Ancient Eight Keeping Kosher

Yesterday was Rosh Hashanah. And we all know what that means—Ivy League football is starting to heat up.

Well, that’s not entirely true. But as it so happens, this year, the start of 5772 coincides with some of the first meaningful games of the Ancient Eight season.

It’s also an especially appropriate metaphor this year in that we can compare some of Bubbe’s favorite dishes to the teams in the league.

Harvard, for one, has had mixed performances so far this year. Against Holy Cross in the season opener, the Crimson was horseradish—it was the type of game that would make a fan tear up. Play was inconsistent, and you definitely left with a worst taste in your mouth than when you started.

But last week against Brown, Harvard was apples and honey, Rosh Hashanah’s dish of choice. What’s great about the snack is that it takes two independently delicious items—the apples and the honey—and fuses them into one sticky slice of greatness.

Likewise, the Crimson put it all together last week. The secondary picked up its play a week ago after a sloppy opener. And even without senior quarterback Collier Winters, junior backup Colton Chapple filled the void, throwing for two touchdowns in the Crimson’s first win.

At the moment, Penn is the gefilte fish of the Ivy League. The preseason Ivy League favorites, the Quakers have been handled by their first two opponents, Lafayette and Villanova. Like the gefilte fish, you know that something is good about Penn—I mean, so many people love it, right?—but you just haven’t figured out what exactly that is yet.

Yale is Ancient Eight’s blintz. When it comes down to it, a blintz is all about what’s inside. Sure, it might look good, but you can’t really know until you take a bite. The Bulldogs have played well so far, but we haven’t seen them play any tough games yet. What’ll happen when they get to the meat of the schedule?

Now imagine that I got some challah and forgot to throw it away before I left the house for a three-week trip. That’s how I see Princeton.

Let’s get onto the picks.

YALE (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) at LEHIGH (3-1, 0-0 Patriot)

Amazingly, just two weeks into the Ivy League season, Yale is the only unbeaten team left. Its offense has been prodigious, scoring 37 points in each of its first two games.

Bulldogs quarterback Patrick Witt has completed almost 75 percent of his passes this year and has thrown for five touchdowns and just one pick. And Yale’s run game has averaged 139 rushing yards per game to add to its five scores so far this year.

But Lehigh may be its toughest game yet. The Mountain Hawks have won three of their first four (well, two-and-a-half if you account for a win against Princeton), and its only loss came in a 48-41 overtime shootout against New Hampshire.

Expect big numbers from two teams that haven’t scored fewer than 27 points this year. I’ll give the edge to the home team.

Pick: Lehigh 41, Yale 35

WAGNER (1-3, 1-2 NORTHEAST) at CORNELL (1-1, 0-1 Ivy)

Cornell lost to Yale last week. But with the Bulldogs emerging as a serious league contender and with the win over Bucknell in week one, there’s a chance that Cornell may be an improved team from last season.

Wagner has lost its last three, but both games have been tight. But I also think that the calibers of teams the Seahawks have played so far haven’t been great, with the exception of one FCS-ranked team.

Pick: Cornell 16, Wagner 13

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

Penn’s level of play so far this year has to be the biggest surprise in the league. It’s not just that the Quakers have lost its first two games. It’s that they were defeated badly in both.

Meanwhile, Dartmouth returns last year’s co-MVP Nick Schwieger, and the running back is out to another tremendous start to the year. He’s averaging 137.5 yards per game.The Big Green’s first loss, last week against Sacred Heart, came down to a last-minute field goal. The team could just as easily be 2-0.

that I would have even been considering Dartmouth in this game, I would’ve laughed. But the Quakers have been playing sub-par football; the Big Green has impressed in the season’s first two weeks.

Plus, it’s Dartmouth’s first ever night game. Home-field advantage will be as strong as ever.

Pick: Dartmouth 24, Penn 21

RHODE ISLAND (1-2, 0-1Atlantic 10) at BROWN (1-1, 0-1)

Though Harvard played well last week, I also think Brown just had a lousy game.

Quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero remains one of the top passers in the league and should not be overlooked as a threat.

Rhode Island picked up its first win last week against Fordham, which only beat Columbia by a touchdown. It’s tough for me to count that win as too meaningful.

Pick: Brown 28, Rhode Island 20

COLUMBIA (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) at PRINCETON (0-2, 0-0)

I half-expected both of these teams to remain winless for a larger chunk of the year, but I guess if they’re playing each other that’s no longer possible.

Both teams are coming off blowout losses last week, so this matchup might actually allow them, as they say, to pick on someone their own size. Columbia certainly isn’t the class of the Ivy League, but at least it kept its first game close.

Pick:  Columbia 17, Princeton 10

HARVARD (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) at LAFAYETTE (1-3, 0-1 Patriot)

Sports confuse me sometimes.

Lafayette crushed the only team favored over Harvard in the Ivies, yet lost to the team that Brown beat? It’s confusing.

There’s really no way to anticipate what’s going to happen in this one.

It’s unclear whether Winters or Chapple will start for the Crimson, but my money’s on Chapple.

There are a lot of question marks going into this game, probably more than in any other on the Ivy schedule.

Pick: Harvard 31, Lafayette 27