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Around the Ivies: Football

Half of the Ancient Eight has now seen league action, and all but one team has won its first game of the 2013 season. With Princeton's Ivy opener scheduled for this weekend, we take a look at the league after the first two weeks of football:

Harvard (2-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League): The Crimson struggled in the first half against Brown last weekend, allowing the Bears to go ahead 13-0, but rallied back for a convincing 41-23 win. Quarterback Connor Hempel had another solid week with 296 yards and a touchdown, as the offense once again appeared not to miss the stars who powered it last season. Harvard's next Ivy game will be a showdown with Cornell in Ithaca, sure to be a barn burner.

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Yale (2-0, 1-0): Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season so far has been Yale's fantastic start. The Bulldogs' victory over Cornell in the Yale Bowl Saturday was their second of the season, already equaling last year's win total. Receiver Deon Randall was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week after catching 11 passes for 148 yards and 3 TDs, and quarterback Henry Furman could practically have shared the award with him, piling up 353 yards and 3 more scores.

Princeton (1-1): The Orange and Black took out the frustration from their one-point loss against Lehigh when they traveled to Georgetown on Saturday, coming away with a 50-22 victory and the most points they had scored in 13 years. Junior quarterbacks Quinn Epperly and Connor Michelsen worked well in tandem, and Epperly, along with senior running back Brian Mills and others, helped the offense to a total of 326 yards on the ground. The Tigers will look to keep the offense firing on all cylinders as they host a weak Columbia team on Saturday.

Cornell (1-1, 0-1): The Big Red defense let up 28 points in the second half against Yale, canceling out another solid performance by quarterback Jeff Matthews. Matthews had 336 yards and three touchdowns but also threw two picks, possibly a symptom of the stress placed on the passer in a one-dimensional offense - Cornell has rushed for a meager 84 yards in its first two games combined.

Brown (1-1, 0-1): One week after putting up 45 points against Georgetown, Brown's offense couldn't repeat the feat in its loss to Harvard. Tailback John Spooney continued to impress, running for over 100 yards and scoring twice, but the Bears' passing game was lacking. Quarterback Patrick Donnelly went 21-33 but threw for just one touchdown and three interceptions.

Penn (1-1): The mighty Billy Ragone was not enough to save the Quakers from No. 19 Villanova Saturday night. The star quarterback accounted for Penn's only touchdown in the 35-6 loss, which saw the Quaker offense held to just 20 rushing yards. After what was almost certainly the toughest game of their season, the Quakers will try to regroup in time to face Dartmouth in Philadelphia next weekend in what should be an exciting game.

Dartmouth (1-1): A back-and-forth home opener ended in a disappointing fashion for the Big Green Saturday, as a last-minute Holy Cross field goal gave Dartmouth its first loss. Still, quarterback Dalyn Williams and receiver Bo Patterson look to be a lethal combination, as Williams threw for 273 yards and Patterson had 78 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was a top-10 quality grab in the endzone.

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Columbia (0-2): Tailback Marcorus Garrett continued to dazzle last weekend, running for 151 yards and two touchdowns on only 15 attempts. His 41-yard jaunt gave the Lions the lead in the first quarter, but eight minutes later Monmouth took the lead for good, beating Columbia 37-14 in Manhattan. The Lions will be hard-pressed to plug the holes in their defense when they head to Princeton next weekend.

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