouth, which in recent years has run roughshod over the rest of the league, lost too much via graduation to maintain its spot in the limelight. Cornell has bounced back from the loss of record-shattering Ed Marinaro and created a ground attack that would even make Marinaro fans take notice. And now the Big Red has come up with defense to boot. Cornell seems destined to take over the top spot in the Ivies.

Penn and Yale, two teams that battled for second last year, have enough talent returning to maintain their status in the upper echelon of the league. The rest of the teams have problems and are pretty much equal, clumped together somewhere below the Ivy big three.

Cornell--Dan Malone and Company will run roughshod over the defenses in the league. Big Red D is sound. Really no weaknesses in Ithaca. Should breeze.

Penn--The Quakers came on strong last year behind an explosive offense led by dimunitive but stocky Adolph Bellizeare. Bellizeare is back, and so are enough other talented bodies to bring some reward for that hard-line recruiting of recent years. Quakers all alone at number two.

Yale--The Bulldogs have a solid defense and a punishing wishbone ground attack. Tom Doyle, who inherits the quarterback job, has difficulty passing on any pattern longer than a screen. Lack of aerial game will stymie Carm's bid for the top. Yale number three.

After the top three, the Ivies offer a pretty sad bunch. Since they are pretty much equal, rating them is a pretty much arbitrary thing:

Dartmouth--This is the year for humble pie in Hanover. Graduation virtually obliterated the Big Green's chances to extend Ivy dominance. Jake Crouthamel may hope he gets some good offers to coach elsewhere because it will be a long fall for Dartmouth. The Big Green will finish around .500 and should be grateful for that much. Fourth.

Harvard--Graduation also hit hard in Cambridge. Unfortunately, the 1972 Crimson team was nowhere as good as Dartmouth's. Harvard must rely on a gutty defense and ball control offense. No depth so the Crimson sophomores had better come through or else. Fifth.

Princeton--The Tigers have a new coach and not much else. Nothing seems to be going right at old Nassau. Princeton near bottom of the pack. Fortunately Brown and Columbia have even more problems. Sixth.

Brown--This is going to be a big year for the Bruins. Finally they escape the Ivy cellar. A group of talented sophomores and juniors make prospects look good (by Brown standards). This is not that bad a football team. The Bruins will finish seventh.

Columbia--This year the Lions are opening their home games up to all New York residents. Unfortunately, unless they give the tickets away free, they may have trouble getting people to come and watch. Lions are hurting. Replace Brown as tailenders.

The Landry Picks:

1. Cornell

2. Penn

3. Yale

4. Dartmouth

5. Harvard

6. Princeton

7. Brown

8. Columbia