Football League Race Gets Hotter By the Minute

Late autumn is always a deliciously confusing time for football diehards.

We've spent weeks committing rushing totals, passing efficiency statistics and defensive formations to memory, and now we can turn to the true joy of crunchtime: playoff contingencies.

We know them well; we've heard Chris Berman enumerate countless times why the Jets, despite their perpetually abysmal record, are still "mathematically in the hunt." We begin to care, outside the office pool, who wins that Falcons-Saints tilt at the Superdome. And we can recite with the precision of an actuary precisely what it will take for any team to clinch a wild card berth.

But I outpace myself; this is, after all, the Ivy League, where centuries of tradition prohibit adding one critical game to the schedule to allow for some of those precious playoff confusions. We have to content ourselves with the slightly less complicated, if no less prestigious, race for the League crown and bragging rights in the Ancient Eight.

And for the first time in 10 long seasons, Harvard has a crack at those quirky conditionals. More than a crack, truth be told--one more win and the Crimson simplifies the picture considerably, wrapping up at least a tie for its first championship since 1987.

Harvard's 27-10 comeback win over Brown last Saturday in Providence, R.I., coupled with its 24-0 trouncing of defending champs Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., the week prior set the stage for this week's effective Ivy League championship game at Harvard Stadium.

Harvard 27, Brown 10

In its second straight major test, the Crimson (7-1, 5-0 Ivy) responded with 27 unanswered points to drop the Bears (5-3, 2-3) out of the title chase. Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week Chris Menick continued his dominance of the league's defensive lines, carrying 32 times for 201 yards and three touchdowns as Rich Linden completed 15-of-31 for 187 yards.

And while Brown's playmaker receiver Sean Morey set a school record for receptions with a nine-catch, 129-yard day, it was Menick, Linden and tailback Damon Jones's 328 yards rushing that outgunned Morey and Bears quarterback James Perry's 224 yards passing, as the Crimson controlled the ball for almost 37 minutes.

Penn 20, Princeton 17

Defensive Player of the Week Mitch Marrow paced the Quaker defense with six tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble, then coolly blocked a fourth-quarter go-ahead field goal to help seal the deal.

But the injury bug bit Penn (5-3, 4-1) hard on Saturday, as running back Jason McGee exited in the first quarter in favor of Jim Finn, who carried 33 times for 146 yards against the Tigers (4-4, 1-4), one of the more successful defensive packages against the Harvard running game.

Duke transfer and starting quarterback Matt Rader, too, in a scene straight out of a Snickers commercial, after scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown forgot the team's plays and the fact that he had scored once on the sideline, and was pulled with a mild concussion. Rader was later cleared to start Saturday in Cambridge.

Dartmouth 23, Columbia 21

Down 14-7 after back-to-back interception returns for touchdowns by the Lions' Chris Tillotson and Hashim Dalton, the Big Green (6-2, 4-1) rallied behind quarterback Pete Sellers's two touchdown passes to tight end Brian Corso to upend Columbia (3-5, 2-3). Sellers sealed the victory with a crucial keeper on a fourth-and-one inside the two-minute warning to maintain possession and the Dartmouth win.

Big Green kicker Dave Regula added three field goals as Dartmouth stayed alive after its stunner shutout loss to Harvard. Dartmouth will host Brown Saturday in a win-with-help situation.

Cornell 37, Yale 10

In the weekend's garbage game, the Big Red (4-4, 2-3) evened its record by pounding the basement-dwelling Bulldogs (1-7, 0-5) with 376 yards of total offense.

Big Red wideout Eric Krawczyk set a school season record for receptions with 68, pulling down nine catches for 112 yards.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, finished with a sickly 39 yards rushing on 38 carries, averaging 2.3 yards per play on offense. Quarterback Mike McClellan completed 11-of-22 for 96 yards as Yale stumbled to its fifth straight conference loss.

So here's your title hunt primer: Harvard is in the driver's seat with a one-game lead, and a win over Penn will guarantee a share of the title.

Should Penn win, the contingencies all become operative: a Dartmouth win over Brown would produce a three-way tie for first with Week 10 to serve as the tiebreaker, in which Penn would host Cornell, Dartmouth would host Princeton and Harvard would travel to a certain Connecticut town for a certain game.

Effectively, Harvard's home finale Saturday afternoon is the biggest Crimson football game since the Reagan administration. An Ivy League crown is at stake, and the Crimson is in that awe-inspiring role that NFL commentators mouth with reverence: Harvard controls its own destiny, and it couldn't be happier.