Week Four To Test Ivy Squads

Before covering last week’s Harvard football game at Lafayette, I made the very fortunate decision to spend the night in New York City rather than in Easton, Pa.

About 45 minutes before last Saturday’s game, we asked where we could get a bite in town. The locals were very friendly to their Harvard visitors, but after a solid 30 seconds of thinking and conferring between the three people running the student give-away table, they couldn’t really think of any place for us to go.

New York has two world-class delis, a farmer’s market, and an oyster bar all in a two-block stretch. It was an easy decision.

After watching the Crimson give Lafayette a good-ol’-fashioned beatdown, I returned to the city to spend the night at the apartment of a few friends. I had a lot of fun—watched a movie (ever seen Trainspotting? Never, ever watch it), played Risk, and hung out. Pretty wholesome, sure, but very enjoyable. I thought it was a solid way to spend the evening.

The next morning, before heading back to Cambridge, I got breakfast at 7:45 with my cousin, who just by chance was visiting New York from St. Louis for his friend’s 25th birthday.

My “fun” got blown out of the water. This 25-year-old friend of his just sold a company for some ungodly sum of money, so it wasn’t just a regular birthday party. After spending a brunch spraying champagne on various models, my cousin told me he partied later that night with Miss Holland or some other pageant winner from the European realm, finally getting to sleep around 5 a.m.

How he managed to drag himself out of bed to meet me for breakfast was nothing short of a miracle. But he did, and we were able to share our tales of the night.

What I learned from our meal at Le Pain—an appropriate name for a breakfast joint at that hour—was that there’s fun, and then there’s fun. Not the same thing.

Likewise, in Ivy League football, there are wins. And then there are wins.

Both Harvard and Cornell crushed its competition last week. But just because they add a tally to their win totals does not mean the wins are equal in any way outside the standings.

The Big Red beat Wagner, 31-7, but its opponent had already lost its last two games to mediocre teams. Lafayette, while up-and-down, beat Penn earlier in the year, so the Crimson’s dominant 31-3 victory makes a statement.

The game of the week was clearly the showdown between the Big Green and the Quakers in Dartmouth’s first-ever night game. The Big Green narrowly lost, giving-up a last-second touchdown that prevented the Ivy’s first major upset.

Yale also picked up a loss, its first of the year. But the Bulldogs were blown out by Lehigh, 37-7.

Point is, don’t read too much into the win-loss column just yet. It can be misleading.

DARTMOUTH (1-2, 0-1 Ivy) at YALE (2-1, 1-0)

After a pounding at the hands of the Mountain Hawks last week, Yale returns to New Haven to face off against Dartmouth.

Last Saturday, the Bulldogs were hardly ever in the game. Yale pulled within three early in the second quarter, but the team was held scoreless for the rest of the game. Bulldogs quarterback Patrick Witt was subpar, completing just 12 of 31 passes with two interceptions.

Coming off its loss to Penn, Dartmouth looks like a much better team. Big Green running back Nick Schwieger—defender of and contender for the Ivy League MVP award—ran for 130 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to nearly give Dartmouth the win.

Against Yale, Lehigh didn’t rely much on its run game. And you don’t have to when your quarterback goes 34-for-46 in completions.

I think Witt will definitely pick up his game after a poor effort last week. This is yet another big test for the Big Green—it’s a must-win if it wants to hold onto any shot at the title.

And with its last two losses coming in the final 60 seconds, I think karma finally goes Dartmouth’s way.

Pick: Dartmouth 28, Yale 24

HOLY CROSS (2-2, 1-0 Patriot) at BROWN (2-1, 0-1 Ivy)

As Harvard knows first-hand, Holy Cross is much better this year than it has been in the past. The team may have had an easier time in its win over the Crimson than it should have because of Harvard’s costly miscues, but there’s no question that the Crusaders are a talented group.

But so are the Bears. After a sloppy week-two performance against the Crimson, Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero put together a much better game last week against Rhode Island, completing 17 of 29 passes and throwing for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

Holy Cross is coming off its second loss of the year, but its defeat at the hands of a strong New Hampshire team came on a 60-yard touchdown pass with about a minute left.

The Crusader secondary was clearly off last week—the team surrendered three touchdown passes of 25 yards or more—and still managed to keep the game knotted into the final stages of the game. I think Holy Cross will find a way to fix its defensive holes well enough to shut down Newhall-Caballero’s offense.

Pick: Holy Cross 34, Brown 21

SACRED HEART (2-2, 1-1 NEC) at COLUMBIA (0-3, 0-1 Ivy)

You know when you can tell a team is bad? When it loses to Princeton.

Sorry, Columbia. You just handed the Tigers their first Ivy League win this decade. And I’m having a hard time taking you seriously after that.

Sacred Heart, on the other hand, is riding a two-game win streak, including a last-minute victory over the Big Green two weeks ago.

I don’t see this one being close. But you never know—it’s a crazy world out there.

Pick: Sacred Heart 31, Columbia 10

PRINCETON (1-2, 1-0 Ivy) at HAMPTON (2-2, 0-1 MEAC)

Sorry, Princeton. I know you just won your first game in a while, but you’re still Princeton.

Quarterback Tommy Wornham had a solid game for the Tigers last week, throwing 19 passes and throwing for 194 yards and two touchdowns. But I still don’t think it’ll be enough. Even though Hampton has lost its last two, the Pirates have still scored 42 and 31 points, respectively, in those games. Two Princeton wins in a row might be too much to ask for.

Pick: Hampton 35, Princeton 17

FORDHAM (1-3, 0-1 Patriot) at PENN (1-2, 1-0 Ivy)

Penn is not the dominant Ivy League force that everyone expected them to be. After two resounding defeats to start the year, the Quakers could just as easily be 0-3 right now were it not for its impressive last-second comeback in Hanover, N.H. last week.

Still, Fordham isn’t exactly the powerhouse of the Patriot League. The Rams’ only win was a one-touchdown victory over Columbia, and it got blown out last week in a game against Colgate.

Fordham was especially susceptible to the run, surrendering 347 yards on the ground. Penn’s strength is in the air, but both quarterback Billy Ragone and running back Brandon Colavita are threats to take off.

Pick: Penn 28, Fordham 20

HARVARD (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) at CORNELL (2-1, 0-1 Ivy)

In every single game this season, Harvard’s defense has gotten better, culminating in last week’s shutdown of Lafayette.

And even without starting quarterback Collier Winters—backup Colton Chapple will start his third game in a row—the offense has been running smoothly. Three games into the year, Harvard looks like it might be the strongest team in the league.

But don’t count out Cornell. Quarterback Jeff Matthews is one of the best in the league, and he’s just a sophomore. This isn’t the Big Red squad of 2010—while the team might not be a title contender yet, it’s certainly more of a threat than it was a year ago.

The way Harvard has been playing of late, it looks like it could be hard to stop. And with the Crimson having lost to Cornell just once since 2001, I’ll side with history.

Pick: Harvard 27, Cornell 16

RECORD LAST WEEK: 4-2

—Staff writer E. Benjamin Samuels can be reached at samuels@college.harvard.edu.