Ancient Eight Football Goes Undefeated

Following Harvard's lead, the Ivy League pulled off a minor miracle last Saturday, compiling a perfect 7-0 record in non-league games.

The Crimson's 27-17 victory over Holy Cross was matched by every other Ivy school except conference power Penn, who took the week off.

The week was marked by solid offensive performances by all Ivy squads and a remarkable defensive effort by Princeton. In a tough 12-7 victory, Princeton shut down a potent Bucknell offense that had racked up 42 points against Harvard the previous week.

The Tiger defense held the Bucknell offense at bay throughout the game. Its efforts were climaxed by a blocked punt with two minutes left in the game. The punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown to salvage the win.

Equally as impressive this past week was the play of the hated Elis, who scored a convincing 28-17 triumph over Connecticut. Paced by tailback Keith Price's two touchdowns, Yale jumped out to a 21-0 first-half lead and hung on for the victory.

The Ivy victory march was continued by Brown in a 26-7 thrashing of Colgate. The Bears were led by quarterback Jason McCullough, who threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns.

Cornell followed with a 21-17 victory over highly regarded Lehigh. The Big Red, who travel to Harvard this coming Saturday, were guided by sophomore tailback Chad Levitt, who rushed for 143 yards and provided all three Big Red scores.

Dartmouth picked up its first win of the season with a 31-14 rout of Fordham. The Big Green got two touchdown runs and a touchdown pass from quarterback Ren Riley, and had an incredible defensive effort that held Fordham to just three rushing yards.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the week, however, belonged to Columbia. The Lions racked up a 28-13 victory over Lafayette for its first win of the season.

Columbia's notable improvement this season has been marked by a surprising Lion scoring machine, which is on pace to be the best Columbia offense in the past fifty years.

For Harvard fans, the week was of course capped by the Crimson's solid victory over Holy Cross. The perfect week improved the league's cumulative non-league record to an outstanding 12-2-1.

Columbia quarterback Mike Cavanaugh picked up the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award, Princeton's Darrel Oliveira was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, and Harvard's own Eion Hu garnered Rookie of the Week honors.

Though another 7-0 swamping of non-league foes this Saturday would be nice, it would also be impossible, as the Ivy schedule includes two league games.

Brown and Princeton face off in Princeton, with each team looking for its first league victory, and Cornell and Harvard will put their 1-0 league records on the line Saturday at Soldier's Field, with both teams trying to get an early lead in the Ivy standings.

The Ivy League is still by no means a national power, but the overall conference performance shows that the its teams can compete successfully with some of their fellow eastern schools.

This past week's action also helps bury the notion that the Ivy's non-scholarship athletes do not fair well outside of league play.

Overall, this past Saturday can be considered a small step for each Ivy team toward successful season, and a huge leap for the entire conference.