League Plays A Waiting Game

On a few occasions this week, I’ve caught myself sitting in my room overcome with a very unfamiliar feeling: boredom. It’s the one strange week of the semester where everything has seemed to grind to a halt, and though I know the next stress cycle is just around the corner, I can’t help but be entranced by this magical feeling of having nothing of substance to do.

November at Harvard is a month of being in between. We’re stuck between fall and winter, between Halloween and the Game, between midterms and finals. And in Ancient Eight football, things are no different.

We’re now stuck between the fresh slate of a new season and being able to crown a champion. Up and down the Ivy schedule, games will oscillate between the meaningful and the relatively meaningless. While half the teams in the conference are battling to stay relevant in the race for the league title, the other four are just trying to save some face.

This week, we’ve got your high-stakes game (Yale/Brown), your de-facto-exhibition game (Dartmouth/Cornell) and a few in between. Let’s take a look around the Ivies.

YALE (5-2, 3-1 Ivy) at BROWN (4-3, 3-1)

This one’s the game to watch this weekend, because one of these teams will be effectively eliminated for the hunt for the Ivy crown with a loss. Though both squads are tied for second in the conference, both are on a little bit of a downswing—Brown got pummeled by Penn last weekend, and Yale barely held on to a big first-half lead to escape Columbia, 31-28.

The Bulldogs boast the best pass offense in the league, led by Patrick Witt’s 275 yards per game, while the Bears counter with the Ancient Eight’s best pass defense.

Brown backup quarterback Joe Springer has had plenty of time to settle into the offense at this point, but I’m not sure he can overpower the combination of Witt and running back Alex Thomas. Much as it pains me to say it, I think Yale stays in the hunt.

PREDICTION: Yale 21, Brown 17.

DARTMOUTH (4-3, 1-3) at CORNELL (2-5, 1-3)

Don’t let the identical Ivy records fool you: Dartmouth and Cornell are far from equals.

The Big Green took Penn to overtime, lost to Yale by just a field goal, and nearly made things interesting late in the game against the Crimson on Saturday.

The Big Red? Well, it beat Princeton, but that shouldn’t even count.

Losing to Harvard last week certainly puts a bit of a damper on Dartmouth’s momentum, but the Big Green just has too much talent to lose to a terrible team like Cornell. Nick Schwieger and Connor Kempe should easily lead the Big Green to another win.

PREDICTION: Dartmouth 22, Cornell 9.

PENN (6-1, 4-0) at PRINCETON (1-6, 0-4)

At this point, one can’t help but feel bad for Princeton. After falling just short at Cornell last week in the battle of the winless “titans,” the Tigers have the great misfortune of hosting red-hot Penn. The league’s best defense versus the league’s worst defense and second-worst offense? This should be as lopsided in reality as it looks on paper.

PREDICTION: Penn 37, Princeton 7.

COLUMBIA (3-4, 1-3) at HARVARD (5-2, 3-1)

Things are looking up on all counts in Cambridge. Collier Winters is back under center, Gino Gordon is continuing to dominate the Ivy League, and Harvard’s looking more and more like a championship contender every week. A pair of big games loom on the horizon, but first, the Crimson has Columbia to contend with.

The Lions are a better team than their 1-3 Ivy record may indicate, and they’ve got a talented young quarterback in Sean Brackett. The two squads boast the top two scoring offenses in the conference, so this one’s pretty much guaranteed to be a slugfest. But Harvard’s got an edge on the defensive side of the ball and an awful lot more to play for. The Crimson should get it done at home.

PREDICTION: Harvard 35, Columbia 24.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.