Harvard is the team to beat in Ivy football this year, but the team most often picked to come in right behind the Crimson is Princeton.
Following a 3-6 2001 campaign, the Tigers return all skilled positions and will be in contention for the upcoming season title. They lost a couple in the defensive backfield and then first team all-America kicker Taylor Northrop '02, but should otherwise be impressive, especially considering the fact that several of last year's losses were very close games.
Looking just at the Ivy schedule, the Tigers outscored their opponents 180-133, but still managed to win only three of seven. If the Tigers can pull out the close games, the ceremonial bonfire for beating both Harvard and Yale could very well return to Cannon Green this year, the first time since 1994.
This season, the Tigers will play their traditional schedule of the other seven Ivy teams along with three teams from the Patriot League.
Below is a breakdown of the first four games of the season:
9/21 at Lehigh: Lehigh is the best team on the schedule. Period. They are one of the best teams in the Northeast, regardless of Div. 1A or AA.
In years past, the Mountain Hawks would be licking their lips for a chance to match up with Ivy competition.
This year is no different, as Lehigh is currently ranked No. 2 in Div. I-AA football, just got off a 69-0 thrashing of Georgetown on Saturday and beat up Div. 1-A Buffalo before that. Moreover, the Mountain Hawks have lost just one game in the regular season since 1997. If the Tigers lose a game this year, it will likely be to Lehigh.
"Lehigh's already played a couple games, so it's going to be hard for us to go in there and get a win," head coach Roger Hughes said. "With that being said, though, we do not fear them."
Lehigh's offense is quite possibly the best in the country. Their rushing game, anchored by Jermaine Pugh, is averaging over 200 yards per game. Their quarterback, Chad Schwenk, has an impressive 200.67 quarterback rating, netting six touchdowns with just one interception. The Tigers can make no mistakes with these guys.
9/28 Lafayette: Last year's matchup with Lafayette was cancelled after 9/11. The year before that, the Tigers lost 24-17. The Leopards beat Monmouth 30-29 on Saturday, and will face Towson before Penn in the next two weeks. The Penn game should be a good indicator as to Lafayette's strength before it matches up with the Tigers.
Other than that, though, the coaching staff does not know much about the Leopards.
"I don't know much about them right now because the films we have on them are two years old," Hughes said.
That will change in the next two weeks, however, and if the Tigers beat an out-of-conference opponent, it will probably be Lafayette.
Moreover, it is a home game with a 7 p.m. kickoff time — there is no excuse to miss it.
10/5 at Columbia: In northern Harlem, there is a stadium that Columbia calls home.
Usually, though, the trip to the stadium is the most dangerous part since, once teams actually get there, they usually have no trouble running over the Lions.
Columbia and Dartmouth have been the whipping boys in the Ivy League over the last couple of years, although this year might be different. Last Saturday, in a scrimmage in which the Tigers dominated the Lions, Columbia actually came back after being down by 12 late in the game to win 15-14. Still, though, if Princeton is actually able to make it to the stadium, they should have no trouble afterwards.
10/12 Colgate
The final matchup with a non-Ivy is with Colgate.
"Colgate has been the one team since our staff got here that has really beaten our back sides pretty good," Hughes said. "They return an outstanding defense. I don't know how many starters they have coming back. Two or three of the four teams are very good teams."
The Raiders started off the season on a bad note, losing 20-0 to nationally-ranked Villanova. Last year, Colgate finished second in the Patriot League behind Lehigh, and that was because of a narrow 25-22 loss to the Mountain Hawks. Last year, Colgate marched quietly to a 35-10 victory over the Tigers, creating a miserable experience for the Orange and Black.
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