Harvard Football Remains in Four-way Tie On Top

Though the Harvard football team was elated to see its offense finally come to life in Saturday's 63-21 win over Dartmouth, down in New Haven, Yale had to be even happier with its weekend win over Penn that snapped a seven-year losing streak.

Since 1992, Penn had been a thorn in Yale's side, keeping the Elis from getting anywhere close to an Ivy League title.

But on Sunday, the Bulldogs finally got their revenge, coming from behind in the fourth quarter, dealing the defending Ivy League champions a loss that likely put an end to any Quaker title hopes.

The Yale win made the Ivy League title picture slightly clearer. Harvard's win over Dartmouth forced a four-way tie atop the league standings with Yale, Cornell and Brown. Next week, with Harvard playing at Brown and Yale playing at Cornell, the four-way logjam at top will be cut in half.

In other Ivy League action this weekend, Brown and Cornell both posted easy victories over weaker non-league opponents. In a battle of Ivy League cellar-dwellers, Princeton won big over Columbia.

Yale 23, Pennsylvania 19

Coming into the game on their longest winning steak since their last championship season in 1989, the Bulldogs had to believe they could finally notch a victory over Penn this season.

Early on, however, it looked like more of the same as Penn quarterback Gavin Hoffman hooked up with tight end Benjamin Zagorski just four minutes into the game.

It was Yale's first deficit since the opening week of the season.

But Yale battled back and quickly kicked a pair of field goals to get on the scoreboard.

For the next three quarters, both teams managed drives into the red zone, but could not get the ball into the zone that really mattered.

In four trips to the red zone in the first half, Yale managed only 13 points. Their ineptitude was highlighted by a fumble on the one.

Penn, meanwhile, wasn't any better.

The Quakers were held without a touchdown for the rest of the game.

Running back Kris Ryan led Penn with 166 yards on 34 carries, but he was unable to run the ball when it really counted.

With 1st-and-goal from the six and only nine minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs held the Quakers to just one yard on three plays. Jason Feinberg kicked the 22-yard field goal, his fourth of the day, to put Penn up 19-16.

Then on the next drive, Yale went up for good on the legs of senior quarterback Joe Walland.

With the ball on the Penn 47-yard-line, Walland fumbled the snap but managed to recover and scamper up the middle for an 18-yard gain.

Then, on a play-action pass, Walland found nothing but open field in front of him. Due to spectacular blocking by Yale's wide receivers, Walland strolled into the end zone untouched.

The score put Yale up 23-19. Penn's offense remained stagnant and Yale hung on for the victory.

Princeton 44, Columbia 15

As the only two winless teams left in the Ivy League, both Princeton and Columbia looked to salvage some kind of dignity.

For Princeton, it was a game where the offense, led by quarterback Tommy Crenshaw (24-for-33, 304 yards, 2 TD) and tailback Kyle Brandt (15-for 97, 2 TD), finally came through after an embarrassing performance against Harvard last week.

But for Columbia, it was more of the same ugliness as most teams tend not to win when their only significant offensive production comes on a fake punt.

After playing to a scoreless first quarter, Princeton finally broke the game open with three big plays for touchdowns. First, a 33-yard pass from Crenshaw to Chisom Opara finished off a 10-play, 73-yard drive for the Tigers. Then, on the second play of their next drive, Brandt broke free down the right sideline for a 54-yard touchdown run.

After the Princeton defense buried Columbia deep in their own end on the next possession, Brandt returned a punt all the way to the Lion 35. From there, Crenshaw hit Marty Cheathem in the end zone to put the Tigers up 21-0.

With Columbia's offense unable to get anything going, there was little chance of a comeback. The Lions finally got on the board in the third quarter when they scored on a fake punt as punter Ryan Kiernan threw a 50-yard touchdown pass.

That fake punt, however, was Columbia's only offensive bright spot on a day where the Lions managed just 29 yards rushing. Kiernan, the punter, nearly threw for as many yards as starting quarterback Jeff McCall, who had just 88 yards passing.

Brown 37, Fordham 18

After last week's dramatic victory over previously Ivy-unbeaten Penn, Brown was ripe for a letdown against winless Fordham.

Early on, it looked as if the Rams might have a chance in this game as Bear turnovers set up easy scoring opportunities for Fordham. But the Brown defense was able to shut Fordham down in the red zone, keeping the Ram lead at 6-0 after the first quarter.

Brown quarterback James Perry, after playing the game of his life last week against Penn, was only 1-for-7 with 2 yards in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Brown offense finally got some momentum as Perry hooked up with receiver Chas Gessner for a touchdown midway through the second quarter. After a Fordham score, Perry twice managed to drive deep into Ram territory. But the Fordham defense forced Brown to kick short field goals both times, keeping the Brown lead at 13-12 at the half.

But the second half belonged to the Bears. Perry threw touchdown passes to receiver Steve Campbell and Gessner to extend the lead to 27-12.

Having nearly blown three-touchdown leads in both of their last two games, the Bears made sure they finished off the Rams. Brown added a field goal and Perry hit Gessner for his third touchdown catch of the day as the Bears went on to win 37-18.

Cornell 31, Wagner 14

Cornell, on the other hand, had a much easier time with Wagner. After starting the game with an 11-play, 71-yard drive, the Big Red never looked back. Led by senior running back Deon Harris (26 carries for 120 yards) and sophomore quarterback Ricky Rahne (20-for-28, 260 yards, 3 TD), the Big Red never felt seriously threatened.

For the Seahawks, the only bright spot--and just about their only offensive production on the day--was a 63-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, Rahne threw his 16th touchdown pass of the season, breaking the Cornell single-season record.

Leading 31-7 after the third quarter, the Big Red sent in their reserves in the fourth and held on for a 31-14 victory.