Ancient Eight Hit TV Waves

When you’re surfing through the channels this Saturday afternoon searching for the Missouri-Nebraska or the Michigan St.-Iowa football games, don’t be too surprised if you come across a pair of matchups that might seem better suited for a quiz bowl than a football game.

This weekend, two Ivy League contests will be coming to a living room near you. The matchup between Columbia and Yale will be broadcast on the YES Network, and Harvard will face Dartmouth on NESN.

While these games are sure to keep record numbers of viewers glued to their television sets, the networks may have slipped up in choosing which Ancient Eight games to air.

As these two contests are taking place in the limelight, the Ivy’s other four teams will be toiling in obscurity. America has no idea what it’s going to be missing.

In the other matchups, a pair of undefeated Ivy League teams—Penn and Brown—will battle for the top spot in the conference standings while two winless teams—Princeton and Cornell—will fight for the bottom spot. This is drama you can’t find on “Jersey Shore” or “Basketball Wives.”

Unfortunately, nobody will be able to see it.

But, luckily, I am here to tell you what’s going to happen this weekend so you don’t have to worry about missing a beat. On to the predictions…

COLUMBIA (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) at YALE (4-2, 2-1 Ivy)

Both Columbia and Yale will be looking to right the ship after suffering close losses last weekend. The Lions fell to Dartmouth by three, while the Bulldogs had a decent showing against Penn, losing just 27-20 after the team managed to make it close with a pair of late scores.

In order for Yale to stay in contention for the Ivy League title, the squad will have to prevail against Columbia, which boasts the best pass defense in the conference. The team will look to quarterback Patrick Witt, who enters Week 7 as the top passer in the Ancient Eight, averaging over 275 yards per game.

Yale’s defense will have its hands full dealing with Columbia quarterback Sean Bracket, a threat to run and pass. But given the Lions struggles on the offensive and defensive lines and the fact that the game will be played in New Haven, the edge goes to the Bulldogs.

Prediction: Yale 21, Columbia 17

PRINCETON (1-5, 0-3 Ivy) at CORNELL (1-5, 0-3 Ivy)

This matchup poses lots of interesting questions. For instance, what happens when you pit the league’s lowest scoring offense against the league’s worst scoring defense? Or, to put it more simply, which is the Ancient Eight’s worst team?

These questions should all be answered when Princeton and Cornell—the only two winless teams in Ivy play—square off against each other this weekend. If it weren’t for the elimination of the tie from college football in 1996, I might be tempted to have both teams go another week without a win, but alas, one team will have to emerge victorious.

All signs point to the Tigers as the less bad of the duo. After all, the Big Red has lost multiple games by at least 34 points, and Princeton’s offense has shown signs of competency, scoring 28 points last weekend against Harvard.

Prediction: Princeton 27, Cornell 10

BROWN (4-2, 3-0 Ivy) at No. 21 PENN (5-1, 3-0 Ivy)

This is the one everyone’s been waiting for—the matchup to see which team is the Ivy League’s top dog.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but try not to get too excited. Though both teams share an undefeated conference record, the two squads are not as evenly matched as one might think.

While the Bears have been beating up on the Ivy League’s cellar dwellers in its past two games, the Quakers have been displaying their mettle by defeating two opponents with winning records. Also, Brown is without starting quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero, who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 3. Backup signal caller Joe Springer had an impressive performance last week, throwing for 287 yards and two touchdowns, but those stats should come with an asterisk, reading, “*came against Cornell.”

Don’t expect Springer and rest of the Bears’ offense to have as much success against Penn, which boasts the top run defense and the fifth best total defense in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Prediction: Penn 24, Brown 14

HARVARD (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) at DARTMOUTH (4-2, 1-2 Ivy)

Believe me folks, this isn’t your older brother’s Dartmouth football program that went 21-78 over the past 10 seasons. While most Harvard teams from the past decade could use their matchup with the Big Green as a quasi-bye week, things are different in 2010.

Dartmouth football is in the midst of a revolution. Just six games through the 2010 season, the Big Green—led by star running back Nick Schwieger—has already racked up more wins than it had in the 2008 and 2009 seasons combined. Schwieger—who is averaging 141.8 rushing yards per game—has had a lot to do with Dartmouth’s revival, as the Big Green has not lost a game all season in which the runner picked up more than 151 all-purpose yards.

As much as I’d love to jump on the bandwagon and pick Dartmouth to win its first home game against the Crimson since 1993, I don’t see it happening this Saturday. For one, Harvard has an elite running back of its own in Gino Gordon, who is coming off a career-high, 204-yard performance against Princeton last weekend. The Crimson will also be aided by the return of senior quarterback Collier Winters.

Winters will likely make his first start of the season after throwing for two touchdowns in two quarters of play last weekend. Factor in Harvard’s defense—which currently ranks second in the Ivy League—and this Saturday should be just like old times.

Prediction: Harvard 28, Dartmouth 20

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.