Ivy Football Has Wacky, Wild Week

With last week's 35-12 rout of Dartmouth, Harvard football is batting .500 in the Ivy League with a winloss record of 2-2, good enough for for a third place tie with Columbia and Princeton.

Undefeated University of Pennsylvania continues its death grip on first place in the Ivy League this season. Cornell (3-1) has slipped to second place. Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale are all tied for fourth place with a record of 1-3.

The Harvard defense has allowed just two offensive touchdowns per game in four of the last five games. The Crimson leads the Ivy League thus far in both total offense (2770 yards) and first downs (160).

With a 14-6 homecoming win against Yale, Penn continues its quest to repeat for Ivy League champion. Two first half touchdowns and characteristic hammer-down defense sparked the win. Miles Macik's 18th career touchdown reception put him in the Quakers' record book.

A missed point after a touchdown and two missed field goals really hurt Yale. The Elis have been victimized by close results during their four-game losing streak; three games have been decided by a total of thirteen points.

Penn's defense, giving up just 5.8 points per game this year, held Yale to a meager 58 yards rushing. The Elis' touchdown was only the second of the year against the Quakers.

Penn's Nick Morris was hailed with defensive player of the week honors. Formidable Princeton is next challenger to Penn's 18-game winning streak. The Tigers host the Quakers next Saturday at Palmer Stadium.

Brown excelled on both sides of the ball in their 16-3 upset of Cornell, limiting the Big Red's power rushing attack to just 76 yards and plowing for better than 200 rushing yards themselves. One play consisted of a Big Red pass interception and a Bear 61-yard fumble recovery.

Cornell, which had a season-low 176 yards of total offense, had its six-game win streak come to an end. The Big Red's no touchdown effort was its first since the 1991 opener.

Tailback Chad Levitt needs just 58 yards to break the 1,000-yard mark. The milestone--likely to happen this Saturday against Yale in New Haven, Conn.--would be only the seventh 1000-yard season in Cornell history.

In New York City, the believers are lining up outside of Columbia's Wien Stadium to see the league's most improved team. More than 12,000 fans turned out for the Lions Homecoming, as the home team came through with a victory for the third time in the last four Homecoming contests against Princeton.

Columbia held Princeton to just 126 yards rushing and 87 yards passing, tallying six tackles for losses and three sacks in the process. The Lions were shut out in the second half, however, with just 82 yards of total offense.

The 17-10 Columbia win had a moment of particular drama late in the fourth quarter. About four minutes remained when Princeton, down by seven, marched to a first down on the Lion's 12-yard line.

Tigers quarterback Harry Nakielny ran a quarterback draw and was end-zone bound when Lions linebacker Rory Wilfork, out of position to make the tackle, did the only thing he could; he stripped the ball from Nakielny at about the five-yard line, and it was recovered by defensive end Marcelius Wiley to hand over the final possession--and the victory--to the Lions.

The Columbia football program will try to clinch its first winning season since 1971 when it lines up against Dartmouth this Saturday.

The Crimson will use the momentum from its Dartmouth win to spring into action against Brown at home this Saturday.

Dartmouth wasn't without its game highlight, however. Big Green defensive back/punt returner Brian White, who averages 29.1 yards per kick return, gave the home fans a treat with his school-record tying 98-yard kick return for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown kick return for Dartmouth since 1980.

The touchdown paled in comparison to the play of Crimson sophomore running back Eion Hu and junior quarterback Vin Ferrara. Both are soaring after winning Ivy League Rookie-and and Offensive Player of the Week honors, respectively.

Ferrara befuddled Dartmouth's defense all afternoon, completing 19-of-22 passes for 302 yards. At one point he completed 16 straight passes against a defensive unit that hadn't allowed more than 20 points in a game this season.

Ferrara used seven different receivers during the sixth best passing performance in school history, to earn offensive player of the week honors for the second time this year.

Hu was named rookie of the week for an amazing fourth time this season with an outstanding rushing performance against the Big Green. He ran for a career-high 166 yards on 38 carries, and had one-yard and four-yard touchdown runs.

Hu was one carry shy of the school record in his third straight 100-yard rushing game, his fourth overall, of the season. Hu is the first player in 11 years to have four 100-yard rushing games in season.

Hu needs 295 yards in his last three games to become only the second back in school history to roll up better than 1000 yards. With 350 yards, he will break the school record.

With only three games left in the season, the Ivy League is a toss-up between Penn and Cornell for Ivy League champion and a dog-fight among the other six teams for second and third place.