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Around the Ivies : Football

20141025_HarvardPrincetonFootbll_YichengSun_1 copy
20141025_HarvardPrincetonFootbll_YichengSun_1 copy

Around the Ivies: football

Only one week remains in the Ivy League gridiron season. Although Harvard has emerged as the favorite, the 2014 title race remains undecided. The top two teams will face each other, with those ranked third and fourth also matching up. Here’s how the Ancient Eight stacks up heading into week 11.

  1. Harvard (9-0 overall, 6-0 Ivy League): While the Crimson has appeared untouchable, the toughest test still awaits this league-best squad. “The Game” —not to be confused with the artist behind hit singles “My Life” and “How We Do” —will see Harvard against Yale for their 131stmeeting. These two teams rank first and second in points scored and yards amassed.
  2. Yale (5-1, 8-1): Senior tailback Tyler Varga has emerged as the unequivocal favorite for the Bushnell Cup, awarded annually to the conference's most outstanding offensive player. His 144.0 rushing yards per game leads all players and, in fact, outpaces four of the eight Ivy League team totals. This Bulldog attack, which has averaged 43 points per game, will collide with a Crimson defense, which has allowed just 11 per contest.
  3. Dartmouth (7-2, 5-1): The Big Green has outmatched all league opponents save Harvard. Junior signal caller Dalyn Williams has emerged as the league’s premier dual-threat, racking up 11 passing scores and adding five on the ground. Princeton will play host to this squad this upcoming weekend, looking for revenge for last year’s season ending in an away loss.
  4. Princeton (5-4, 4-2): Should the Tigers manage to take down Dartmouth in their final contest, it will mark the first instance of back-to-back winning seasons since 2005-06. Senior quarterbacks Connor Michelsen and Quinn Epperly will share the backfield for the last time, looking to lead an offense that has demonstrated some shaky form the past two weekends.
  5. Brown (4-5, 2-4): Bruno should have no problem finishing the season .500, with its final game coming against the lowly Columbia Lions. Through four games, Brown had yielded 19.0 points per game, good for second-best in the conference. The last two weekends saw the previously stout defensive unit torched for 45 and 44 points by Yale and Dartmouth.
  6. Penn (1-8, 1-5): Head coach Al Bagnoli was unable to lead his team to a win in his final home game. This has been a fairly disappointing campaign for Penn, who had won three of the past five conference championships. In terms of receiving yards, no Quaker features in the Ivy League top 10 while the rushing attack has picked up only 3.3 yards per attempt.
  7. Cornell (1-8, 1-5): One team had to win in last week’s matchup of winless New York sides. The Big Red has picked up only two Ivy League wins in each of the past two seasons, a feat it could achieve with a home victory over Penn. Sophomore Chris Fraser will once again emerge as the conference’s top punter, averaging a league 41.8 yards per boot with 20 placed inside his opponents’ red zone.
  8. Columbia (0-9, 0-6): Between 1989 and 1998, Prairie View A&M University’s Panthers lost 80 consecutive contests. The previous longest losing streak in the NCAA’s Division I: 44, a tally that belongs to Columbia’s football dystopia of 1983-88. The Lions’ current skid of 20 straight losses might not approach these esteemed marks, but it’s not clear that a victory is anywhere close.
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