AROUND THE IVIES: Few Frights For Top Teams

It’s a special Halloween edition of Around the Ivies for the countless Ancient Eight football fans who’ll be dressing up as superheroes or vampires or zoo animals or Pokemon characters and trolling for candy this week. On the gridiron, costumes won’t fool fans any longer. It’s already Week 7, the time of year when squads’ true characters are revealed, when the metaphorical face paint peels off and the metaphorical papier mache comes unstuck. In the thick of the Ivy League schedule, the contenders separate themselves from the pretenders, cute as they may be in their fake furry tails and big glasses with rubber noses attached.

For forecasting purposes, in good Halloween spirit, there are two tricks and two treats on the docket this weekend. Barring a major upset, Harvard and Yale will have opened up a two-game cushion over the rest of the field by Saturday evening. The last time the archrivals both began the season with 4-0 records in the Ivies was 1974, when the two schools split the title.

HARVARD (4-2, 3-0 Ivy) VS. DARTMOUTH (2-4, 2-1)

TREAT. Like waxy but delicious candy corn.

The Harvard defense has been like the yellow layer of this Halloween standard, the bright bottom-most component. The Crimson is best in the league and fifth in the country against the run, allowing just over 85 yards on the ground per game. It’s second in the league in total defense and scoring defense, and leads it in sacks and interceptions (including a nation-best six picks from senior corner Steven Williams). Most impressively, the unit hasn’t allowed a second-half touchdown since Week 1. Last week’s 37-point showing versus Columbia notwithstanding, the Big Green offense, without a top-10 rusher or a top-10 receiver, and with mediocre quarterbacks Tom Bennewitz and Alexander Jenny splitting time under center, is simply overmatched.

The Harvard passing game is akin to the orange sliver of a candy corn: it’s eye-catching and deep. Senior signal-caller Chris Pizzotti is coming off a career-best performance last week against Princeton that boosted his career record as a starter to 7-1 and upped his Ivy-best passer rating. The talented cadre of receivers, led by record-book-entrenched senior Corey Mazza, only gets more dangerous as the Crimson begins to open up the air game by involving the tight end and running backs.

Finally, the Harvard run game has been like the white tip of the candy corn--sometimes it’s not even there. The Crimson averages a meager 2.9 yards per carry, but sophomore Cheng Ho has now ripped off a pair of 100-yard games and has demonstrated, along with freshman Gino Gordon, the occasional capacity to eat chunks of late-game clock.

Poor Dartmouth, which enters the Harvard game with a winning league record for only the second time in 10 years, will soon return to the more familiar climes of .500 and below.

Prediction: Harvard 34, Dartmouth 17

PRINCETON (2-4, 1-2) VS. CORNELL (4-2, 1-2)

TRICK. A Friday night frightfest for prognosticators.

Princeton was wholly unimpressive in its recent visit to Cambridge, but the Tigers return home to host the Big Red under the lights. Cornell, like most door-to-door sugar seekers, is far more comfortable in its own neck of the woods; it hasn’t won on the road since 2005, a span of six straight defeats.

What’s really spooky is the Princeton quarterback situation. First-stringer Bill Foran was concussed last week, backup Greg Mroz is also hurt, and No. 3 guy Brian Anderson looked incompetent in limited action last Saturday. Plus, the Tigers secondary that was picked apart by Pizzotti now encounters a Big Red offense that attempts more than 40 passes per game.

Princeton is urging its fans to come to tonight’s game dressed all in black for a “Black Out.” Sounds like the Stadium could be a haunted house for road-inept Cornell.

Prediction: Princeton 24, Cornell 21

COLUMBIA (1-5, 0-3) VS. NO. 13 YALE (6-0, 3-0)

TREAT. The undefeated Bulldogs are scary.

Like the ghost in Harvard’s attic, Yale is making unfamiliar threatening noises, creaking the floorboards and moaning something that sounds a little like “McLeooooood.” The Crimson isn’t going to confront the specter until it has to, at the Yale Bowl on Nov. 17.

In the meantime, the Eli will almost surely move to 7-0 tomorrow. This matchup is shaping up like a slasher flick: Yale’s top-ranked running game, averaging four touchdowns and upwards of 300 yards per game, slashing through the helpless, shrieking, league-worst Lions defense, which routinely lets opponents top 250 yards rushing. Mike McLeod, who has already sewn up Ivy Player of the Year honors, had a subpar afternoon last weekend--147 yards and three touchdowns in a triple-overtime win at Penn.

Prediction: Yale 48, Columbia 14

BROWN (2-4, 1-2) VS. PENN (2-4, 1-2)

TRICK. This game is like the kid dressed up for Halloween in some set of street clothes. Interesting and amusing to those who are in the know, hip to its subtle humor, and plain boring to those who expect more sensational threads.

Both teams are coming off of frustrating losses last weekend--Brown blew a 17-point third-quarter lead at Cornell and Penn let unbeaten Yale slip through its fingers in overtime. And they play with contrasting styles. Penn prefers to wear down foes with rugged running back Joe Sandberg. Brown is airing it out with QB Michael Dougherty, who has already surpassed the 2,000-yard mark. Quakers by a red, spongy clown nose.

Prediction: Penn 26, Brown 20

Record to Date: 31-6

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.